Popped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 7) [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

Carol Higgins Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

It's up, up and away with sleuth Regan Reilly -- in a lively new caper from beloved New York Times bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark.

L.A.-based private detective Regan Reilly flies to Las Vegas to help an old school chum, Danny Madley. Danny is producing the pilot of a reality TV show, "Love Above Sea Level." But someone is trying to sabotage Danny's show before he can shoot the final scene at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Is the culprit one of the contestants on Danny's show? Could it be the advice columnists Danny has hired who are there to help rekindle the sparks between the husbands and wives? Is it Danny's right hand man Victor, a local Vegas boy Danny met while gambling? Or his cameraman Sam, who would much rather be surfing than working? There is no shortage of suspects and no shortage of mishaps.

From their base in The Fuzzy Dice Hotel, Regan tries to help Danny keep his production on an even keel. Jealousy among the "Love Above Sea Level" contestants escalates. Mysterious, inexplicable events keep occurring. But Regan is determined to keep Danny's show on schedule and she'll do whatever it takes.

Popped is written with Clark's expert light touch and filled with the richly drawn quirky characters so relished by her fans. As Nelson DeMille says, "Clark keeps her readers entranced and entertained from cover to cover."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Las Vegas, Clark's seventh Regan Reilly mystery (after 2002's Jinxed) takes aim at all sorts of eminently spoofable targets, including reality TV shows, advice columnists and screen actors. Regan answers a plea from a grade school chum who's involved in a contest where someone isn't playing by the rules. The owner of the Balloon Channel (aka Hot Air Cable) is sponsoring a contest between two groups-one developing a pilot for a sitcom, the other for a reality TV show. Both, according to the whimsical rules of magnate Roscoe Parker, must have a ballooning theme. The winning group gets its show on the air and a $1 million prize. Regan's friend Danny Madley is trying to put together the reality show, with a couple of assistants, six contestants and a couple of advice columnists. Then there's the cast of the sitcom and its producer, as well as Roscoe, his girlfriend and his assistants. Even Danny's parents show up to meddle or help, as does Danny's ex-girlfriend. The wealth of eccentric characters would be at home in a Dickens novel, but is too much for this slender volume to support. While Regan attempts to figure out who's doing what to whom, Roscoe continues to add obstacles to make the competition more exciting. It all adds up to zany, if not particularly brilliant, fun in the desert, with an ending series fans will love.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Clark's latest Regan Reilly mystery has all the substance of cotton candy, but as a poolside diversion, it's perfectly amiable. Premise is all in the mystery-lite subgenre, and Clark has a doozy here. L.A. private eye Reilly is summoned to Las Vegas by an old high-school classmate, Danny Madley, who needs help desperately. His reality-TV pilot--married couples trying to rekindle the romance and win $1 million, to be awarded in a wedding-cake-shaped hot-air balloon--is being sabotaged by persons unknown. Of course, it's more complicated than that. Danny is in competition with a sitcom producer for the prize of winning a slot on the hot-air-balloon cable network. The network honcho, a crackpot millionaire, will choose the winner after viewing both shows. Clark pulls out all the stops with a cast of goofballs (seemingly borrowed from an old episode of Love American Style ) who romp through first Vegas and then Albuquerque, where the ballooning finale takes place. The writing hovers on the edge of cliche, and there is no suspense to speak of, but the silliness of it all delivers a kind of mindless good time. For Clark's devoted fans--or anyone who finds Murder, She Wrote too edgy. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743529855
• ISBN-13: 978-0743529853
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,378,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars TV competition and hot air balloons, October 11, 2004

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Popped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

Regan Reilly, P.I. in L.A., gets a call from Danny Madley, an old school friend, requesting she fly to Las Vegas to help him out. He is producing a pilot for a reality TV show featuring three married couples. They have all had some problems in their marriages but say they want to make it work. They are vying for a chance to renew their vows in a wedding-cake-shaped hot air balloon and win one million dollars. Apparently things haven't been going very smooth. Many things have happened and he wants Regan to come help him keep any more things from going wrong.

He is in competition with Bubbles who is producing a pilot for a comedy TV show. Unbeknownst to him, she has been having trouble with her actors and things haven't gone smoothly for them either.

Many things continue to happen including Danny's parents arriving only to lose a bag of mail for advice columnists helping on his show. Worse than that, his mother read one of the letters and if the advice columnists don't pay overdue alimony, his pilot might not be finished in time. Since his parents helped cause some of this trouble, they find themselves in deep to help resolve it.

Regan begins to question whether all of the married couples are truly who they say they are. Then there's Roscoe, the man behind the contest of the two pilot shows. He is a real character and Regan doesn't really trust him. She has her boyfriend, Jack who is a New York Detective, checking into their backgrounds.

While I liked this book, first one I've read by this author, it was definitely not your normal mystery. There wasn't any murder. There was some investigation into the various characters, but not the normal investigation to solve a crime or murder.

I found this book to be an easy read and enjoyed the story line as it was different than anything else I have read. Even with many characters, I felt the author did a good job of describing them so that I was able to keep everyone straight. I recommend this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh, November 25, 2004

By 

Avid Reader (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Popped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 7) (Hardcover)

I picked up this book at a bookstore because I needed a book to read on a 6 hour flight and had already read all the Mary Higgins Clark novels available. Hoping that writing talent was genetic, I picked up this book. Quite frankly, it made me want to jump out of the plane. MARY HIGGINS CLARK FANS: do NOT assume that just because CHC is the daughter of a brilliant writer that she is a brilliant writer herself, because her books are shallow and awful. Terrible plot, terrible storytelling, and the "mystery" isn't mysterious at ALL.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the WORST books I have EVER read, October 31, 2008

By 

JHB - See all my reviews

This review is from: Popped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow. This is one of the all time worst books I have read in the 24 years since I learned to read. I couldn't figure out how to give this book no stars at all, but I would have. The plot is bad. The characters are bad. The book is in third person from Regan's point of view, but you hear from her so rarely, and she is so unimportant to the plot, that she might as well not be there at all. I didn't care about any of the characters, and never believed that these were actual people, since they never acted like any real person would ever act. Character development and plot were so bad that every mention of a new character or "clue" was painfully obvious and seemed forced. The whole balloon thing was one of the lamest bases for a novel ever. Even the names of the characters seemed ridiculous and obviously made up. Aunt Agony and Uncle Heartburn? Alice Mars Jupiter? Seriously? The "resolution" at the end was a total farce. I didn't find anything about this book to be funny, let alone "light and quirky" as indicated on the jacket. Well, not ha-ha funny, anyway. Was this book published solely on the basis of her mother's success? My only theory to explain Carol's success is that people pick up a book seeing "Higgins Clark" and think they are getting one of her mother's mysteries, because that's what happened to me.