Review: Seriously Funny Mystery with a LOT of punch!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2013
I'm an avid fan of all things mystery...but I ADORE mysteries that know how to be seriously comedic in the face of the dark side of murder and mayhem. For instance...who can read of Agatha Christie's egg-shaped hypochondriac Hercule Poirot and keep a straight face? The Dame added enough humor to her mysteries, you end up loving the endearing quirkiness of Hercule and her other main sleuth, quiet, demure, like a rattle snake, Miss Jane Marple...PAINTED JEZEBEL...Jolie Pethel has created a similar atmosphere and main characters with her feisty, despite all her phobias, and boy does she have a boatload of phobias, Jezebel Jinx and her counter-part, who just happens to be her publicist hunky Finn Mackenzie...although at times you want to smack him.Finn has been sent by their devious boss to drag, trick, hogtie, or whatever else is needed to get Jezebel, a card carrying agoraphobic, though best selling romance-mystery writer, to the romance conference about to begin in California.Trickery is Finn's middle name...after all, he's Irish and no doubt has the blood of leprechauns running through him. Despite Jezebel's equally tenacious determination NOT to end her comfortable two year isolation, Finn pulls out all the stops and does what needs to be done.PAINTED JEZEBEL is a hilarious adventure with more twists and turns than the most elaborate spiral staircase you'll ever find anywhere.There is a reason why Jezebel legally changed her name to Jezebel JINX. Trouble follows her like metal shavings race after a passing magnet. To get her calm enough to enter the hotel where the conference is being held, Finn hands her several airplane bottles of hard core liquor. As someone who doesn't drink, those tiny bottles quickly have her tripping over her words and acting...cut that "acting" part out...she IS without a doubt, DRUNKER THAN A SKUNK upon signing in.I LOVE this book. It's been waiting for me on my e-reader for over a year and a half. That I only JUST got to reading it has me kicking myself in the pants...or I would be if my spine weren't out of whack making moving my leg far enough to actually kick myself more pain that I want to inflict upon my already throbbing hip and spinal cord..so I will just slap myself silly later for skimming by this book so many times before.I can tell you, this IS a book I will re-read. It's funny, it's different, the perpetrator is a surprise, or should I say was impossible to figure out. Jezebel is FANTASTIC. She's such a gloriously well-rounded basket case with enough attitude to make you love her right from the start.At the end there is a brief intimation another Jezebel Jinx mystery is coming...I can't wait...and THIS time, it won't sit inside my e-reader for over a year and a half waiting for me to see it and remember to read it.Thank YOU, Ms. Pethel for a lip-smackingly scrumptious ride. FIVE STARS for PAINTED JEZEBELPromise you'll keep them coming.