Monday 18 December 2006

Book ~ "This Pen For Hire" - Laura Levine (2003)

From Amazon.com ~ Humor is the key ingredient in this slick debut by television comedy writer, Levine. Freelancer Jaine Austen (her mother loved the classics but couldn't spell) makes a living writing love letters, personal ads and industrial brochures, but she never expected her work to involve her in murder. When geeky Howard Murdoch hires her to pen a letter proclaiming his love for gorgeous fitness instructor, Stacy Lawrence, no one is more surprised than Jaine when Stacy agrees to go out with Howard on Valentine's Day. But Harold arrives for their date only to find that someone has bludgeoned Stacy to death with a ThighMaster. Feeling some responsibility for the hapless Howard, now the police's only suspect, Jaine starts digging. Stacy might have been beautiful, but most people disliked her. Elaine Zimmer wanted the corner apartment Stacy had just moved into and the building superintendent seemed besotted with her. Then there's the volatile, married producer, not to mention the girlfriend Stacy stole him from. Handsome neighbor, Cameron Bannick, a straight antiques dealer, piques Jaine's interest (she hasn't had a good date in a long time) and becomes a dashing Watson to Jaine's Sherlock. Though her life is in danger, Jaine never loses her sense of humor as the story zips along to an action-filled and surprising climax. Levine delivers the goods and readers who appreciate a heroine with wry, self-deprecating humor will hope Jaine soon gets caught up in another murder.

I enjoyed Levine's Killer Blonde a couple weeks ago so looked for more with this character. It was just as amusing and sarcastic and the ending was a surprise.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an interesting read and my kind of genre as well- Btw, can I have your email address?

Anonymous said...

I like reading too. But I can't remember when was my last time to read a novel or casual book:-(

All I read in recent years are all job-related books!

:-)Sunflower

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that. I really need to get back into reading. I think I'll start working my way through the pile of books I've got waiting sometime over the Christmas/New Year holiday. I always have the best intentions in the new year, but my book reading peters out towards summer. I must get busier as the year gets on!

Take care :)

Anonymous said...

This is very weird: This is the first time I've been to your blog AND I just happened to come across these books last week and checked out 'This Pen For Hire'. I like it, so I checked out the rest and am about half way through the last one, 'Killer Blond'.

This is a great blog =)

utenzi said...

I just finished reading a Levine book this morning before work. The PMS Murder. It was light reading but pretty good. A few too many self-deprecating remarks on the main character's part--they get old after a while--but all-in-all an enjoyable read.