2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Before, December 12, 2010
This review is from: Driven to Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is much improved over the last two in the series - Pretty in Ink and Missing in Ink. Those books suffered from an overabundance of characters and fairly convoluted plots that were hard to keep track of. This book is much better (although not perfect), and it's the unique subject (tattoos) and setting (glitzy Las Vegas) that keep me coming back to this series. The same main characters are all back, Brett Kavanaugh, a Vegas tattoo artist with a penchant for finding dead bodies, her brother Tim (a detective), and her assortment of friends and coworkers. In this installment Brett discovers a body in her trunk and the mystery is: who is this dead man and how did he end up in her trunk? The case takes Brett and her frenemy Jeff Coleman throughout Vegas looking for answers. The relationship/friendship between Brett and Jeff is at the forefront of this book as mainly it's the two of them doing the legwork; Jeff's mother and stepfather are somehow involved with the crime, so he has a vested interest in the outcome. There are a few loose ends that remain at the end of the book (did Sylvia and Bernie stay together or not?), but overall it's much improved from the last two books. There are fewer characters and a tighter plot.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dead Bodies, Dean Martin Impersonators and The Price of Love (or Amore), September 17, 2010
This review is from: Driven to Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
For the third time, Las Vegas tattoo artist managers to get herself mixed up with dead bodies, this time in page one of Karen E. Olson's latest tattoo shop mystery. After lending her car to elderly couple Sylvia and Bernie, friends of her rival tattoo artist and pal Jeff Coleman, she finds a dead body in her trunk with a That's Amore tattoo, plus a dead rat. The corpse was one of several Dean Martin impersonators at, yes, a wedding chapel called That's Amore, and she soon winds up immersed in yet another case where similar tattoos appear and she gets sent all over Las Vegas and the surrounding area to try to unravel the mystery.
I don't want to give too much away except to say that the pace is, once again, perfectly fast and keeps you guessing, while adding another layer of mystery to Brett's romantic life, as she flirts with doctor Colin Bixby. However, there were so many characters in this one that I had a little trouble keeping track of them, but I still greatly enjoyed it, especially as Brett questioned whether she would make a good detective while watching her cop brother Tim work and puzzling over little clue she'd noticed. Olson does an especially good job of making tattoos--and in this case, tattoo equipment--a part of the mystery. I also liked getting a little insight into Brett and a look at her staff - I hope to see more of Bitsy. I'm looking forward to the next installment, Ink Flamingoes!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It takes a dead body in a loaner car trunk to involve Brett in the investigation of foul play, December 13, 2010
This review is from: Driven to Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
Karen E. Olson's DRIVEN TO INK is set in Las Vegas where impersonators of the Rat Pack are performing nightly at clubs all over town. The trouble is - not all are alive, and it takes a dead body in a loaner car trunk to involve Brett in the investigation of foul play.
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