Freeze My Margarita: A Sam Jones Novel [Paperback]

Lauren Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2000

Sam Jones is back! Lauren Henderson's sexy, streetwise artist-cum-detective returns in Freeze My Margarita, the sequel to her enormously popular Black Rubber Dress.

A chance meeting in a fetish club with an old friend from art school leads to a new sculpting job for Sam: creating a series of mobiles for an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Plunged into the strange world of theater, Sam mingles with a bizarre, vexing, but often amusing cast of characters, including the appalling Helen, the girlfriend of Sam's best friend Janey, and Hugo, an enigmatic and acidly humorous actor with a wry Peter Wimsey drawl and a perfectly shaped bottom. After a long string of disappointing boyfriends, Sam may have finally met her match with Hugo. Now if she could only figure out whether or not he's gay...

This pressing state of affairs is overshadowed only by the discovery of a decomposing body in the basement beneath the theater. Sam, who's unfortunately grown accustomed to stumbling across dead bodies, is hardly fazed, but as the mysterious deaths increase and a practical joker starts to sabotage performances of the play, Sam realizes that unless the killer is caught, she may be facing her own curtain call.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sculptor-cum-sleuth Sam Jones is sipping away her artist's block with a frozen blue margarita at her favorite leather bar when she's approached by a man clad in sex-slave gear. The prisoner of lust is an old art school chum working as a set designer for an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Interested in using Sam's life-sized mobiles for the show, he enlists her as a consultant. No sooner does Sam come aboard than she gets entangled in the personal dramas of the entire cast, among them a dandy with impeccable comic timing and unstoppable wit; an up-and-coming female director; an ambitious upstart who reserves his sexual magnetism for the stage; and a former television star, who wants to redeem her acting career, and her boyfriend, the theater's artistic director, who fancies kinky sex with beautiful brunette actresses. A series of practical jokes that threaten to sabotage the production is topped only by the discovery of a corpse in the theater's basement and the subsequent death of the artistic director. Smelling homicide, Sam puts her vigilant mind to work--and if she doesn't solve the murders fast, she may become the next victim. With its swift tempo and good humor, this second installment in a bawdy English mystery series is a breath away from gripping. Unfortunately, Henderson loads her plot with contrivances and passe postmodern conventions instead of fine-tuning what could have been a novel of delicious intrigue. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

As in Black Rubber Dress, London artist/sleuth Samantha "Sam" Jones lets her art lead her to some quite fascinating people. A chance meeting with an old friend leads to Sam's mobiles being used in production of a Shakespear play. Sam hangs around several egotistical (some talented and some not), witty-tongued, gossip-mongering, and latently malicious theater people and enjoys herslef immensely until the discovery of a dead body in her basement workshop at the theater. Sparkling pose, a saucy heroine, and well-drawn, full-bodied characters make for a welcom escape; strongly recommended.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Crown Publishers/ Random House (February 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 060980684X
• ISBN-13: 978-0609806845
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,521,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and mildly amusing, March 21, 2000

By 

D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Freeze My Margarita: A Sam Jones Novel (Paperback)

The characters are all clever and amusing artistic and creative people. None of them ever has parents or children or siblings or money troubles. If you don't mind those limitations it's an entertaining read. Where was Violet the week she was late? They find out she wasn't in Goa and then the issue disappears. Maybe I should reread. But it's not the sort of book you go back to reread. Light and sexy and enjoyable. Another mystery is what happened to the other Amazon reader reviews. Reading them made me buy the book but now they're not there. Some raved and some panned.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL READ!, May 8, 2001

By 

C. A Scovel "Christina Scovel" (Los Alamos, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Freeze My Margarita: A Sam Jones Novel (Paperback)

Lauren has produced another entertaining read. Sam Jones has yet again found herself in the mitts of a mystery. She meets up with an old friend who asks her to think about making some piece of art for a performance of Midnight Summer's Dream. She agrees and everything from love, death and odd diet control techniques follow. This book would have been a 5 if it hadn't covered the production aspects of a play so much. I really didn't enjoy that bit. Otherwise, another fun read from Lauren Henderson! And if you finish the book you will understand the title.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sam Jones is back, and shes got *your* number, mate!, August 16, 2000

By 

John DiBello (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freeze My Margarita: A Sam Jones Novel (Paperback)

Sam Jones is back! The busty, vibrant, outrageous and unapologetic heroine of "Black Rubber Dress" (think Kelly Brook with a talent for art, and for witty repartee, for that matter) tackles a series of murders threatening to shut down a off-West End production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Sculptor Sam's producing elaborate sculpture mobiles for the play, but you know her involvement in the production will include sleuth as well. The London setting, slang, and wild characters all contribute to the contemporary, modern mood of the mystery, and this is definitely a heroine-detective for the 21st century. The casual sex and casual drug use we saw Sam indulge in during "Black Rubber Dress" is present but *much* understated in "Freeze"-enough to make her an unorthodox and wild character, not so much that we wonder how she manages to get through ordinary day-to-day life. And *no*, she's *not* a dominatrix, as another reviewer suggests. Although the book opens with Sam in a d/s bar, it's clear she's a bit out of her element (although always willing to try anything!).

As always, the personalities shine more than the mystery, which takes a definite back seat to such characters as stage diva Violet, and Sam's newest lust interest, the flamboyant `is-he-or-isn't-he' Hugo. (Answer: he isn't, as Sam finds out, much to her pleasure). As I did with "Black Rubber Dress," I wished the mystery itself was more developed and less of a casual background to develop characters. Perhaps taking Sam out of her familiar London and into the art scene of New York will add a few twists in her third mystery, "The Strawberry Tattoo," coming this fall.

For those who think British mysteries must be either hardboiled police procedurals set in Manchester or `Oh dear, the vicar's been murdered in the drawing room during tea time,' try this series: definitely unorthodox, reflecting the young urban London of today, with a great heroine, sharply drawn supporting cast, and sprightly realistic dialogue. Like Sam itself, this mystery is vibrant, flirtatious, witty, and above all, fun.