The Kookaburra Gambit: A Kylie Kendall Mystery (Kylie Kendall Mysteries) [Paperback]

Claire McNab (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kylie Kendall Mysteries

“A romping good time!”—LesbiaNation.com on The Wombat Strategy

Owning half a detective agency is not as exciting as it sounds when your partner won’t let you solve any cases. Transplanted Aussie Kylie Kendall is frustrated as all get out, and she spends most of her time hanging out with her receptionist and sampling the Los Angeles nightlife. But that’s about to change. Twins Alf and Chica Hartnidge, the hosts of Australia’s hit children’s television show The Oz Mob, hire Kylie to find out who’s smuggling opals into the United States inside their Kelvin Kookaburra plush toys. A syndication deal and a load of money are riding on whether Kylie will shut down the smugglers, but a murder (or two) makes the stakes even higher.

Claire McNab is the author of The Wombat Strategy, as well as 18 other best-selling mystery novels. She has served as the president of Sisters in Crime and is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

G'day! Meet Kelvin Kookaburra, Korinna Koala, and Penny Platypus, Muppet-like members of the Oz Mob, a Australian kids' hit TV show, whose plush toy re-creations are coming soon to L.A. Then, in an initial shipment of the stuffed animals, Kelvin's soft belly is used to smuggle exquisite Australian black opals. Oz Mob creators Alf and Chicka Hartnidge, identical twins, can't afford the bad press or any other impediments to a potentially huge movie deal, bankrolled by a Christian film company, that they're working out, so they seek out private investigator Kylie Kendall. Newly relocated from Down Under to L.A., Kylie isn't sure she's up to the task, but more than the puppets' morals are at stake--the contraband's value exceeds $100,000. As McNab's well-paced confection proceeds, family pressure coaxes Kylie back home to Wollegudgerie to help mum with the family pub, and our heroine develops a smoldering attraction to her cool, savvy L.A. business partner. A good read whose easily understood Aussie expressions add flavor. That's fair go. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Transplanted Aussie Claire McNab moved to Los Angeles more than a decade ago. As a stranger, she found living in America at times startling and puzzling, but often delightful. She has taken these experiences and woven them into her Kylie Kendall comedic m

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555839045
• ISBN-13: 978-1555839048
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smashing good fun, blokes!, April 20, 2005

By 

Bunny Man! "mallard6" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kookaburra Gambit: A Kylie Kendall Mystery (Kylie Kendall Mysteries) (Paperback)

Ms. McNab lives up to the promise shown in the Wombat Strategy, her first Kylie Kendall Mystery. The Kookaburra Gambit takes up where the Wombat Strategy left off. Our heroine is a neophyte private eye, newly arrived from down under. She is still (very capably) learning to cope with all the differences in her world. The mystery is great, and the book is genuinely funny. The matchup between Kylie and the rabid Christian right is fine to see.

I just wish these books were longer, and came out lots more often. I can hardly wait for the next volume in the series!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 'Gambit''s a Gambol!, September 10, 2005

By 

Mister E (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kookaburra Gambit: A Kylie Kendall Mystery (Kylie Kendall Mysteries) (Paperback)

A self-absorbed receptionist who treats her day job as if she were awarding her co-workers a treasured personal appearance;

An icy, blue-eyed blonde who makes the slightly klutzy Kylie trip over herself even more than usual; and

A pseudo-preacher to the stars, offering his supplicants one of his hands in compassion while the other steals through their pockets.

These are some of the priceless characters waiting to delight the reader in Claire McNab's second Kylie Kendall mystery. (Note to reader: If by chance you missed the first of the series, "The Wombat Strategy," stop reading this immediately and go get it!) Now where were we?

Though the setting is Los Angeles at its Kleig-lit best, we see it far more clearly through the eyes of our newly-transplanted Australian heroine, the funny, adorable and ingenuous Kylie Kendall. Take the greedy Hollywood bad guys lying and conniving as usual, add Kylie, the detective-with-training-wheels hot on their trail, doing her newbie best not to get lost in either the hairpin twists of the plot as well as the L.A. streets and Bam! you get one deliciously deadly, funny mix.

Lighter in tone than Ms. McNab's other two series, the Carol Ashton and Denise Cleever mysteries, "The Kookaburra Gambit" has only one fault--it ends far too quickly. Hurry, Ms. McNab, and present us with the next book in this series, "The Quokka Question."

So, Ms. McNab ... how's that writing coming? Are you done yet?