The Platypus Ploy

McNab has written many entertaining books, and can hold your interest, a scarce talent for many writers. The editing was not the best in this book but it was fun and serious at the same time. If you have not read any of Claire's, Detective Carol Ashton books, do so. I miss Carol. Don't get me wrong, Kylie is a wonderful character but she needs just a bit more ommphph if you know what I mean. Overall, I give the book a high rating, as lesbian novels go, she is very, very good and works hard to make you smile. I do recommend this title.

Once again Claire McNab shows her talent for wrapping a mystery in humor. Though she has been writting for years, with her Kylie Kendall series, she's struck pure gold. The Platypus Ploy is the fifth book in the series and opens with Kylie, transplanted Australian and detective in training, preparing to work undercover in a retirement home for show business stars. Someone is embezzling money and Kylie's agency has been hired to find out who it is. This brings her in contact with outrageous individuals, including a Shakespearean ham, a faded matinee idol, and a former Hollywood beauty queen who has a voracious appetite for women. Unfortunately, before the investigation can proceed very far, someone kidnaps Ariana Creeling, Kylie's partner in the agency and the woman she adores. Kylie is sure that someone at the home knows what has happened and that to rescue Ariana, she's going to have to solve the mystery, but getting anyone to talk is extremely difficult. Things take an even darker turn when it becomes clear that Ariana's disappearance is connected to someone who has been stalking Kylie and making death threats. Kylie knows she's in a race against time and the reward is Ariana's life. The series is peopled with a great supporting cast of characters, including Melodie, the receptionist-soon-to-be-major-star who uses her network of receptionists to know everything before the Office of Homeland Security; Fran, the self-appointed office manager who insists on having disaster drills for The Big One, whether it's a nuclear attack or general terrorist mayhem, and Julia Roberts, the cat who rules the office and torments Lonnie the computer geek. This book also includes, besides the entertainment has-beens, a psychic who keeps things stirred up. If you haven't read any of the previous books, you really should start at the beginning with The Wombat Strategy, then go to The Kookaburra Gambit, The Quokka Question and The Dingo Dilemma. The development of the characters is progressive in the books and, unlike some series, you don't get the same story over and over with just a different title. If you like a good mystery that will also have you laughing, you'll love these books.

This entire Kylie Kendall series is hilarious! If you want to laugh out loud, please read it now. Perhaps I'm biased with the secret delight I hold for all things Australian. This series is rife with Australian colloquialisms, each delighting me more than the last as fish-out-of-water Kylie Kendall makes the transition from a small town in the Australian Outback (where she helped her mum run a pub) to crazy LA, where she attempts to break into the PI business her father left her. Her unique perspective, and good-natured determination, along with a refusal to be cowed as she stumbles into one crazy situation after another, experiencing and overcoming set-backs and obstacles of a literal and emotional nature, is a delight to experience. The characters in this book are also very colorful, and distinct individuals. In the first book it's highly entertaining to see what the other members of Kendall & Creeling Investigations make of Kylie and vice versa. And here, by the fifth book or so they're still often perplexed by the actions and reactions of one another. There's the cat (named Julia Roberts), the receptionist, the IT/technician/gadget guy, the more senior investigator who agrees to mentor Kylie (as required by law so that she can get her PI license), and who is also endlessly delighted by the trouble she gets herself into. Ruling over it all is the calm, cool and collected Ariana Creeling, who Kylie takes an instant shine to, but it's less clear initially whether the reverse is true. If you've read Claire McNab before, you know that there isn't much in the way of traditional romance in her books. This series is less severe than her other two (Ashton, and Denise Cleever). She doles out crumbs to keep your appetite whetted, but her strengths come in the form of incisive observation and reporting of the human condition, expressing the humor, poignancy and emotion we're driven to simply by situation and interaction. Her juxtaposition of Kylie, Ariana, and the rest of the crew shows wit and cleverness. She focuses on plot and characterization versus romance, and it seems that she writes Kylie with a certain prescience, reflecting her own confused delight with the admittedly strange world of LA. If you're looking for a typical romance, where emotions are expressed and dissected, you're not going to be happy with this series. However, if you're willing to do the unrequited love dance with Kylie (though not without hope), and are in the mood for some amusing little mysteries in which the heroine invariably gets herself into and out of hot water repeatedly (certainly a grand old Hollywood tradition), usually through her wits and some fast-talking (and not a small amount of charm), then check this series out. Each book is frustratingly short, but high on entertainment value. Start with the first book, though (I think I got the order right): Wombat Strategy, Kookaburra Gambit, Quokka Question, Dingo Dilemma, Platypus Ploy

Formerly from the Outback Kylie Kendell moved to Los Angeles and became a private investigator. She and her lover Ariana Creeling are into a long term exclusive commitment. However, as Kylie still struggles with Americanization she learns what a "kunahura" is when she thinks how good her life is with Ariana. Soon afterward, Ariana vanishes with no sign of an intruder at their house, no hint of violence; just poof; Kylie knows she jinxed their relationship when she thought how good it is. Despondent Kylie decides to try to follow the trail of her significant other. The few clues she has lead to Clarice Turner Evenstar Home for elderly show business stars. To get inside, Kylie becomes a volunteer at the Home, but soon realizes that the residents are not going gently into the night. She follows other clues that lead her to a prime suspect, but not to her beloved Ariana. The latest Kylie investigative thriller (see DINGO DILEMMA) is a wonderful mystery as THE PLATYPUS PLOY is personal with the heroine's lesbian partner going missing. The story line is fast-paced as Kylie follows the clues, but also loaded with angst as she worries she will be too late to find her lover and feels illogically guilt for thinking how good the relationship is. Readers will appreciate Claire McNab's delightful tale of the missing mate. Harriet Klausner