Review: Delicious First Taste of Mango
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 16, 2011
Lawrence Kelter, author of the fine Stephanie Chalice mystery series, has just released "Kiss of the Devil's Breath", his first book featuring Hollywood PI Frank Mango. I was fortunate enough to read an ARC of the novel and found Mango to be a compelling protagonist and narrator: part anachronistic Mike Hammer, part Nelson DeMille's wise-cracking John Corey, and part Ed McBain's willfully obnoxious Fat Ollie Weeks. With Mango as our guide, "Kiss of the Devil's Breath" takes on the immoral underbelly of Tinseltown. The humor can be laugh-out-loud funny if not always politically correct, and Mango's self deprecating wit proves that he can be an equal opportunity skewer with his barbs. The mystery itself seemed poised for a pretty standard solution, but just when I thought everything was resolved there was one final twist. A great bargain at 99 cents.