Review: Quite a mish-mash...think "Get Smart"
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2013
I probably would give this book a 2.5 but was mindful that it is the first review and went to 3.The story  falls into the silly but harmless category. It simply tries too hard to be cute, to be relevant, to build tension, etc., but did none of the above.The reader is introduced to a bunch of Middle Eastern baddies that I found almost impossible to keep straight. Way too many characters flung into the mix...Iranians, Syrians, Russians and French.  The author tried to inject the current political situation in Syria as a relevant storyline but never closed the deal on making me care about anyone except the little girl Rosie and the dog Briggs.The main characters Bea and Ben continually sniped at each other and constantly argued in what they interpreted as part of their love relationship, but it drove me batty---I would have been happy to add two more murders to the tally. Ben was too condescending for words and smacked of the "now, now little lady, I don't expect you to understand..." school of old-time mystery writing.The second half of the book was more coherent---I believe it was intended as a stand-alone story but most of the plot and characters carried over. My brain got tired when it was forced to read preachy interludes about the good of ideological spy missions...yikes.The rest of the characters were unbelievable or annoying in one way or another and the back-story was contrived and confusing. The attempt to emphasize Shakespearean comparisons at every turn was extremely heavy handed and simply didn't work. The book seemed to be reaching above its capability with myriad convoluted explanationsThe reason I initially mulled a 2.0 rating involved typos of the following sort:Did the girl turned it overRomantic tristTosseded it with strawberry vinaigretteLittle girl's handed gently pattedReigning inSew the seeds of dissentIt leant a rustic charmCockamammy for cockamamieFilippino misspelled with a double "p" then later correctedMIssToo complicate for ... me to understand?His use of suc a deceptionReceliner for reclinerI read a ton of mystery books, and as that genre goes, this was not badly written...it just tried to do too many things within the confines of a rather pedestrian story.