Last Writes

I just finished another Jaine Austen novel, the one that I believe is second if going chronologically, Last Writes. This one was hilarious - Jaine manages to get on as a guest writer on a sitcom, and finds out how un-glamorous Hollywood life can actually be. Of course, everyone is starstruck (and proposing their scripts), but the gossip train really fires up when a murder occurs on set.

This story was hilarious and emotionally charged, with Jaine investigating upon an earnest request. While she battles the rigors of television production and the demands of her cat, Prozac, the mystery unfolds in a way that is a surprise unless the reader has a good memory and/or reads the book in one sitting (most mysteries go like that, though, unless you take notes, which...you're going to find out, ANYWAY, so...) and has lots of logical explanations that makes the most common guesses (my most common) at least partially right. Fingers point everywhere until the story, at last, crests at the confession.

The PMS Murder

On a recent murder-mystery binge, I finished The PMS Murder, one of the Jaine Austen books by Laura Levine. Jaine's wise-cracking, food loving personality warmed up to me and cracked me up almost as soon as I started flipping the pages. The writing was as quirky and funny as I remembered from This Pen for Hire and the selection from Candy Cane Murder. I thoroughly enjoyed weaving my way through the Los Angeles mystery of a murder at a very high-scale home -- one at which Jaine herself happens to be at when the death occurs. Interactions with Lance, her nosy next-door neighbor, and the other personalities in her fellow murder attendees/suspects are entertaining and Jaine's sharp wit keeps things interesting and moving. Plus, watching her job as a freelance writer pan out alongside the story is quite amusing.

This Pen For Hire

I talked about Candy Cane Murder in a prior post. By sheer chance, when I'd grabbed that book from the library, thinking it was just a pure Joanne Fluke Hannah Swensen mystery, I'd passed by gloms of books by the other two authoresses. For whatever reason, I didn't pick up any of the Leslie Meier ones - the all holiday/event-themed titles didn't appeal to me, I think it was - but I did pick up one by Laura Levine - the apparent debut novel of the Jaine Austen series, This Pen for Hire. When I realized that the second short story about the wise-cracking Californian coincided with that novel, I was excited, because I liked the urban tone of the novel (a little more relatable to me than a cozy small town where everyone always knew everyone or a rural area where...it was...rural. And you were pregnant.). Also, Levine's short story had been highly comedic.

Well, This Pen For Hire was like a full novel version of that short story. It was a great read. And, the characters were so endearing, I figured out who the real murderer was about halfway to three-quarters of the way through the book (or suspected), but I refused to believe it - I did not want that character, of all the characters, to be the killer. Of course, that was on purpose, but it was still a character connection. And, the novel was wise-cracking humor all the way through. It had some good subplots and really set up the potential for a good cast of characters.

Overall, I'm not sure if this has displaced the warm, fresh-baked coziness of the Hannah Swensen novels in my "unconventional murder mystery heroine" book, but I'm sure as heck letting Jaine munch on Hannah's cookies up there at the top. And...maybe I'll check out a Meier and see if Lucy Stone can chill with Jaine's friend Kandi, a fellow ex-New Yorker. (I'm getting very corny now. Wow.)

In less silly words, I enjoyed the book.

Candy Cane Murder

I was rather surprised when I picked this up. Rather than being just another one of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries, it was a three-in-one -- two other authors under the same publishing house contributed to the book, making it a set of three short stories.

The first story was a typical Hannah Swensen murder mystery. It's Christmas in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and a local department store tycoon plays Santa...until he ends up dead. In typical Hannah fashion, the tight-knit ties of family and a small town mix with scrumptious cookies for a heartwarming yet bone-chilling mystery that's got a laid back, cozy pace.

The second story, written by Laura Levine, is a murder mystery starring an LA girl, Jaine Austen. While Jaine - who, as an aside, would fall head over heels for Hannah('s cookies) - deals with the doom of an upcoming Christmas in Florida with family and the discovery that volunteering to spend time with motherless girls isn't as simple as it seems, she takes on a request from a local roofer to clear him of suspicion. A roof that he recently fixed came loose, causing his former client to fall to his death, but he swears the roof was done properly. Jaine's story has a grittier feel to it than the former, having a more urban setting and pace.

The final story is probably the most relaxed of the three. Written by Leslie Meier, this follows Lucy Stone, a New York City mother moved to rural Tinker's Cove, Maine. She doesn't run around chasing down murderers - with a toddler in tow and a second child on the way, this comes as no surprise - but rather tries to solve the mystery of the local librarian's mother's death by digging through memories and records. This story is laid back, showing the historical mystery as well as Lucy's struggles to live in a major "fix-er-up" with funds drying quickly, all the while dealing with her child and husband.