Customer Reviews

Fools Rush In

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The heat is on in the San Joaquin Valley which includes the area around the small town of Kearny and its local law enforcement is feeling it. Not just in the terms of the summer weather but in terms of crime and the reports that are generated each time an incident occurs. For Office Assistant III Christy Bristol of the Sheriff's Department, it means more and more paperwork to process. The last thing she really needs is for her old boyfriend James "Wolfman" Wolfe showing up at work to see her.

Wolfman has recently been reassigned to the undercover narcotics unit and isn't paying her a social call. His snitch, Johnny Blue, is missing and most likely dead. Wolfman is trying to build a case against a major Methamphetamine dealer named Lloyd Parr. Without his snitch the case is in deep trouble and Wolfman is desperately trying a different angle. He wants Christy to do Parr's astrological chart. Astrology is important to Christy as she has the gift and appreciates its power. Astrology became a huge issue when Wolfman and Christy were dating and in large part, his lack of respect for it and ultimately her caused their relationship to collapse. Now six months after their breakup, Wolfman focused on his needs only, has waltzed back into her life and expects her to grant him a favor of doing Parr's horoscope. Not only does he want her to do it, he wants her to make up some stuff to go along with what she really sees to scare Parr.

Offended and disgusted, Christy refuses initially but eventually creates one and assists in the delivery to Parr. Her eight years of working in the Sherriff's Department as an office assistant never prepared her for being kidnapped by Parr's crew as he acts on her message from the stars.

This is an enjoyable lightweight cozy mystery that is far as it possibly could be from the Hollywood style image of wealthy drug dealers or the dark world of noir mystery. Flashy images, strings of vulgarities and obscenities, or detailed brutal murders are not the focus here and rarely will one encounter in fiction such well spoken drug dealers. This can not be considered a graphic read on any level and instead focuses on interpersonal relationships of characters and how lives are wasted in false pursuit of drugs and money.

As in her other works, author Sunny Frazier focuses more on the lives of the characters involved and as such, the novel turns on character development, or lack of same, as she illustrates that some characters, just like some people in real life, never had a chance to do anything different with their lives. While some characters never had a chance, her main character, Christy Bristol, finds out far more about herself after her week in captivity than she ever thought possible.

This enjoyable cozy style mystery doesn't follow the Hollywood or noir formats and as such is a read that works for readers of almost any age. The characters are complicated; the heroine is genuine and interesting as are the sections involving Astrology, and the story moves forward at a stead pace. The result is a good read for the start of a planned series and worthy of your consideration.

Kevin Tipple (copyright) 2006

If you've ever been to the San Joaquin Valley, why did you ever leave? Hot
summers and a fruit basket from one glorious end to the other.

This paradise is the home of substation officer Christy Bristol. A snitch
disappears, and coerced by her former boyfriend, an undercover detective,
she joins in a plot to trap the head of a narcotics ring. Her job? Engineer
a horoscope to flush him from his lair. Yes, Christy's an astologist on the
side...but not on the sidelines.

Her family, complete with a sentient nun sister and a grandmother with the
gift which skips a generation, provides a solid and compelling background
for the intrepid girl.

Anyone interested in learning to walk the fine line between riveting
suspense and landing a character in the hospital every other chapter can
enjoy a text book case in this mystery. Christy is kidnapped by a very ugly
gang of convincing villains. They're flesh-and-blood real and about as scary
as they come.

Anything but a first novel, this professional effort deserves a second look.
More adventures, please, Sunny, for this new best friend.

Drugs, law enforcement and astrology - all are featured in this fascinating novel, Fools Rush In (Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries), that offers a peek into each of these worlds, even as it leads us down suspenseful country roads and highways that traverse California's Central Valley.

Christy Bristol is an office assistant at a Sheriff's Department substation in the fictional town of Coronita, but her specialty is horoscopes. When her ex-boyfriend "Wolfe," an undercover "narc," asks her to do a horoscope of a drug dealer, who is a fan of astrology, she hesitates. But then finally complies. And then everything in her world is turned upside down.

The action escalates as author Sunny Frazier propels us down one country road after another to the drug dealer's compound, where Christy is held hostage.

Can spinning more horoscopes for her captor lead to her release? Will the law enforcement officers at the substation realize her danger and come to her rescue? Or will Christy have to escape on her own, using her wits and her abilities with charts?

I couldn't put the book down until the final page, and then I was eager to see what would happen next in Frazier's new sequel Where Angels Fear.

A definite five-star read.

Laurel-Rain Snow

Christy Bristol is an office assistant for the sheriff's department in the San Joaquin Valley. She sees the crimes that happen in the valley on a second-hand basis, as she files the reports prepared by the officers in the field. But Christy has a gift that her co-workers brush aside due to disbelief. You see, Christy is an Astrologist. She doesn't predict the future but tells the future through the position of the planets.

In Fools Rush In Christy is asked by her unbelieving ex-boyfriend, who is an undercover narcotics detective, to do a "chart" on a leading drug dealer who does believe in Astrology. What does this chart show for the future of dealer Lloyd Parr? And just as important, what does Christy's own chart say about her future? To find out follow Christy as she deals with the non-believers that are connected with Parr, his ex-girlfriend who wants Christy dead and the Columbian dealer Christy actually finds attractive.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fools Rush In. It was a book that caught my attention from the beginning and held it to the end and even made me wonder about Astrology.

Sunny Frazier has a worthy protagonist in Christy Bristol. Frazier blends Bristol's knowledge of law enforcement with reading the horoscopes of both villains and hot cops. I want more! I certainly hope I'll be seeing Rod Murietta again soon, too.

Sunny Frazier introduces Christy Bristol, a witty, smart astrologer, in Fools Rush In. Serious crimes, complicated relationships, and personal realizations are interwoven with beautiful scenery and a humorous touch that keeps the reader intrigued and entertained. The setting in Fools Rush In is so alive and vivid it almost becomes a character of its own as the reader is transported from the comfort of Christy's apartment to the dirty, rundown, large home of the drug dealer holding Christy captive for her astrological abilities to the rural setting where Christy realizes the gravity of the danger she faces. Although I've never really taken to the idea of astrology, Frazier's description of Christy writing the natal horoscopes made me want to have mine done. Frazier manages to humanize not only the law enforcement but also the criminals in her book creating a dimension to her characters is sometimes lacking in mysteries.

And a fun read! Sunny Frazer gives a new twist on the resourcefulness and smarts of support staff. Her protagonist, Christy Bristol, is an office assistant at a County Sheriff's Department's substation. Christy's ex-boyfriend persuades her to help him catch a drug dealer. This leads to her being kidnapped by methamphetamine cookers because the head honcho believes in astrology. Using her wits, a bit of ESP, and her talents at reading the charts, she makes her time being kidnapped a page turning event.

Fools Rush In, Sunny Frazier's debut novel is a brisk and intriguing dive into the seedy life of methamphetamine labs and the drug dealers who run them.
Christy Bristol is a sheriff's department office assistant with an astrology hobby. Her ex-boyfriend asks her to cast a horoscope for a suspected murderer. Christy reluctantly agrees and soon finds herself kidnapped at gun point and held captive by the local meth cookers. She uses her wits, her charts, and her knowledge of the drug world to get out. But not before another death endangers her even more.
Frazier writes crisp action and keeps the pace moving along. The inside look at a meth cooker's life, the difficulty of obtaining pseudoephedrine, and the paranoia all ring true. Frazier is a former administrative assistant in a sheriff's narcotic enforcement unit.
Fools Rush In is set in the central San Joaquin Valley of California, dubbed the meth capital of the world. Frazier puts the reader in the middle of the valley in summer. You can see the vineyards hanging with plump grapes, the shimmering heat waves roiling off the pavement, and smell the dust. Thanks to Frazier's story, sweat will roll off your brow, even in the middle of winter.