Customer Reviews

Curse of the Kissing Cousins (A Where Are They Now? Mystery)

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Freelance reporter Tilda Harper was giddy over her last assignment, tracking down the stars of the family sitcom Kissing Cousins, as she was a devoted fan of the re-runned syndicated show that featured three Stepford-ish siblings being raised with their three "weird" cousins. What completely consumes Tilda though is the unexpected truthfulness to the "curse" her editor titled her article when a third member of the cast, Holly Kendrick dies following the drug overdose of Jim Bonnier and the hit-and-run motorcycle crash of Alex Johnson. Prodded by her friend and even more obsessive fanboy Vincent, Tilda decides to track down the one missing member of the cast, Mercy Ashford, who played Gothgirl Mercy and was Tilda's favorite character and the inspiration that led her to entertainment reporting. Since Tilda was able to hunt down three seasons of Capt. James T Kirk's conquests she should have no trouble with the star of a cult sitcom, right?
Wrong. You would think that with gossiping makeup artists, money-chasing agents, unions, publicists, casting agents, fan websites, and souvenir sites that it would be easy to track down a child star. But Mercy seems to have left no trace of her whereabouts, and Tilda begins to fear that time is running out before the curse can fall upon her favorite star.
Tilda navigates her way through a maze of intriguing, bizarre, and always hilarious characters, including her own mooching roommate (her fourth in four years), a rival star-chasing reporter, her former editor who lives enshrined in her apartment with a rotating cast of boytoys, and Nick Tolomeo, the son and partner of the private investigator who once bodyguarded for the elusive Mercy.
The author of the Laura Fleming mystery series and a popular paranormal short story writer, Toni L.P. Kelner introduces a very lively new series that continues to prove her skill at writing humorous, delightfully plotted mysteries. The quirky yet entirely realistic characters never overwhelm the plot, and the television lore contributes to the compelling story. The only negative to this series is that the sequel won't arrive in bookstores until 2010!

Originally titled WITHOUT MERCY, CURSE OF THE KISSING COUSINS is a good start to the series, even with some flaws. The main character/sleuth/nostalgic reporter, Tilda, is smart and likable, funny and realistic - basically, a solid lead (no pun intended, originally :P). The plot is interesting and for the most part, flowed smoothly; the same could be said about the additional characters. My favorites were fanboy Vincent and the kinda-sorta-cliche gay friend/co-worker, Cooper, who both added a lot to the book. Actually, none of the characters were unnecessary or overdone, from the less-than-perfect roommate to the back-stabber at Entertain Me! to the the lecherous computer geek, all contributed to the book as a whole. However, with all the good the book had, there was just something missing, besides Mercy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but even though I really did enjoy the book, there was just something off. The idea behind this series is really cool and I hope it gets better as it goes along. I look forward to WHO KILLED THE PIN-UP QUEEN?
3.5 stars

This book seemed to go nowhere fast. I never did finish reading it - just couldn't get interested in all the various characters and celebrity type activities.