By: Dorothy Howell
Year: 2008
Genre: Mystery

Find this book at Amazon.com

Haley Randolph is in debt. She is addicted to designer handbags and has no impulse control. When she sees a bag, she must buy that bag (and we’re not talking $200 Coach bags). Because of her addiction, Haley has had to take a second job working at a local department store chain. She hates her job. She hates the people she works for and… what?!? Someone is killed on her shift and Haley finds the body as she slacking off in the back room. On top of that, Haley is on leave (read: fired) from her day job at a law firm. All-in-all, Haley’s life is a mess. Add to these two mysteries a handsome man who turns out to be very rich and powerful, a mother who is very rich and trying out a new career-of-the-month and a friend who may not be what he seems to be (plus Haley’s own unbelievable narcissism and debilitating debt) and we have a pretty standard murder-mystery.

Haley stumbles through this novel. She doesn’t really care about anything but how to buy her next handbag, though there are glimmers through the novel that Haley does care about some people in her lives and is interested in their well-being… well, as it has to do with fashion. I was really surprised that she was even able to solve not just one, but two mysteries. She just doesn’t seem that observant. Haley is considered a suspect in both mysteries and knows that things will get better if only she can clear her name. I’d like to write more about the plot, dissect it like I try to do… but really, this is a very fluffy book. It’s an easy read. There isn’t an investment in the characters or their plight. I personally didn’t care too much for Haley and have no idea why the love interest in this book is interested in her (come on, you had to know there was going to be a love interest. I bet you also know that he and Haley don’t get along for most of the book and their relationship “grows” despite stupid miscommunication).

“Handbags and Homicide” is a good summer book. It’s cute, it’s distracting, it’s easy to read. Yes, the main character is whiney and selfish but I gotta admit, she thinks the things we probably all do at times (maybe even more than we’d like to admit). Generally I’m not a huge fan of “chick lit” because I think so often it’s insulting to women (apparently we’re stupid and just looking for love in that perfect way that doesn’t happen in real life) and men (they’re just there for looks). I’ve tried a couple of chick lit books this summer and had to return them after just a couple chapters. This isn’t much better, but it has no deeper meanings. There is no pretending Haley is deeper than she is. She is exactly as shallow as she appears. For a chick lit novel, that’s refreshing.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

By: Janet Evanovich
Year: 2009
Genre: Mystery
Find this book at Amazon.com

Let’s see if I can summarize this book for you: Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has bounties to catch. She does this with the “help” from her ex-hooker friend Lula. But they make a big mess of it, bounties don’t get caught and a car is started on fire (or explodes). Something “BIG” happens that is the primary mystery of the book which involves cop Morelli and bounty hunter/security specialist Ranger (both sexy hunks Stephanie wants to and has slept with). Meanwhile, Stephanie’s grandmother pulls a gun, Stephanie and her grandmother cause a scene at the funeral home, Stephanie’s dad just wants dinner, Stephanie has to live at Ranger’s house (but no sex!), her nemesis makes an leather-bustier appearance and Stephanie somehow saves the day.

Now, the mystery is, which of author Janet Evanovich’s 15 Stephanie Plum novels am I describing? Psych! So far I’m describing the last several books. Is “Finger Lickin’ Fifteen” the same as most of the books in the series? Pretty much. Is it a fun, easy read? Pretty much.

Evanovich is an easy writer to read. Everything is just a little silly. The problem is, Evanovich has become extraordinarily predictable. The last several Stephanie Plum novels are truly like a Mad Libs. Basic situations and events in each story are always the same. Certain things always have to happen. At first it was fun to see these things happen to Stephanie every time (Goodness gracious? Another car destroyed? Oh my goodness, what did Grandma do in the funeral home now?). Now, these events are just predictable and are quickly crossing into ridiculous.

Here are my biggest complaints:

• After 15 books—which even in book time have to span several years—Stephanie should have some basic understanding on what she needs to do to collect her bounties. She makes stupid mistakes (to add comic relief which is becoming tedious and predictaable) on what should be an easy catch. By now, why hasn’t she learned some fighting and capture techniques?
• After 15 books, Stephanie should realize Lula is self-centered, greedy and disrespectful. She ruins every capture and doesn’t help Stephanie in any tangible way. Their relationship is a weird, co-dependent mess. And why doesn’t she have any other friends?
• After 15 books, I am tired of the “Should she go with safe Morelli or sexy Ranger” waffling. She must be phenomenal in some as-yet-unmentioned ways for these men to be hanging on for so long and allowing her to jump from bed to bed with no real consequences.
• After 15 books, can we PLEASE shake up the formula? No one important ever dies or suffers a true loss. There is nothing riding on Stephanie’s choices (which, by the way, she never has to deal with any consequences of her bad actions). In fact, Stephanie’s moral dilemmas are silly and she never has to live with the guilt or anger from making a tough choice. Even her hamster has lived for much longer than a real hamster would. I’m not saying to get rid of the light, breezy silliness and turn these books into dark, dire reality. I’ve read authors who deal with tragedy in a lighter manner as a coping mechanism. Stay light, but have some deeper issues to give the books some substance.

So, why did I add my name to the waiting list? Because despite my irritations, these are quick and silly books to read. In the midst of  heavy worries in life and deep theological readings for school, it’s fun to just read a book that is quick, easy and doesn’t require me to focus too much. Evanovich is a consistent writer. You can pick up any one of the 15 books and be hooked into the novel. Back story isn’t really a concern because each book is essentially the same book. It doesn’t matter if you know that Stephanie lived with Morelli or not, because the specifics of their history don’t bring about uncomfortable consequences.

I will continue to read Evanovich’s novels. I will probably continue to be a little disappointed if they remain the same, but not enough to stop reading them. They’re good, pretty clean, silly fun.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

By: Richard Castle
Year: 2009
Genre: Mystery

Amazon.com summary:

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. She’s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York’s Finest. PulitzerPrize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren’t her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

“Hmmm,” you say. “That author’s name is familiar, but I haven’t see it on the New York Times Bestseller List,” you say. Okay, well, um, I’ll be upfront. See, Richard Castle isn’t a real person. Richard Castle is a character on a TV show. You see, what happened here is that my worlds have made a complete circle and I’m pretty sure reality is in the process of collapsing.

“Castle,” a TV show that I love, is centered around a writer writing a book and following a New York City cop as research. Much bantering and hilarity ensues. In season two, the book is published and this is the book, which was really written in the “real world” and published and losers like me check it out from the library. Oddly enough, the book is “written” by a writer following a cop who wrote about a writer following a cop to write a magazine article. See, the snake is eating it’s own tail!

The book is good. It’s a generic New York cop detective novel. The kind you read during a cold weekend and finish up pretty quickly. It’s very formulaic. It doesn’t deal with anything ground-breaking or earth-shattering. The author had a checklist of what was supposed to be in a mystery novel (tough woman—check, jaunty smart-assed man—check, murdering who-dunnit—check, little nookie—check) and made sure to get each item in. But it’s fun. And if you like the TV show “Castle” it’s a lot of fun. The author’s bio is that of fictional character Richard Castle with actor Nathan Fillion’s picture (in the interest of full disclosure: I have had a crush on Fillion since finding “Firefly“). The acknowledgements are written in the voice of Rick Castle and mention the characters on the TV show (until the very end when the real author—who is never named—mentions the actors’ real names and gives his or her own thanks briefly).

In “Heat Wave” we meet Nikki Heat, a rough-around-the-edges-but-with-a-heart-of-gold homicide detective. She is being trailed by magazine writer Jameson Rook (get it, Castle… Rook, get it?). There is a strong attraction between the two as well the anticipated antagonism. They are investigating the suicide—or is it a homicide?—of a real estate “tycoon.” Soon the two of them find out the case is much more while dealing with an August heat wave in New York city. Cliché? Absolutely. Fun? Definitely.

I do have one complaint about the book which truly makes me look like the loser I am. Okay, so this is supposed to be written following Detective Beckett on “Castle” right? Well, book character Nikki Heat has issues with witnessing her mother’s murder. If you watch the show at all, you’d know Castle got into big trouble for looking in the murder of Beckett’s mother and promised to drop it. Wouldn’t Beckett be furious to read this book (which watchers know she did) and see that part added in? I would think so. Of course, it’s a fictional writer writing a fictional book based on a fictional TV show character, so maybe I should just let it be…

Despite my obvious television-neurosis, I suggest reading this book if you like the mystery genre (it’s even better if you imagine it read in the voice of Fillion). This book is othing new, but loads of fun.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars