Customer Reviews

Not a Girl Detective (Cece Caruso Mystery)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mystery-writer biographer Cece Caruso is in the midst of book on Nancy Drew author "Carolyn Keene" (actually a pseudonym for numerous authors) when her bookstore-owner friends ask her to deliver a vintage Nancy Drew book to collector Edgar Edwards. Cece is more than happy for an excuse to meet the eccentric millionaire collector. They strike up an immediate friendship, and after showing her his collection, he shows her something really special--a nude portrait of the model who posed for the original Nancy Drew covers.

Cece is scheduled to give a luncheon speech at a Nancy Drew convention in nearby Palm Springs, and Edward invites her to use his vacation house there. Delighted at her good fortune, Cece packs up herself and her two friends, Lael and Bridget, a boatload of vintage clothes (which she collects, though she told Edgar she collected nothing) and head for a fun girls' weekend. Unfortunately, someone throws a kink into their plans--a big kink. A dead body. Edgar's body.

The suspects are many, including Edgar's boy-toy friend and his majordomo; a wild-eyed Nancy Drew fanatic who wouldn't have wanted that nude painting made public; her less-than-honest, performance artist daughter; Bridget's new boy-toy boyfriend; a shi-shi art dealer. And, of course, Cece herself, who could have endeared herself to the police had she not insisted on solving the mystery herself. But her curiosity about the model in the nude painting, the artist who did the painting, and anything connected to Nancy Drew gets the better of her.

The second in the Cece Caruso series is a fun, fast-paced puzzler, and Cece and her "chums" give Nancy a run for her money. The Nancy Drew trivia is fascinating, and the many references to vintage clothing makes me want to learn more. My one beef--Cece leaves town, twice, and stays gone for hours on end without making arrangements for anyone to take care of her dog and cat. I mean, maybe she did make arrangements, but if it was mentioned, I missed it.

Cece Caruso, biographer of dead mystery writers, is currently engaged in writing the biography of Carolyn Keene. Or rather writing about the many unacknowledged writers who penned the Nancy Drew (amongst others) mystery series under the pseudonym "Carolyn Kenne" for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. But Cece's real fascination is with Grace Horton, the young woman who modeled as Nancy Drew for the original book covers when they were first published, otherwise known as the Blue Nancy texts. A devout fan of the intrepid young fictional sleuth, Cece cannot be happier, especially when she's invited to give a key-not speech at a Nancy Drew convention, and gets to meet eccentric collector Edgar Edwards who just happens to own a world famous collection of Nancy Drews. Cece and Edgar hit it off so well that he even offers her the use of his Palm Springs vacation house while Cece's attending the Nancy Drew convention. Soon, Cece with her two best friends, Lael and Bridget, in tow, are off for weekend of fun. Except that amidst all the frolicking, Cece and her friends find their erstwhile host dead. The Palm Springs police are eyeing Cece with suspicion. But Cece has her own suspicions about who could have murdered Edgar and why, and she's determined to make her case and get her murderer, just like the fictional Nancy Drew that so inspired her when she was growing up...

While "Not a Girl Detective" is a much lighter follow-up to "I Dreamed I married Perry Mason," it still was a fun read. I thought that the notion of structuring "Not a Girl Detective" along the lines of a Nancy Drew mystery novel was a rather ingenuous one and worked rather well. As with "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason," the dialogue in this latest Cece Caruso installment was snappy and rather droll, and added to the air of immediacy and smoothness that the book had. However, while "Not a Girl Detective" was an all round pleasing read, I couldn't help wishing that it had been little more intriguing and more complex. All in all, though, a nice 3 1/2 star read.

This is just one of those fun books...the heroine has no training other than the obligatory cop boyfriend. The book is one of those great summer reads. You can sit down and curl up with Cece and the wacky friends, family and acquaintances. I read her first book ("I dreamed I married Perry Mason"...who could say no to that title?) and became thoroughly hooked.

Being a long-time Nancy Drew collector, I really looked forward to reading this book, but I found it to be very disappointing. I've read a lot of the 'tart-noir' wacky-gal mystery series, and this book seems to have all the standards - sexy, ditzy gal who just can't seem to get it all together, hunky boyfriend, obsession with glamorous flashy clothes, the need to keep secrets from the police, and on and on. But Cece Caruso just doesn't come off with any realism to me. She's too over-the-top, and she's not even a good detective. By her own admission, over and over throughout the book, she keeps missing the point, and the clues, and everything else that would lead her to understand what's going on and solving the mystery.

Cece is a biographer of mystery writers and in this book she is writing a book about Carolyn Keene, the author of the Nancy Drew books who was and still is a group of ghostwriters. There is a lot of Nancy Drew collecting info in this story that was, for the most, taken from some speculative fan-made guides, honored by some collectors as The Truth but frowned upon as hypothetical by the rest of the bibliographic world. It also seems the author made up some of her own. Her depiction of Nancy Drew collectors at their annual convention in Palm Springs is really unflattering. Believe me, they are not the strange, nerdy, boring people she makes them out to be. For some reason she found it necessary to compare their boring get-together with a wild swinging convention of golf-fan lesbians at the same hotel.

It's disappointing that the first major piece of fiction published about Nancy Drew collecting and Nancy Drew collectors is such a mediocre book that plods along for the most going this way and that in directions that lead nowhere or that Cece just doesn't 'get'. Her obsessions with vintage clothes, gourmet foods, alcoholic beverages, art, and on-again-off-again boyfriend are all pretty interesting, but she and her gang need more characterization, and need to be a little less fabulous-in-every-way to be believable.

Nancy Drew fans who read this book will probably be disappointed. It's less about Nancy and more about Cece and friends and how 'hot' and 'cool' and too-fabulous-to-be-true they are. Let's hope the next author who takes on the Nancy Drew mystique will give it a more interesting treatment.

Cece Caruso's latest biography is of Carolyn Keene, or more accurately, the women behind the pen name. She's been invited to give the keynote address at the annual Nancy Drew convention being held just down the road in Palm Springs. Even better, she and her friends Lael and Bridget have been offered the use of a vacation home while in the area. Cece's only met "blue" Nancy collector Edgar Edwards once, but she won't turn down a free place to stay.

Unfortunately, their weekend out is brought to a sobering conclusion when they find Edgar's body in the master bedroom. Combine that with the vandalism that Cece has been experiencing, and you've got a case that would make Nancy proud. Can Cece find the clues to solve it?

Ok, I confess, I'm a fan of kid's series mysteries. As a result, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. It did provide plenty of Nancy trivia, just enough to whet the appetite. I like the way the author used Cece's research to further the story. The biography wasn't just a gimmick but part of the plot. The story itself is a real puzzler. Once again, I didn't figure it out until the satisfying conclusion. There did seem to be a few snags were the story stalled a little, but overall it progressed well.

This series has a unique premise and some great puzzles. I can't wait to see where mystery author biographing takes Cece next.

Cece Caruso has made a career writing biographies of dead mystery writers and while researching her last book (I DREAMED I MARRIED PERRY MASON) she solved a homicide. An obsessive Nancy Drew fan, she is now writing about the pseudonymous Carolyn Keane who was really a succession of ghost writers contracted to write under that name. Her focuses is the picture of Nancy Drew, the model Grace Horton.

She meets fellow Nancy Drew collector Eagar Edwards who shows her a picture of a natural Grace Horton painted by Russell H. Tandy. The two hit it off so well that Edgar offers to let her and her friends stay at his Palm Springs home while she give a talk to the Nancy Drew Chums at their annual convention. Shortly after she arrives there, she finds his body with a bullet in his head. Somebody searches her home and her car looking for something making Cece determined to find out who that person is and why he killed Edgar even if it means placing her own life in danger.

Readers will be reminded of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum when they read Susan Kandel's Cece Caruso capers as both are funny, plagued by romantic problems and once on the scent of a killer, keep tracking like obsessed bloodhounds. There are many suspects who could have killed Edgar but what really keeps the reader interested is the urge to know what the killer is looking for. This is a very special amateur sleuth tale that will be a hit with readers who love a good puzzle to solve.

Harriet Klausner

Let me start off by saying I love parody and pastiche. In fact, I actually enjoy some of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche and parodys MORE than Conan Doyle's original stories.

That being said, I have to say I was kind of disappointed in this novel. Cece Caruso is so over-the-top that she isn't a character, she is a caricature and not very believable. The author also depicts Nancy Drew fans much like the over-the-top Trekkies. The writing in general is choppy at best and I could never fully get into the spirit of the book. While there are some good merits, in general I think the author just tried to hard.

This book was captivating from the first page. I wanted to know what Cece was up to in her latest adventure. It also brought back memories of my girlhood when I read Nancy Drew. I could not put the book down or go to sleep till I finished it.

I'd rate "Not a Girl Detective" a 3.5. In my opinion, it doesn't quite live up to the standard of "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason". Since there is no "real" Carolyn Keene, there isn't much of interest there to wrap a plot around so the idea of Nancy Drew collectors is a pretty good one, but the execution in this case is spotty. Many threads were introduced, thinly developed and ultimately just sort of dropped on the side of the road. Mysteries need red herrings to keep the reader guessing, but these felt as though they were disjointed. Perhaps the author intended for there to be more ties linking the story threads and was unsuccessful. Some of the red herrings were more interesting to me than the actual "real" conclusion, so the ending left me a bit foggy. I still like Cece Caruso and her friends and will read the next book hoping that I'll like it as well as I liked the first in the series.

Love the idea for these books - Perry Mason - Nancy Drew - can't wait for the next one. Love the research that gets sprinkled in to make a fun book. Who's next Mike Hammer - Philip Marlowe???