2 Bodies for the Price of 1 (Body Movers, Book 2) [Paperback]

Stephanie Bond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

With fugitive parents, a brother dodging loan sharks, a hunky cop who's made her outlaw family his business, and her ex-fiancé back in the picture, Carlotta Wren thought her life couldn't get any more complicated. And then…

Her fugitive parents phone home.

Her identity is stolen by a look-alike.

Her look-alike is found, well…dead.

Under suspicion for murder, Carlotta discovers that her devious double might have been bumped off accidentally—and that she could be the real target! Throw in dealing with her motley crew of family, friends and wannabe lovers, and Carlotta begins to think that jail isn't such a bad alternative after all….

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bond's charming new Carlotta Wren mystery (after 2006's Body Movers) has all the ingredients for a chic sleuth-a-thon, from identity theft and designer clothes to dead bodies and poker. Rich girl–turned–Neiman's shop girl Carlotta was left at 18 to raise her 10-year-old brother, Wesley, after their parents, Randolph and Valerie, skipped town to avoid investment fraud charges. Ten years later, snarky Atlanta DA Kelvin Lucas has reopened the case. Grouchy love interest Det. Jack Terry wants information that Carlotta's afraid to divulge. Randolph makes a mysterious call to Carlotta and also gets in touch with Peter Ashford, her attentive ex-fiancé. Wesley, an oddly likable slacker and compulsive gambler, believes in their dad's innocence, but Carlotta's not so sure. When a woman with Carlotta's car and I.D. apparently kills herself, Lucas requests a fake funeral to lure her parents back. Bond keeps the pace frantic, the plot tight and the laughs light, and supplies a cliffhanger ending that's a bargain at twice the price. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"What a great book! I'm really glad my wife made me read it." -- Stephanie's husband --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1921505524
• ISBN-13: 978-1921505522
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Stephanie Bond was several years into a corporate computer programming career when an instructor in her night school MBA program remarked that she had a flair for writing and encouraged her to submit one of her projects to academic journals. "But," Stephanie says, "all I could think was 'I wonder if I could write a romance novel?'" Bond grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky where the entertainment choices were few. Luckily, she had a beloved aunt who shared her passion for reading. "When she visited once a year, she brought boxes and boxes of books by Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and lush historicals--I was in heaven! I think I learned most of what I know about world history from historical romance novels. So suddenly thinking about writing in the genre of the books I loved so much was very exciting." After writing every spare moment for two years, Stephanie sold her first romantic comedy manuscript, IRRESISTIBLE? to Harlequin books. Two years later, she walked away from her corporate career to write commercial fiction full time. To date, she's published over 60 romance and mystery projects with various New York publishers, and is most well-known for her BODY MOVERS humorous mystery series. Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta and is probably working on a new story at the very moment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars, August 5, 2007

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2 Bodies for the Price of 1 (Body Movers, Book 2) (Paperback)

Carlotta Wren really would not think that anyone would WANT to steal her identity. After all since her parents went on the lam ten years ago, she's been jilted, in debt, had to deal with raising her brother who has a bad gambling habit, and been involved in murders. Yet, someone has not only stolen her identity, but is well on their way to ruining her life. Her credit has gone from bad to deplorable, her cell phone bill is impossibly high, and that's just for starters. Then, she comes home to find the four men in her life; her brother, Wesley, Detective Jack Terry, ex-fiance' Peter Ashford, and would-be suitor Cooper, depressed and freaked out over the fact that she has committed suicide. Apparently, the woman who stole her life has killed herself. Now, in a sting to try and bring her parents out into the open, Carlotta will have to pretend to be dead. Before it's all over, she will have to try to keep pretense from turning into reality.

***** This series is simply splendid. Vivid, quirky, flawed wonderful people fill its pages and you care about what happens to them. Like the prior volume, it is replete with humor as well as action. I can hardly wait to see all these characters again. *****

Amanda Killgore

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not much of a story, April 21, 2008

By 

M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 2 Bodies for the Price of 1 (Body Movers, Book 2) (Paperback)

I wanted to like this book. The author seems to be writing for generally the same readers as Janet Evanovich; however, because her writing, although pleasant, is not laugh-out-loud funny like Evanovich, the paucity of plot is much more noticeable.

"Two Bodies" is much more formula romance than mystery. Yes, something seems to be going on -- someone apparently has stolen Carlotta's identity. At the same time, the question of whether her fugitive parents will reappear after 10 years occupies a lot of pages, but those pages aren't very intersting. It's just a "will they/ won't they"; I would have liked more of an elaboration of the backstory, and more current action.
On the romance end, there are 3 attractive men after Carlotta, who apparently is beautiful, but it's kind of "ho hum". In real life, the men would have actual interests and personalities, but here, although one is rich and polite, one is a cop, and one is a really smart ex-medical examiner, that's pretty much all the personality they have. None is really developed. I would also like to see more of Carlotta developed. Does she have any interests? "Two Bodies" seems to imply that if her parents had not absconded, she would have married a rich guy at 18 and been a rich housewife. In addition, for a woman who makes very little money and has a brother to support, her addition to designer fashion is hard to understand and not very attractive. Life is not about Manolo Blahniks, and the humor of acting as if it were has become very stale.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Bond Book Yet, August 9, 2007

By 

Hollie R. Short - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 2 Bodies for the Price of 1 (Body Movers, Book 2) (Paperback)

Stephanie Bond fans we'll be thrilled and please with this latest novel. Reading about Carlotta's troubles is amusing and humbling when you think how bad life can get. I was especially pleased that our favorite heroine got some action this time. And Bond leaves us with another cliffhanger ending that makes you want to read the next book immediately. If you haven't read the Body Movers series, pick it up today!