Doppelgangster: An Esther Diamond Novel

Humor is a lot harder to write than angst, but authors who do it as well as Laura Resnick are pure gold. Esther Diamond and her friends are terrific comic creations, with the wacky distractibility of real people. Poor Lopez. I suspect that his trials with Esther are just beginning! If you like your urban fantasy with intelligence, humor, and not much gore, Resnick's Manhattan is well worth a visit. I hope this is a good long series.

New York actress Esther Diamond waits for her next gig, but brings in needed cash while resting between roles as a singing waitress at Bella Stella because the patrons when they are not killed are mobsters who everyone knows are the best tippers. As she shares Ben and Jerry with NYPD Irish-Cuban police detective Connor Lopez, the deceased gangsters suddenly return to life. Connor leads the investigations into the dead firing guns with real ammo. At the same Eastern Standard Time, Esther and her unwise in the way of street magic but a guru with magic-Magic, Max the Magician and his crime fighting companion Nelli the saliva canine queen at her side, also makes inquiries on a slightly different plane than the cops as a gang war from beyond threaten the streets of Manhattan. The sequel to Disappearing Nightly is an amusing urban fantasy starring a wonderful heroine surrounded by a horde of eccentrics, one straight cop, and one interfering matchmaking mom. The jocular story line is filled with a fast-paced frenzy from the first magical mugging until the last as Esther proves once again to be a reader's best friend with her misadventures in Manhattan mystical mayhem. Harriet Klausner

I'm fairly new to the urban fantasy genre. I read the first Esther Diamond book, "Disappearing Nightly",about a year ago and absolutly loved it. I passed it on to all my friends. They also enjoyed it. I had been anxiously awaiting the next book, and I was not disappointed! Dopplegangster is funny, witty, and impossible to put down. I am already looking forward to the next book!

Esther Diamond is between acting jobs. To make ends meet, she takes a job waiting tables at Bella Stella. Connor Lopez, the cop who may or may not be Esther's boyfriend, is concerned because Bella Stella is frequented by the Gambello crime family, but hey, a girl's gotta make a living! Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella's regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She's traumatized by the event, the tabloids are painting her as mob-connected, Lopez doesn't believe her version of events, and she's starting to suspect that Charlie's double was created by magic. When other doubles start popping up, followed by more murders, it's up to Esther to find the killer, with the help of Max, her centuries-old wizard friend; Lucky, an aging wiseguy; and Max's new "familiar," Nelli, who may be a mystical creature but seems more like an ordinary, slobbering Canis familiaris. What follows is a twisty, well-executed mystery plot laced with plenty of humor. Laura Resnick touches on some serious themes from time to time -- these are gangsters, not Boy Scouts, after all -- but DOPPELGANGSTER never gets too heavy or depressing. In fact, it's laugh-out-loud funny, the kind of book that makes me want to use words like "screwball" and "romp." Esther and her friends make a hilarious team, and I love watching them interact. My favorite scenes include Lucky teaching Max to use gangster lingo, and pretty much any scene involving the dog. (Max would of course correct me. I shouldn't call Nelli a dog. She's a familiar!) DOPPELGANGSTER is a great mix of urban fantasy, humor, mystery, and maybe a dash of chick lit. It had me in stitches. I also recommend Resnick's first Esther Diamond book, Disappearing Nightly. You don't have to read it to follow Doppelgangster's storyline, but it's worth tracking down anyway, just because it's fun!

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress in New York. When she starts working at a restaurant known for being a local mob hang out, her current love interest (who happens to be a cop) isn't happy about it. After Esther is the sole witness to a murder of a well-known wiseguy, she soon finds herself in the middle of a mystery involving doppelgangers, curses, and revenge. As soon as I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down. Esther is a fantastic character, complex and smart. But the wiseguys are the real treat, appearing as if they walked right out of Goodfellas. The plot is a fast-paced mystery, with and plenty of suspense, magic, and laced with humor. Italian mafia, peculiar magic, a bit of romance, and a murder mystery - what a great combination! Doppelgangster was completely entertaining from beginning to end. This was easily some of the most fun I've had reading urban fantasy. I'm glad I read it over Christmas break, as I couldn't put it down and finished it within a day. If you're looking for a fast and fun fantasy, look no further. I have found a new author to follow, and another book to make my list of favorites of the year.