Review: ENJOYABLE SERIES, SMART STRONG HEROINE
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 21, 2013
I admit that part of my searches for new mystery books lead off with a female herowho is strong, complex and witty.  My first experience with the culture of EasternSeaboard Italians was when my French Canadian aunt married a low level wiseguy35 years ago.  Coming from a family of teachers, soldiers and farmers left me with noexperience when I visited their Little Italy walkup.  My cousin thanked me for thehospitality shown to his mother by my mother's sister (also my godmother).My blank look earned me a laugh; my cousin said that when his father's bossgot caught with a shipment of smuggled cigarettes, his father got tapped to takethe fall to save the boss from a longer sentence.  Apparently my law abidinggodmother told my paternal aunt when her son-in-law was off duty at the local mediumsecurity prison so he did run into her while visiting her jailbird husband!  According tomy cousin, it was to keep both men safe from the other prisoners.  I was shocked!  None ofmy cousins went into the family business but my cousins usually did not eat at the sametable as the law enforcement side of my family. The idea of preserving family was of suchimportance that no one ever made any remarks either.  (The story is true, the familyconnections moved around to protect the innocent and avoid offending those who are not).The Esposito Seri consists of three novels revolving around the female law enforcementteacher Lavinia Vinnie Esposito.  The characters emerge at different degrees of depthand complexity.  Unfortunately, the author heavily relies on a few long-standing plotmechanisms that really stand out when you read all three books closely together.I grew irritated with Lola's Julia Roberts' smile,, the WWF description of Aaron, andconstant reminders of earlier facts not that hard to remember between chapters.Another thing I found flinging me out of the story were the Clueish nameslike Mr. Alabaster and the lawyer named Schmuck.  I really like my name sousing names to add insult to the characters is irritating, esp since the attorneyallowed an ex parte with a judge to benefit his client.There was room in these novels for more depth to the secondary characters.I felt that Vinnie's Aunt Lena was well drawn out and her reactions credible(and I am still unsure if she was serving a very bad pate or cat food!).The three book set was easy on price and the time I spent reading them was notwithout reward.  I feel if the author can learn from the critiques, Vinnie is a crimeprocedural sleuth well worth following.  The four stars is based on my respect forthose brave enough to put their creations on the line and to acknowledge this seriesis solidly written with room for improvement.