Scoop

Scoop has it all - a Texas twang - bad guys, funny women, and parrot - what more do you want for pure entertainment? Seriously this book is smart, really fast paced (I didn't want to put it down) and gave me one of my favorite lines from a book I've ever read (I'm going to quote it often!). Kudos Kit, now hurry and write some more!

Author is exhibiting a fresh approach and hope more books are coming.

Cauley MacKinnon might just be the sexy, less jaded, Texan younger sister of Kinsey Millhone that we've all been hoping would show up as Sue Grafton's series winds its way through to Z. Kit Frazier's a talented newcomer with a sharp pen and intriguing setting far from the over-worked burbs and suburbs of New York and Los Angeles. I enjoyed this book and can't wait to get my hands on the next one.

Reading Kit Frazier's delightful debut mystery,SCOOP, is like a combo of: eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream right-out-the-carton, while watching your favorite vintage romantic thriller in your jammies, and then . . . blinking your eyes to find yourself strapped into the biggest roller coaster at Fiesta Texas! SCOOP offers it all-- breath-catching action, smart and sassy dialogue, a gutsy and endearing heroine, two sexy and mysterious heroes, great secondary characters, and even loveable pets. All this and a BONUS too: a fabulous taste of the author's home city, famous for lake-laced hills, music, food, "Pixy-Stick People," bat-watching--and the wacky slogan printed on a zillion tee-shirts: "Keep AUSTIN Weird." Kit Frazier, Austin Texas, and the Cauley MacKinnon Mystery Series: unbeatable, y'all!

Cauley MacKinnon made the mistake of dating her boss. So now she has transferred to the Sentinel's West Austin satellite office and been sentenced to writing the obituaries instead of real news. When her childhood pal, Scott "Scooter" Barnes, a former Dallas Cowboy, calls threatening suicide, Cauley goes to talk him out of it. She thinks it is odd for SWAT and FBI to be surrounding the shed Scooter is in, but manages to skirt by and reach her friend. She succeeds in talking Scooter out of suicide, after reminiscing about old times and hearing about his wife leaving him. So, no front page story and Cauley is back to being the Obituary Babe. But shortly thereafter Scooter is found dead in his exotic pet store. It looks like suicide, but Cauley is not too sure about that. It seems that everyone wants to know exacting what Scooter said to her in the shed. This includes, but is not limited to, FBI Agent Tom Logan, US Customs Agent John Fiennes, a mean one-eared thug, the Argentine mafia, and various media. Problem is that Scooter did not really tell her anything. Things get rough when she is almost kidnapped, drives into Lake Austin, followed by her house getting ransacked. Thanks to her new canine friend, Marlowe, and her aunt's rather indignant cat, Muse, some interesting clues turn up. Cauley MacKinnon is fast becoming a hysterical, trouble-prone obituary writer with huge crushes on a couple of cuties from two different branches of the US government. ***** This is the first book in the new Cauley MacKinnon mystery series. If the others are even half as good as this one is, then author Kit Frazier's future will be an astounding success. This is an author to keep your eye on, Readers! A real winner! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.