Dating Is Murder

You won't want to put it down for very long. Although the comparison to Evanovich is unavoidable, it's not a copycat book by any means. "Detective" Wollie Shelley (what a name!) is very much her own quirky person, and the setting is LA (Wollie is living in West Hollywood) rather than New Jersey. This is the first by this author and I look forward to more, although there were enough intriguing comments in this book that she could go back and write one in the period *before* this book. The plot involves a missing au pair. Wollie is a contestant on a cheesy reality TV show called "Biological Clock" in which the audience will vote on who should be helped to make a baby -- and one of the prizes if she wins will be health care coverage. Besides, she's getting to the age where she may need help to conceive (all of this is told rather humorously with guest experts on the show). Annika has been hanging out on the set because she wants to help produce a similar show in her native Germany. Annika's mother calls Wollie to ask her to find out where her daughter is -- she missed their Sunday phone call and has disappeared. A visit to the police isn't helpful, so Wollie and her friend Joey (one of the show's producers) start investigating on their own, interviewing a number of people. Wollie has an attractive but mysterious man trailing her and warning her off -- but warning her off what? The show? Her investigation of Annika? There's quite a bit of humor in this book, but even more important for me, the book was well-plotted and truly a mystery.

This follow-up to the tremendously entertaining _Dating Dead Men_ lives up to its predecessor. These books are a cross between mystery and romance--or maybe chick-lit. They have a light touch on the whole boy-meets-girl thing and a light touch on the whole somebody-goes-missing-or-gets-killed thing, and they have many, many laugh out loud moments. Kozak's protagonist Wollstonecraft (Wollie) Shelley is a bit of a ditz, but she's warm and likeable and generally pretty plausible as a character. The story is convoluted, but not unbelievably so. I rather suspect that if I started investigating the disappearance of a German au pair, I'd find a lot of tangents myself. Kozak does a good job of combining humor with some genuinely creepy and disturbing mystery elements. One scene in the book managed to be both gut-wrenching and amusing at the same time. I was put off at first by the absence of the first novel's hero. The romance element of the novels means you get invested in Wollie's boyfriends. But I trusted that Kozak would make the ride pleasant anyway and offer me an equally attractive male foal point for this novel, and she didn't disappoint. I look forward to seeing what Kozak does next.

As I said when I reviewed her 1st book, you can not find a fresher combination of side-splitting humor and sharp intelligence. Our heroine is independent, feminist, human, falliable, funny, intelligent, bright and down-to-earth! This author is sharp, sharp, sharp. It's so nice to see a mystery that doesn't treat women like Miss Marple looking for a cheesecake recipe. Kozak is very witty and to be watched. Her characters are funny, diverse, madcap and amusing. Her protagonist is strong and intelligent. Enjoy! I am now enamoured with Ms. Kozak and will be waiting impatiently for her next book!

I always wonder if the second book in a series will be as good as the first. So often, they are not. In this case, it is better. Dating is Murder is clever, fun and entertaining as heck. I couldn't put it down. And, the ending sequence was the best I've read all year. Just when you think it can't get better, it does. Kudos, Ms. Kozak.

I read Harley Jane Kozak's first book, DATING DEAD MEN, on a plane flight that my fellow passengers probably thought was a little turbulent, when really it was only me shaking the whole damn plane because I was laughing so hard. Kozak's writing is much smarter and funnier than most work in the female sleuth genre, and DATING IS MURDER is fully the equal of its predecessor in humor and depth of characterization. Kozak brings back old friends from DATING DEAD MEN-the inimitable Fredreeq, the redoubtable Joey, the astutely deranged P.B., the singular Uncle Theo, the offstage drawling Rex Stetson-and introduces an array of beguiling new characters. No detail goes astray in the consistently engaging plot, not Richard Feynman or the goose or the cat or the meat mallet, and especially not Conraua (Gigantorana) goliath. The world of the novel is beautifully realized, Wollie's wryly observant voice is a joy, the attraction Kozak conjures between Wollie and Simon is palpable, and the pace never falters. Viva Wollie and her witty, gifted creator!