Customer Reviews

Hot Wired: A Bel Barrett Mystery (Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books))

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

 

 

I get a kick out of this series but there has not been anything for a long time. If you are over 50, this cozy series is worth trying.

Fun book to read but I enjoy taking a little more time solving a crime :)

An online student critique is jarring to Bel Barrett's sense of self-worth. She begins to believe that her former student, Naftali Thompson, posted the hip hop verse. It seems that Naftali was wounded in Iraq. There is a piece on TV about the hip hop evaluation of Bel and then a newspaper article features Naftali.

The events put Bel and her husband into an anxious state. She is accused by the college president of undermining the school. He wants Bel to retire to placate the board and the press. Next Bel's adversary becomes a dead body on the Path train tracks. It is discovered that Naftali's death may not have been accidental or self-induced.

Bel, shocked, finds herself having to give an account to the police of her actions on a previous evening. One thing she finds out when investigating the matter is that for Naftali college was strictly the idea of his older sister. Bel is told, (Bel is in disguise), that she, a college professor, got fired because she dissed Naftali. Her hip hop informant laughs at the notion of an aging white female academic being upset. The reader is made to realize here that hip hop is another sort of dialect. Bel's sense of being in criminal jeopardy is alleviated by her successful fact-finding forays.

This is a well done murder mystery in the author's HOT series.

Tenured professor Bel Barrett of River Edge Community College loves her job and is proud that the students like her and that the chairman and president are aware that she deserves the accolades she has won over the years. She is therefore very distressed when a website aimed at evaluating the teachers of RECC includes a rapper dissing her. She feels mortified, ashamed and wonders who it could be. After going through her records she concludes that it is Naftali, a student she gave a D to a few years ago who was so incensed he went before a committee to get his grade changed.

He wanted to be a hip hop gangsta rapper singing about the Iraqi war so he enlists and comes back missing an arm. He blames Bel for the D that stopped him from being eligible for a four year college. The press gets hold of his message on the website and Bel finds her reputation in shreds. When someone kills Naftali the police zero in on Bel as the prime suspect forcing her to begin one of her infamous investigations and this time the person who will benefit the most if she finds the real killer is herself.

One of the reasons the Bel Barrett mysteries are such a success is the heroine is funny, independent and determined. She is a female readers can identify with as she investigates murders in between hot flashes. Jane Isenberg raises the quality bar of her own series with HOT WIRED because the heroine has a personal stake in the outcome of her latest sleuthing but she still remains the same character readers have come to love.

Harriet Klausner

I enjoyed the last book in this series, the first one in a long time, and had high hopes for this one. I was sorely disappointed.

The whole story was unbelievable. Bel is accused of murder and sets out to find the real killer herself. She digs up easy clues that the cops aren't able to find (such as looking as survelliance video from the scene of the crime). She runs around in a wig harassing and annoying the friends and relatives of the victim (who just tell all to this total stranger). People she literally runs into on the street coincidentally happen to help her with her investigation (giving her an opportunity to find evidence). Then you have the ever-annoying Illuminada and Betty (two of the worst sidekicks in cozies), as well as Sol (who was especially irritating in this book), add in the stupid sub-story with Rebecca (her daughter sends her an e-mail saying she took her baby to visit a friend and this convinces Bel that Rebecca's marriage is breaking up), toss in all the gangsta-rap, and this book ended up being painful to read.

I think this series has run its course -- I mean, how many murders and investigations can a middle-aged college professor find herself in the middle of? Maybe it's time for Bel and crew to retire.

The characters are unbelievable and lack any development or depth. Everyone is superficial. Everybody just "happens" to tell Bel everything they know, so untrue to real life I couldn't finish it. Great reading for 12 year olds, but I'll choose Adam Dagliesh and J. P. Beaumont any day.