Last Writes

Jaine Austen, owner of the writing service, This Pen For Hire has gotten a real job. Kandi, her best friend got her a job to write a script for the series "Muffy `n Me." This is Kandi's new job after many years with the Saturday morning cartoon, Beanie & The Cockroach. It starts out good, they seem to like her script and the gorgeous Quinn Kirkland, who plays the uncle of the lead character, actually flirts with her. But there's trouble on the set, Stan Miller, one of the head writers seems to spend most of his time drinking and his wife Audrey spends most of her time yelling. Zach Levy-Taylor who plays the boyfriend of Muffy seems to want it to continue in real life. Muffy herself, Vanessa Dale won't give him or anyone else the time of day. Things really turn bad when Quinn Kirkland turns up dead and the list of suspects run longer than the credits. He was having affairs with Vanessa, Audrey, Kandi and possibly every other woman on the lot. Was it a jealous, husband, boyfriend? The cops think it's a jealous spurned lover, named Kandi. Janine has to start her detective work again to try and save her best friend from a long term jail sentence. And it get's even more dangerous when she realizes that the killer is afraid of her investigation and may be trying to kill her. Highlights: This book is as funny as the first one. May be the best series as far as humor in the mystery genre. Great mystery. Jaine has to do some real detective work to figure it out and I never guessed the killer or the motive. Jaine's parents, whose e-mail appear throughout the book, they're retired to Florida and are hooked on the home shopping network and Jaine's father seems to think her mother is having an affair with one of the men on the network. Jaine's mother thinks her husband has gone insane. Lowlights. None, just a great series.

This was a great book, as was the first in the series, This Pen for Hire. I laughed out loud numerous times. Jaine Austen is witty and extremely likable. The plot moved along smoothly, the characters were well-developed and the end wasn't predictable. Can't wait for another!!

Jaine Austen is thrilled when her friend Kandi gets her an assignment writing an episode of the syndicated sit-com Muffy `n Me. And, if this goes well, it might even be a permanent job. With visions of Malibu beach homes in her head, Jaine starts work. Her dream dims a little when she encounters the cast fighting and poor working conditions. But it becomes a nightmare when one of the stars is poisoned during the filming of the first scene of her script. With Kandi as the prime suspect, Jaine must find out who the real killer is to keep her friend from going to jail.I enjoyed the first booking this series, but I think I liked this one more. It's light and fun, definitely for the humor mystery crowd. Jaine's narration is loads of fun, contrasting what she wants with what really happens. The characters are lively and well developed. All the secondary characters from the first book are back, from the memory writing octogenarians to Lance, the neighbor with x-ray hearing. They add some wonderful bits of humor. And the plot was great. It twisted so many ways that I still had no clue who had done it until the end. Plus the sub-plot with her parents is a riot. This is an enjoyable read. I'm already anxious for the next book in the series.

If the secret of life is joy, then Laura Levine's books are my bibles! Once again she has written a snappy and delightful novel. It is a delicious chocolate on my pillow each evening. Jaine is the Henny Youngman of reluctant detectives. She thinks one thing and says another. It is a lot of fun to read the inner thoughts of a character and hear the edited version she gives to the people who inhabit her world. These books would make a fabulous TV series. I am eager for the next book as I've become addicted to laughing out loud!

Laura Levine does it again.Her wisecracking, L.A.-hip heroine, Jaine Austen, is back on the crime-fighting scene -- quite by happenstance as in the series debut -- and her adventures provide page-after-page of laughs and surprises.This time, Jaine must find out who really murdered Quinn Kirkland, the oversexed heartthrob on the low-rent sit-com "Muffy 'n Me." Jaine, a freelance writer normally stuck writing ad copy for the likes of Toiletmasters Plumbers, has gotten a writing gig on the show thanks to her good friend Kandi Tobolowski, only to discover that this kind of showbiz is not what she bargained for.Her travails in tracking down Kirkland's real killer -- and saving Kandi in the process -- are loaded with the kinds of hilarious one-liners that made her first book, "This Pen for Hire," such a success."Last Rites" starts off briskly and maintains a steady pace of laughs and clues throughout. Readers will be hard-pressed to put this one down.Levine knows how to deliver a great summertime read -- heck, it's great for all seasons.