Vows, Vendettas and a Little Black Dress
In Davis's fluffy fifth Sophie Katz mystery (after 2009'sLust, Loathing and a Little Dark Chocolate), the part Jewish/part black mystery author and sleuth sets out to avenge the murder of her best friend, Dena Lopiano, the proprietor of an upscale San Francisco sex shop. When a bullet hits Dena in the back at the apartment of Dena's ditzy cosmetician cousin, Mary Ann, Sophie wonders whether Mary Ann, who's intent on a Disney-themed wedding with successful toymaker Monty Sanchez, was the real target, or even Sophie herself. Suspects include Mary Ann's ex-boyfriend, Rick Wilkes; Rick's weird taxidermist girlfriend, Fawn; and Chrissy Powell, the founder of MAAP (Moral Americans Against Pornography), whose husband once dated Dena. Wacky quotes fromFatally Yours, one of Sophie's books, and an exciting cliffhanger ending compensate in part for a surfeit of breathless dialogue and a too obvious killer.(June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.