Unzipped

Move over Moonlighting! If you recall that TV series (or even if you don't) you will not want to pass up this first-in-a-series--"Unzipped!" by Lois Greiman. Enter Chrissy McMullen, an L.A. psychotherapist with a penchant for fancy ice cream, sensible cars, and a seemingly unattainable lover/detective; Jack Rivera. After a hunky patient, in a rather `Un-zipped' situation, drops dead at Dr. Chrissy's feet, the chase for his murderer is on. Though the chase, according to Rivera, points directly to Chrissy, there are oodles of suspicious characters, possible motives and tons of dead-ends (as well as dead bodies) swirling about. Greiman's knack for showing us the interior thoughts of Chrissy's complicated world keeps those pages turning; yet the ultimate fascination as a reader, is the steamy-heat between Chrissy and Rivera. It burns and smokes, buttons go flying and in the end... Don't miss it--and thank goodness this is only the beginning!

Christina "Chrissy" McMullen is a psychologist in California. Ex-football player and celebrity Andrew "Bomber" Bomstad is one of her clients. He is, that is, until he drops dead in her office. He'd come to Chrissy for help with his impotency problem. The police believe she killed him because there is an open bottle of wine in her office and evidence, in his unzipped jeans, that he had been cured of his problem. Things are not what they seem, but Chrissy can't make police detective Jack Rivera see this. He just keeps hounding her to tell him why she killed the Bomber. Chrissy ends up asking an acquaintance from her cocktail waitressing days, an acquaintance she'd rather forget, to help her get some information on the Bomber because everything she's being told since his death doesn't match with what he'd told her when he was alive. I like the way Chrissy plays with Rivera's name to get to him. She knows she didn't kill the Bomber even though the police think she did, so she sets out to figure out who did. This puts her in some sticky situations that are very funny. I laughed out loud almost every time I picked this book up to read more. I found it hard to put it down. I just wanted to keep reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next one. Chrissy is a hoot and a fun amateur sleuth. There is a love interest as well which kept me wanting to read more to find out what would happen. I highly recommend this book and can't wait for the next one. I want to see what trouble Chrissy can get into next.

This is the most entertaining book I have read in a long, long time. Her "thoughts to herself" had me laughing out loud so often my husband demanded I read some of the paragraphs out loud. They were pictures for the mind's eye. If I take time from my horrendously busy schedule to read, I want to have a good time doing it and feel happy afterward. This book was perfect. Great dialog. Funny situations. Steamy but believable. Things that could really happen ... many have, to me. Self doubts that any woman has. A down to earth coctail waitress who has worked her way through college to a private practice, she works hard to look totally sophisticated but still runs on her blue collar knowledge at heart. She is a strong woman but this author doesn't take it too far. She doesn't make her try to be so independent that she just looks stupid. I get so frustrated with authors who make the heroine want to be established as so independent from her hero that she makes absolutely moronic choices putting everyone in danger.

I could not put this book down. Christina McMullen is a 30-something cocktail-waitress-turned-psychologist. The story begins when her client, former football pro "Bomber" Bomstad, chases Christina around her office seeking "therapy" and drops dead. In walks hunky detective Jack Rivera, whose prime suspect is Christina. I got a kick out of Christina's efforts to maintain an outwardly professional manner, which stood in sharp contrast with her still-a-cocktail-waitress train of thought. Christina's internal dialogue and her intentional trouble using Rivera's name kept me grinning. The unfolding mystery, the suspense and the sparks flying between Christina and Rivera kept me reading. It's fun. It's light. It's a page-turner. So go ahead... get Unzipped. You'll enjoy it!