1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recipe for Fun: Start with Chocolate, Add Murder, July 18, 2008
This review is from: Cool Cache: A Tucker Sinclair Mystery (Tucker Sinclair Mysteries) (Hardcover)
With Cool Cache Patricia Smiley has again elevated the female detective genre, and her own work as well. In her fourth novel of the series, heroine Tucker Sinclair is on the hunt for a chocolate loving killer while simultaneously trying to protect her pal and part-time employee Eugene Barstock. Against her advice Eugene has gone deep undercover, so deep she can't find him. He is searching for that same murderer, but for reasons of his own. Eugene has something to prove to himself and to others if they'll only listen. But is it worth his life?
This is engaging if standard fare. What sets Cool Cache apart is Tucker's very real persona fraught with doubts, decisions, and lost love. The character is so genuine and appealing you want to ring her up at her beachside home and arrange lunch at a Santa Monica bistro or an Inglewood taco stand. And that's the other Smiley trademark - knowledge of the Southern California scene from geography, to history, to the LA attitude. You almost need sunglasses and tanning lotion when you read a Smiley novel. For sure you need to fasten your seat belt.
Cool Cache shows us a more somber Tucker Sinclair than we've seen previously, but she's all the more believable for it. If you can't cruise the barrio, the beach and Rodeo Drive yourself, this book is the next best thing. And if you can visit those places, get the book anyway. Tucker Sinclair is just too much fun to miss.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The series just keeps getting better, June 16, 2008
This review is from: Cool Cache: A Tucker Sinclair Mystery (Tucker Sinclair Mysteries) (Hardcover)
Cool Cache is the fourth book in this very entertaining series that just keeps getting better. Tucker Sinclair, a great cast of characters and the authors habit of injecting actual business information into the series make it very entertaining.
Authors with the ability to interject real word business information into entertaining "who-done-its" are rare and Patricia Smiley has clearly joined their ranks. While this book is certainly not a business tutorial I do find books that provide insight into different businesses to be particularly enjoyable.
In this book Tucker becomes involved in both retail chocolate and the dating business while tracking down a murderer, and her missing assistant. Mix in some interesting slices of LA life and the continued development of a wonderful supporting cast and you have a great addition to the Tucker Sinclair series. This book is my favorite of the series to date and I can't wait for the next installment.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cool Cache is a Cool Mystery!, June 4, 2008
This review is from: Cool Cache: A Tucker Sinclair Mystery (Tucker Sinclair Mysteries) (Hardcover)
Not long after starting this book, I had a serious fit of chocolate-envy! Just reading "Cool Cache" may require either large infusions of chocolate (specifically truffles), or willpower of steel! This delightful new addition to Patty Smiley's Tucker Sinclair series is filled not only with mouth-watering chocolates to read about, but also a fascinating mystery.
Tucker Sinclair and Associates is a business-consulting firm, although the only "associate" besides Tucker is her male "executive assistant," Eugene. Keeping a close eye on her clients brings Tucker into a murder case involving a client, an upscale chocolatier in Beverly Hills, and a quirky clue, a rare green Quetzal feather, native to Guatemala, and symbol of an East Los Angeles gang. The narrative quickly gets more complex when Eugene decides to go undercover, sucking poor Tucker into the case, despite her best intentions to stay out of it.
So many things keep this mystery (and others in the series) from being banal, or a run-of-the-mill cozy. Smiley pulls in sub-plots about gang activity, stolen antiquities from Guatemala, and (besides the awe-inspiring candy) a role reversal, gender-wise, as Tucker is soon riding to the rescue of her intrepid male assistant. Woman to the Rescue! This is the fourth book in the series, yet, even though a part of a series, each book stands alone magnificently.
I would have loved to see a recipe or two in the book for making chocolates--but of course, I still recommend this book highly. It treats the readers intelligently, addresses awkward subject matter, and stays within the bounds of the rules of cozies with its amateur detectives, clever plot twists and dynamic dialog and characterizations. Cool Cache is certainly perfect reading for a hot summer day or for a cool spring evening!
by Laura Strathman Hulka
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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