Customer Reviews

Murder Can Singe Your Old Flame: A Desiree Shapiro Mystery

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

 

 

Murder, double dealing, and danger does not seem a likely scenario for the female heroine to crack jokes, but in the case of Desiree Shapiro peril and humor fit well together. This demonstrates the level of talent that Selma Eichler has at her disposal because combining jocularity with murder is a dangerous game. MURDER CAN SINGE YOUR OLD FLAME is a delightful mystery, highlighted by a star who needs to succeed to show up her former flame. The Shapiro mysteries have a new winning entry.

Harriet Klausner

I've been a faithful reader of Ms. Eichler's books since their inception and this is one of the best. I love Desiree's sense of humor, her acceptance of self (she's not sylph-like and doesn't mind). She's an everywoman, who knows what's important: shopping, Hagen Daas(sic), oh yeah, and catching the bad guy/girl. At least now I know when her next book's coming out - February. HURRY UP, FEBRUARY!

This is a great book and fits well into the series. I love Desiree, who is very down to earth and real.

I found this book a chore to read. Really, who cares about how untamable Desiree's hair is on a humid day or how fat she is and why she won't exercise? She also is unable to tell the slime who screwed her over for another woman that she can't represent him! This woman is a doormat and hardly an example to good/fun PI novels. I figured out the killer on page 92-3 as soon as they were talking about Regis & Kathie Lee and plodded through the rest to see how Eichler would resolve this story. It's definitely not a good one, but as I am working my way through the series, I find that most of these novels have been in the 2-3 star range.

I enjoy the Desiree books. They could not be confused with great literature, but the character is endearing. The fact that every single detail of her day is described allows the reader to feel a closeness that makes this series of books fun to follow. Also everybody loves to see a mystery solved.

This is my first book of the Desiree Shapiro series, and now my mission is to find all the others. Desiree is exactly what I look for in a female private eye - funny, self-deprecating and really on the ball. This is a delightful, quick read.

I enjoyed this book to some extent but it could have been better. It was very slow and the mystery played out like any other mystery story - in other words, predictable.

What I liked about it was the plucky heroine, Desiree Shapiro. She had spirit and guts.

Really love every one of these books. looking forward to the next one but has of yet been unable to find it?? Murder Can Spoil Your Appetite...Does anyone know when it will be available???

P.I. Desiree Shapiro's rat of an ex-lover is accused of pushing his wife under a subway train, and Desiree sets out to prove him innocent. I won't give away the shatteringly unsurprising ending, which the book ploughs toward without benefit of any real complications to the plot.

This bumbling fool of an investigator begins by telling all the suspects right off the bat that they're suspected of being drug runners and murderers. This immediately sets all the suspects on their guard. It might work as an apparently guileless technique, used by someone like Columbo, who is crazy like a fox. But Desiree isn't crazy (which might be interesting), she's merely boring and dense.

So-called mysteries of this ilk are responsible for the term "light reading" being applied to the genre. But light reading this is not, as the reader quickly becomes bogged down in a mire of tedious detail. How could an intelligent person possibly be interested in Desiree's vacillations between one dress and another, or her hair problems? While mystery novelists like Robert Parker and Janet Evanovich dress their characters for the reader, there's a purpose to it. It both reveals character and sets the visual scene. In this book, what warrants a phrase occupies paragraphs. Details like this occupy in excess of half the book.

The writing is abysmally sloppy. When her creepy ex tells her of his wife's death, he "blew his nose once or twice." Well, was it once, or twice? Later the "once or twice" phrase is repeated in another scene. There are many more examples or poor writing, all too boring and irritating to mention.

With all the good mysteries out there to read (so many mysteries, so little time), it's a shame that anyone would waste time on this one. The reader is left wishing wholeheartedly that someone would push Desiree under a train.