Review: West Coast Plum?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 5, 2012
Not bad for ninety-nine cents.  The main character is reminiscent of Stephanie Plum, but Kate McCall is a whole lot more capable of taking care of herself.  Kate is smart-mouthed and sassy.  Nick, her cousin, is an ex-con who has a good understanding of people, including Kate, and he uses his skill to help his cousin solve cases.I also want to write the review without spoiling the story, so here goes...Ms. Lencioni can write, and careful readers will see growth between the first and third books.  They are not laugh out loud funny, but they're not a snooze fest, either.  This story is about a case that leads to a road trip from Washington state to California, and the author spends a good deal of time and space writing the journey from Seattle to LA.  The characters fight and complain.  They choose sides and jump sides.  They learn new things about each other.  They challenge each other--Mac, Kate and Nick's neighbor and self-appointed mentor, wants to do things the way he always has because that's the way he's always approached his work.  Kate and Nick come from a big family.  They use the tricks childhood taught them in order to get information from the people they talk to.  All of the characters are trying to figure out how to live in their respective worlds, but they *are* learning.  For this reader, that is important.Overall, there were a couple of instances when the plot veered off course.  Action that doesn't move a story forward needs to go, but, like I said, this is the author's third book and there is growth.  The books appear to be self-published, and normally I hate self-pubbed work because the writers lack skill. Happily, that is not the case here, and I hope to see more by Ms. Lencioni.  The author does need to brush up on comma rules because the errors pulled me out of the story more than once.  Other readers might not notice them, but for me they stood out.  All in all, that is my only complaint.  Final verdict?  Ninety-nine cents was a pretty good deal.  Happy reading!