Review: Unexpected Pleasure
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2012
This mystery is firmly plotted along the lines of the innumerable Post-Feminist Lady in Distress sub-genre. It has the young woman amateur sleuth, the "hot" guy whom she wants to bed, the police guy who wants to bed her and who has his appeal for her, the best friend, the exploration of her needs, & etc., etc. What this book has, that so many of its sisters do not have, is a skilled writer who knows how to put words and sentences down on paper (figuratively speaking) and knows how to give her characters life within the narrow confines of what must be a relatively short and easily accessible novel. I was initially concerned at her including in her heroines personality, a truly terrible disease, what was until very recently called manic depressive behavior, now termed bipolar disorder; however, as the book progressed, she handled it well. There are some weaknesses to be mentioned: she shares the common deficiency of most writers in the sub-genre of failing firmly to embed her heroines crime solutions in available facts logically organized, there is an undue emphasis on happy or unhappy chance events, some of the characters are straw-"persons", etc. None of these characteristics weighed much against the book on my scale of pleasure. At these prices (at the moment 99 cents) it is a good bet for those with an affection for this type of book.