Just the Fax, Ma'Am [Hardcover]

Leslie O'Kane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

Trouble begins for cartoonist Molly McMasters when the husband of her arch rival informs her that he's submitted the one ribald cartoon Molly's ever created to a contest in a porn magazine, and that the cartoon has won. He is killed shortly thereafter, leaving Molly to play midwife to her arch rival and going undercover in high school as if her life depended on it--which it very well might.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Cartoonist Molly Masters gets in trouble when her pregnant arch-rival's husband enters Molly's one risque cartoon in a porn magazine's contest and wins. After someone murders the guy, Molly goes undercover. Lightweight fun from the author of Death and Faxes (LJ 1/96).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a follow-up to Death and Faxes (1996), greeting-card cartoonist Molly Masters returns, with engineer husband Jim and two young children, to Carlton, her hometown, after a 17-year absence. Living nearby are little-liked Preston Saunders; his pregnant, shrewish wife Stephanie; and their daughter Tiffany, a high- schooler. One morning Saunders visits Molly to tell her that he entered a raunchy cartoon of hers in a porn magazine contest--and it's won the $1,000 prize. A bit later a messenger arrives, leaving a nasty package and a threat from STOP, a feminist anti-porn group. That same morning Molly gets a frantic call from Stephanie, who has found her husband shot to death on the kitchen floor. She wants Molly to help find the killer, although she appears to suspect Tiffany or Cherokee Taylor, her daughter's teenaged Romeo. Meanwhile, Molly, infuriating Sergeant Tommy Newton of the local police, to say nothing of long-suffering husband Jim, embarks on an investigative crusade. It takes her, in disguise, to Tiffany's school, then to the country club golf course where Saunders had a regular foursome with partners who heartily detested him. Turns out there's a dining-room waitress with good reason to feel the same. Molly succeeds in her mission, of course--finishing up with a meant-to-be hair-raising ride with the killer. An absurd story full of abrasive characters, of whom Molly may be the least attractive--a busybody with a smart mouth and an overwhelming need for the spotlight. Smirks, not smiles, are the order of the day here, and the incoherent plotting is no help. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031214637X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312146375
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,648,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Just the Fax, Ma'Am (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was anxious to read the second. What a let down.

Molly came off as nothing more than an annoying buttinsky who had no reason at all to be involved in this investigation. Why would she stick her neck out, and risk her family, for someone she hates? Why would she put her children in danger? Why would she keep pushing herself into the investigation when the police and her husband told her to back off? Why did the police allow her to keep interfering, even after they told her to back off? A grown woman can't think of a better way to get information than to attempt to pose as a teenager? If she went to the high school posing as a college student from across the country, why would it matter if she didn't speak the same lingo as the high school kids?

Aside from the fact that the murdered man's wife was her arch-enemy in school, she had no tie to the whole thing...so added to the fact that she and the wife still don't like each other, and the man's wife treats her like dirt, it was ridiculous that she'd get herself this deeply involved and put so much at risk. And the ways she went about it were completely ludicrous. I certainly hope the rest of this series is better because Ms. O'Kane is batting about .500 right now.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tries to hard to be funny, August 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Just The Fax Ma'Am (Paperback)

I am always ready to read a witty mystery and was anxious to dive into this one. I was disappointed at the forced humor of the greeting card variety. Perhaps I should have been warned by the career of erstwhile sleuth, Molly, who happens draw cartoons for, among other things, greeting cards. Even more annoying is the total implausibility of her putting up with the obnoxious wife of the murdered man. There are some reasonably humorous moments and I was not able to predict the story line. Others may find this book more enjoyable than I did. I just prefer my humor done in Janet Evanovich's style.