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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Madcap fun from Martin, February 4, 2010
This review is from: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception (Hardcover)
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I like Nancy Martin's previous "Blackbird sisters" series, so I was happy to read this new offering. It sounds like perhaps Ms. Martin has changed publishers, so, as I understand from many an author's FAQ's, we probably won't be seeing more from that series. Roxy Abruzzo, our new heroine, is vaguely connected to the Blackbird world, but you won't be finding many familiar faces around here. We're in Pittsburgh, now, and it's mostly nothing like the Old Guard Philadelphia we've seen from Ms. Martin previously.
Roxy is a fun and yet complicated heroine, with a lot more going on than might first appear. There are perhaps a few too many secondary characters - I can think of at least 3 that probably were completely unnecessary to the story and became distractions - but if Martin is planning another series, they may be meant to grow a bit more in future books. In the meantime, however, the cast of thousands might be a bit overwhelming.
The plot is quick moving and hangs together pretty well. The ending is a tad bit rushed, but overall this is a pretty good example of fun and easy mystery writing. Be warned that this isn't "cozy" - there's a little too much reality (and, frankly, sex) to fall in that category. If you're a fan of the Blackbirds and like Emma, you will probably be be good with Roxy. If you much prefer the mostly refined Nora, she may not be for you.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New series featuring non-traditional, flawed heroine, January 31, 2010
This review is from: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception (Hardcover)
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Our Lady of Immaculate Deception introduces Roxy Abruzzo, and is the first book in a new series by Nancy Martin (author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries). Roxy is a single mother, distantly related to the Pittsburgh Mafia, has an untraditional career running an architecture salvage business, an ex-convict with limited mental capacity as a helper, and other assorted family members and friends. Roxy is also a character with flaws--she has several one-night stands, a complicated relationship with her child's father, and a tendency to take advantage of salvage customers.
The plot of Our Lady of Immaculate Deception centers a statue that Roxy liberates from the fire-destroyed home of a customer. The customer was murdered only moments after Roxy left his home, and as the story unwinds, Roxy becomes involved with the dead man's brother, mistress, and attorney. More characters from the man's life enter the story--his elderly, ill mother, his wife, two of his four children, and two small time criminals--and most of these characters tell the story from their own perspective in a few short pages.
If you like the Munch Mancini or Stephanie Plum novels, then you may also like this book. Personally, I enjoyed that Roxy Abruzzo is a flawed and human character, and I liked that many of the book's characters shared their own perspective. However, although part of the strength of Our Lady of Immaculate Deception is the number of character and plot lines, it is also a weakness in that the reader can feel the set up for future installments in the series. In my opinion, the second installment featuring Roxy Abruzzo will be the test to see if this will be a successful long-term series.
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29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great debut for a new series!, February 8, 2010
This review is from: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception (Hardcover)
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Roxy Abruzzo isn't your typical heroine. She runs an architectural salvage business and tries to stay out of "the Family business" - her great-uncle is the boss of the Pittsburgh Mafia. Of course, a girl needs to eat (and feed her dog), so sometimes she helps him out, too. But, for the most part, she tries to stay on the straight and narrow.
In this book, Roxy starts a chain reaction when she "saves" a statue (sticky fingers, *tsk tsk*) - her thinking was that if she didn't take the statue (even though she hadn't bid for it, or bought it), it would just be destroyed with the house, and that would just be a shame. However, the statue is missed, and things start getting a bit crazy. To make things worse, Julius Hyde - the owner of the house being demolished - is murdered the same evening that Roxy was there salvaging stuff.
This book is chock-full of great characters - including Roxy's 17-year-old daughter, Sage and her very voluptuous Aunt Loretta, who is a lawyer; Dorothy Hyde, the matriarch of the Hyde clan, who spends most of her time in a coma but tends to conveniently wake up when there is business to attend to; Patrick Flynn, Sage's father and (apparently) once a Very Bad Man (but now a chef); the Delaney brothers, who are usually so high they have no idea what is going on ... etc. Nancy Martin has a gift for creating memorable characters and that makes this book very entertaining to read. Then, of course, not only are the characters entertaining, but Ms. Martin also knows how to spin out a great twisty-tie of a mystery and make up keep turning to pages, speculating on what, exactly, is going on here.
Well, I could go on, but I've probably already bored everyone to tears. This book is awesome. Read it. Add Roxy Abruzzo to your list of favorite people. Watch for new books in her series. Make an altar and worship her ... well, maybe not that far. But definitely - BUY THIS BOOK! READ THIS BOOK!! You'll love it!
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