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A review by duchessmerry
Ultraviolet by Nancy Bush
3.0
Number: 2
Rating: C+
ISBN: 9780758209092
Series: #3 Jane Kelly
Synopsis www.bn.com
For process server-turned-private investigator, Jane Kelly, weddings are murder. Usually that's a metaphor, but for newly minted P.I. Jane Kelly, it's fast becoming an all-too-accurate nightmare. Roland Hatchmere, plastic surgery magnate, has been found murdered just before his daughter's society wedding. The weapon is a wedding gift: a heavy, silver serving tray. The prime suspect is Roland's ex-wife #2: Violet "Ultraviolet" Purcell, she of the eccentric-bordering-on-insane Purcell clan.
Violet insists that she's completely innocent. After all, Roland was her absolute favorite ex-husband. And she was nowhere NEAR him at the time of the murder. Well, okay, technically she did meet him for a little pre-nup, bedroom tˆte-…-tˆte just before. And they did have a huge fight. And she did hit him with the tray. But just once. Honest. So could Jane just hurry up and prove her innocence? Sure. That should be easy. Let's just file this one under "12 Kinds of Crazy." But when Jane's boss, the temporarily sidelined Dwayne, is convinced Violet's telling the truth, well, there's nothing for Jane to do but take her lovable, misfit pug, Binky, and sniff out a few clues.
Everywhere Jane and The Binkster look, there's a suspect odder than the last, including two grown, very troubled kids, an ex-wife strung out on Botox and a current wife who's a cross between Donna Reed and a sex kitten-all of them eager to blame Roland's death on Violet. It doesn't help that Violet's story keeps changing faster than a celebrity's hair extensions. To make matters worse, Dwayne's convalescence is turning him into Jimmy Stewart in "Rear Window," complete with binoculars, and he's convinced there is something very badgoing down in the private houses across Lakewood Bay, something that needs Jane and Binky's close attention. Faster than she can say, "I took criminology courses for this?", Jane is up to her eyeballs in lies, secrets, Extreme Botox, New Wave bands, truck-stop coffee kiosks (don't ask), very good scones, Junior League, wedding bandits, high school sociopaths, Plastic Pet Cemetery (don't ask, part II), a budding attraction to her boss, the Millionaire's Club, and someone who would kill to keep the past buried.
The deeper Jane digs, the less she wants to know. Every truth leads her deeper into danger, and soon, Jane wonders if her first official case might also be her last.and if the client she's been asked to clear just might be the coldest black widow of all.
My Thoughts:
I was disappointed again by this 3rd adventure. I am not sure if Bush is just not comfortable writing in this genre, but the mysteries just seem to "mysteriously" solve themselves without any real work involved. A lot of the plot is made up of internal dialogue Jane has with herself. Whether it be how cell phones were made to make life easier but now no one ever answers them or whether or not she wants to bump uglies with her friend/boss/partner Dwayne. I don't need to see what she is thinking a lot of what makes reading fun is imagining you know what the characters are thinking/feeling in your own mind.
What gets me is I could potentially love the characters once the whole plot gets organized. I think if Ms Bush writes a fourth novel I will be reading it but that is my lost option. Usually an author gets 3 chances but I still can see some potential here and I am willing to give it another shot.
Rating: C+
ISBN: 9780758209092
Series: #3 Jane Kelly
Synopsis www.bn.com
For process server-turned-private investigator, Jane Kelly, weddings are murder. Usually that's a metaphor, but for newly minted P.I. Jane Kelly, it's fast becoming an all-too-accurate nightmare. Roland Hatchmere, plastic surgery magnate, has been found murdered just before his daughter's society wedding. The weapon is a wedding gift: a heavy, silver serving tray. The prime suspect is Roland's ex-wife #2: Violet "Ultraviolet" Purcell, she of the eccentric-bordering-on-insane Purcell clan.
Violet insists that she's completely innocent. After all, Roland was her absolute favorite ex-husband. And she was nowhere NEAR him at the time of the murder. Well, okay, technically she did meet him for a little pre-nup, bedroom tˆte-…-tˆte just before. And they did have a huge fight. And she did hit him with the tray. But just once. Honest. So could Jane just hurry up and prove her innocence? Sure. That should be easy. Let's just file this one under "12 Kinds of Crazy." But when Jane's boss, the temporarily sidelined Dwayne, is convinced Violet's telling the truth, well, there's nothing for Jane to do but take her lovable, misfit pug, Binky, and sniff out a few clues.
Everywhere Jane and The Binkster look, there's a suspect odder than the last, including two grown, very troubled kids, an ex-wife strung out on Botox and a current wife who's a cross between Donna Reed and a sex kitten-all of them eager to blame Roland's death on Violet. It doesn't help that Violet's story keeps changing faster than a celebrity's hair extensions. To make matters worse, Dwayne's convalescence is turning him into Jimmy Stewart in "Rear Window," complete with binoculars, and he's convinced there is something very badgoing down in the private houses across Lakewood Bay, something that needs Jane and Binky's close attention. Faster than she can say, "I took criminology courses for this?", Jane is up to her eyeballs in lies, secrets, Extreme Botox, New Wave bands, truck-stop coffee kiosks (don't ask), very good scones, Junior League, wedding bandits, high school sociopaths, Plastic Pet Cemetery (don't ask, part II), a budding attraction to her boss, the Millionaire's Club, and someone who would kill to keep the past buried.
The deeper Jane digs, the less she wants to know. Every truth leads her deeper into danger, and soon, Jane wonders if her first official case might also be her last.and if the client she's been asked to clear just might be the coldest black widow of all.
My Thoughts:
I was disappointed again by this 3rd adventure. I am not sure if Bush is just not comfortable writing in this genre, but the mysteries just seem to "mysteriously" solve themselves without any real work involved. A lot of the plot is made up of internal dialogue Jane has with herself. Whether it be how cell phones were made to make life easier but now no one ever answers them or whether or not she wants to bump uglies with her friend/boss/partner Dwayne. I don't need to see what she is thinking a lot of what makes reading fun is imagining you know what the characters are thinking/feeling in your own mind.
What gets me is I could potentially love the characters once the whole plot gets organized. I think if Ms Bush writes a fourth novel I will be reading it but that is my lost option. Usually an author gets 3 chances but I still can see some potential here and I am willing to give it another shot.