Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante (Ruby Taylor Mysteries, Book 2) [Paperback]

Sharon Dunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Ruby Taylor's job at the university turns interesting and it isn't long before she's in a crash course on real love and deadly university politics. It's a mystery with more twists than a silly straw. This award-winning title is guaranteed fiction! (20040603)

Editorial Reviews

Review

ìDunn has developed characters similar to Stephanie Plum (Jane Evanovichís beloved bumbling bondsman) and Kinsey Millhone (Sue Graftonís alphabet murder detective) that CBA readers will appreciate. Readers who enjoy such novelists . . . will become fans of Sharon Dunn and Ruby Taylor. ó (Christian Retailing )

Interwoven in this adventuresome tale are the authorís wit and humor. She pokes fun at social classes, living situations, and personalities. The off-the-cuff observations make this a fun and enjoyable read and add hometown flavor to the writing. Highly recommended. (CBA Marketplace )

"Pardon the pun, but Sharon Dunn has 'done' it all in this novel, which includes just enough humor, pathos, romance, and mystery to satisfy most female readers." (Patricia Small Church & Synagogue Libraries )

From the Back Cover

When a professor at the local university dies, Ruby Taylor is hired to fill his shoes. Along with a frozen corpse and midnight intruders, this sassy Cinderella also has to deal with lost love and a family that defines the word dysfunctional. Deadly university politics turn personal as Ruby works to straighten out a mystery that has more twists than a silly straw.

Praise for the Ruby Taylor Mysteries:

[Ruby Taylor’s] gutsy stubbornness and humorous one-liners make this mystery a fun and interesting read! The story lives up to the unique title. Well done.”

—Rene Gutteridge
author of Boo

“Readers who enjoy [Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton] . . . will become fans of Sharon Dunn.”

—Christian Retailing

“Ruby, a gawky six-footer, is endearing as she primes her tired old psyche for one last go at love.”

—John Mort
American Library Association

“Interwoven in this adventuresome tale are the author’s wit and humor . . . a fun and enjoyable read. Highly recommended.”

—CBA Marketplace

Sharon Dunn is an instructor and tutor at Montana State University. Even though she is an award-winning short-story writer, and playwright and the author of Romance Rustlers and Thunderbird Thieves, her cats and her kids pretty much run her life.

(20041201)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Publications; 1st edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082542495X
• ISBN-13: 978-0825424953
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-crafted, fast-paced read., May 19, 2005

By 

Jack W. Regan (Grand Rapids, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante (Ruby Taylor Mysteries, Book 2) (Paperback)

Starting with a mysterious nighttime intruder and ending with a deadly game of hide-and-seek on a university campus, Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante constitutes a literary home-run for the author, Sharon Dunn. Throughout the fast-turning pages, Dunn successfully carries on the lightly woven threads of several storylines, only to tie them neatly together as the story comes to an end.

Filled with memorable characters who interact with one another on a realistic level, Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante takes the reader inside the mind of spunky, red-headed, relationship battered Ruby Taylor. Armed with a lifetime's supply of biting sarcasm and hilarious one-liners, thirty-one-year-old Ruby continues to hold the torch for her one-time boyfriend, Wesley Burgess. This "six feet of gorgeous," harbors no little attraction for the sassy Cinderella, either, and together, they struggle to put together a relationship they would be "proud to show to God."

Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante is packed with mystery and perplexing questions. Did Dr. Aldridge really commit suicide, or is there a more sinister plot at work? Who is the strange man lurking outside the Aldridge house? Is the man who suddenly shows up at the Taylor house in the middle of the night claiming to be Ruby's long-lost brother really who he says he is?

In short, Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante is a well-crafted, fast-paced read and receives full endorsement.

Craig Hart (...)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A worthy read!, July 26, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante (Ruby Taylor Mysteries, Book 2) (Paperback)

Ruby Taylor, the "Sassy Cinderella" of this story is a gutsy, opinionated, witty, new Christian who loves "Jesus, chocolate and a mocha with the steam rising from it" - and in that order. At the age of thirty-one she still lives with her mother, also a new Christian.

When Ruby was sixteen her mother went to prison for embezzlement and spent years there while Ruby and her brother, Jimmy, survived in foster homes. Ruby says, "I figure she owes me a few years of mothering."

Her brother suddenly shows up after a long absence under suspicious circumstances in the early hours of the morning. At first they are convinced it's a prowler and call the police. The responding policeman is none other than Wesley Burgess, Ruby's old love interest.

Ruby has been hired as an instructor to replace a professor who is reported to have committed suicide. As she hears bits and pieces about the death of Theodore Aldridge, she begins to doubt that it was suicide and proceeds to conduct her own investigation into Aldridge's relationships with his ex-wife, children, lover and a mysterious student whom she now has in one of her classes - who seems to be stalking her.

The more Ruby gets involved with the investigation the more she gets re-involved with Wesley. Since they both have made a decision to commit to living by God's Rules, they want to behave in a way that they will be worthy of the title "Christian." This however leads to some struggles with temptation.

Sassy Cinderella is a well-written, fast-paced, exciting page-turner and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The character I loved the most is that of Celeste, the cleaning lady who has Down's Syndrome. Celeste, with her child-like faith and her unconditional love for everyone, touched my heart big-time, and the message of what God's love is really all about came through loud and clear.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I just have to share, January 24, 2005

By 

Marita Littauer (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante (Ruby Taylor Mysteries, Book 2) (Paperback)

I am in the midst of writing my own book and I do not have time to be writing reveiws, but I loved this book so much, I had to spread the word. I would have never ordered this book. If it had been on display in a bookstore I might have picked it up because the cover design looks fresh. It tells me the book is not going to dull, but edgy. But, I've never heard of the author and I've never seen ads for it or heard it talked about on the morning talk shows. However, I am a judge for the leading awards for Christian fiction: the Christy's. It was sent to me to judge. Right away, the cover caught my eye. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down (which I could not say for previous contest novel I'd read). It is "zippy," almost irreverent, though filled with sound Christian truth-and so fun. It is not a gaggy romance or a pulse pounding mystery. It just made me smile to read it. I kept wishing someone was in the room so I could share parts with them-though when I did read parts to my husband he just looked at me. I guess you had to be there. I hope you'll read it so you'll "be there."