Customer Reviews

Black Widow Agency (The Black Widow Agency)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This novel is a fun and intelligent read that women of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy. It teams up women and technology in seeking justice for those wronged in a smart, realistic and humorous way. A really fun book that portrays women in an empowering light. Can't wait for the sequel!

I live near Portsmouth NH where the author has been a police officer. I really wanted to like it, but as good as the technology was, I couldn't warm up to the characters. Her writing style is good and if the characters had had more depth I think I would have really liked this book.

I had been wanting this book for a long time, having read about the premise for it some months ago and thought it sounded great. Having been burned many times before by books that 'sounded good' I've taken to checking out untried authors from the library first, and in this case was glad I did. I have to say, I could not finish this book, and don't typically even review books I don't finish. But I feel like someone ought to warn others who are planning to pay good money for it. The character development was nil, with very stereotypical, two-dimensional characters that I couldn't feel anything about one way or another. The writing style was also choppy and dry; rather than weaving a tale together in an interesting way, it felt like a textbook recitation of each of the histories of the women and how they came to be in business together. I give the author points for the idea, but the execution of that idea was just not well done.

A great mystery! Four women who all work together at the Black Widow Agency and combine their individual strengths and talents to help others who haven't gotten anywhere through usual means or channels. I could really relate to this seeing many situations where this occurs. What a premise! Love it.

Each woman in the agency has their talents; A financial whiz, a computer genius, an ex-cop and a good manager/cook.

A client comes to them who has lost everything and had her life ruined by the machinations of unethical relatives. So the ladies of the Black Widow agency get to work! And having a team with all those skills look out!

Soon a plan comes together. Anyway, don't want to ruin the story but Let's just say that its wonderful to see the bad guy get what they deserve finally! A light mystery with some humor and a touch of romance. This book had it all. Delightful!

LM

I personally liked this book. I am a librarian and the book was well received by many of our patrons. It has been classified by most as a "fun read." We are all looking forward the next installment. Hope one is coming soon.

The women who run the Black Widow Agency harbor grudges against the men that wronged them and now make it their mission to help others from getting the short end of the stick. The leader is Katie, an ex-police officer who still has feelings for the man who betrayed her. Alexandria is a computer expert with an exotic pet--a tarantula. I enjoyed that the writer, Felicia Donovan, developed diverse characters with varying ages. Great start to what promises to be a wonderful series.

Four very diverse women who have been wronged, have come together to create a detective agency: a financial whiz, a computer genius with a pet black widow, an ex-cop, and a manager/cook. Their specialty is to help other women who haven't been able to get results using the usual means.

They often use very creative ways to help these women. Sometimes I found that hard to read. But overall, I loved the book. The four women work great together and are each complex in their own way. I can't wait to read further books to learn more about each of their pasts.

I'm not a spider fan, so some of the discussion of the black widow bothered me, but overall it just added to the story.

I really enjoyed the use of modern technology to solve their cases. Hope there will be lots more of that in future books. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading Spun Tales.

I loved the premise behind this book - that four wronged women band together to create a detective agency geared towards righting wrongs. Each of the four main characters is well drawn and distinct in voice and bring to the agency and the series very specific talents. I found the character of Katie Mahoney to be particularly complex and the use and description of modern technology fascinating.

While this book has its flaws, overall it was a very charming and entertaining read. I look forward to the sequel.

I liked the idea of this book; however, to me at least, the execution was disappointing.

If you like books you can read in a couple of hours, and don't need a lot of character development, you may enjoy this. For my taste, however, both the characters and the plot were closer to an outline than a finished product -- more like a brief sketch than a finished picture.

Each character is defined by a few characteristics (e.g., drinks too much, computer nerd, etc.) and that's about it. In addition, the plot is obvious and the methods of revenge are wildly unrealistic.

I read this book for a computer forensics project in which the main focus was to compare the portrayal of the science in the media to the actual science. The author did a very good job of covering the many aspects of computer forensics and how they can be used to obtain evidence, most likely because she is "a recognized expert in the field of law enforcement technology", according to her biography on the back cover. However, that aside, the quality of writing in this novel was not good at all. The characters the author creates are stereotypical representations of their backgrounds: the curvy, out-spoken black woman, the fashion-obsessed gay man, the bitter divorcee, the shy computer geek who forms relationships through the internet and has an odd obession with her pet spider. The variety in word choice is also very limited, and the breaks after many sections provide unnecessary drama. There's even an inconsistency in the spelling of one woman's name; on the back cover, it's spelled 'Margot', but throughout the entire novel, it's spelled 'Margo'. Overall, the author does an excellent job with the representation of computer forensics, but does a poor job with telling the story.