Customer Reviews

Pretty In Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this second installment of the Tattoo Shop mystery series we follow the main character, Brett Kavanaugh, as she chases down a mystery in Las Vegas. Brett is a woman with an edge - she owns a tattoo shop in the Venetian Casino and spends a lot of her time dating hot guys, giving tattoos, and chasing criminals. The first book introduced us to Brett, her employees and her friends - Bitsy, Ace, Joel, Jeff, and her brother (a cop who is also her roommate). The same characters are all back for this book and the author spends more time on the story/characters and less time 'setting the background scene' about Brett and her life. So, the good news is that this book can stand alone and you needn't read the first one first. The downside is that this book suffers from the same problem as the last one; the mystery involves way too many characters and it's hard for the reader to keep up and keep things clear. There is wordplay with a lot of the character names and, because this book involves drag queens, almost every character has two names. It gets really confusing and if the author could correct one thing for the future it would be to keep it simple - do we really need 10 so-so suspects when 3 or 4 really good ones will do? There was definite advancement of the friendship between Brett and her rival Jeff Coleman - who owns a competing tattoo shop - and their friendship was funny at times and gave the book a much lighter tone. The series is ok - it's fluff, and there are both better and worse series out there. Give it a chance if you haven't before, and if you read the first one and were on the fence about it.. well, you'll still be same after reading this.

Brett Kavanuagh is known for her original art - tattoo art that is. As the owner of The Painted Lady tattoo shop in Las Vegas she doesn't do "flash" artwork as her counterpart Jeff Coleman does, she does custom work. So after she does the ink for a group of Drag Queens, she makes sure she's there for their opening night. What she doesn't expect is to get caught up in the middle of another murder investigation.

During the show, Britney Brassieres is taken down by what sounds like a gunshot, but what turns out to be the cork from a champagne bottle, shot right at her heart. She recovers from this incident, but not to long after ends up dead. Brett manages to catch not the culprits face, but the distinctive Queen of Hearts tattoo on the inside of their arm. She then sets out to track down who did the art, leading her right to the door of rival tattoo artist Jeff Coleman. But when she finds out that not one, but three people got the same tattoo one night, Brett isn't sure what to do next.

Everything seems to somehow be related to a pin found in Britney's make-up case (a pin that matches the tattoo of the mystery man). Not only is Brett now involved in this case, but it seems so is her trainee Charlotte. But to what degree? As a victim or a suspect? Things get really scary when another Queen is found dead (by Brett of course), from deadly ricin poison he was manufacturing in his apartment.

Just what are these murders about? Are they related to a sinister terrorist plot to take out Las Vegas or is it something smaller like a simple case of blackmail. Brett certainly has her hands full with this colorful cast of characters. What's the actor turned politician hiding? Is the hunky Dr Brett she meets in the ER after being exposed to the ricin somehow involved? How does her assistant Charlotte, accountant turned tattoo artist, fit into all of this? And is the sheriff on the case more interested in actually solving the case or just doing whatever he can to annoy Brett and her brother Tim(considering he's now engaged to Tim's former fiancee Shawna!)?

Once again Brett has the support of her loyal staff, including shop manager Bitsy and tattoo artist Joel to help her solve this intriguing who done it. One filled with just enough 'he's' and 'she's' to make it hard to keep all the hims and hers straight. While she does make a few slips up along the way, Brett is definitely getting the hang of this sleuthing thing ~ and is giving her detective brother a run for his money in the crime solving business. And just why is Jeff being so nice to Brett all of a sudden? Might there be something brewing here? One can only hope! It shouldn't be to hard for fans of Olson's Annie Seymour series to easily pick up the reference to that series.

Pretty in Ink is a quirky mystery with a fun, independent, determined leading lady and loyal supportive cast of characters, each so different, yet lovable in their own ways. A fast, easy, enjoyable read with an ending that will catch the reader completely by surprise. I look forward to seeing what Brett gets herself involved with in Driven To Ink, due out later this year.

Brett Kavanaugh owns the Painted Lady tattoo parlor in the ritzy part of Las Vegas while giving her clients custom-made tattoos. Her whole body is filled with tattoos, a walking advertisement for her shop.

One night Brett is at the Chez Terso watching a transvestite on stage when a man pops a champing cork and hits the performer in the chest. Brett gets a look at the man who did it noticing a queen of hearts playing card etched onto his right forearm. Trevor McKay seems all right, but the next day he visits the Painted Lady appearing very ill. He dies at the hospital at the same time Brett's trainee Charlotte disappears. A waiter saw the man the person who hit Trevor with the cork; he describes him to Brett who makes a sketch. The man is Wesley Lambert, a transvestite who dropped out of sight over a year ago. Brett finds herself through a set of circumstances in a condo with the corpse of Wesley. She is decontaminated from ricin, which is all over the place. The tattoo artist believes there is a link between the two deaths and Charlotte as she hops from one hiding place to another to find Charlotte and the killer. She remains resolute in finding her friend, but ignorant that someone is watching her very closely.

Pretty in Ink is a non-stop action amateur sleuth mystery starring a brave strong heroine who thinks outside the crypt; something needed on this deadly case. The support cast adds humor and suspense (even off stage) to this well constructed complex whodunit. With a touch of romance to augment the deep look at another side of Vegas, fans will enjoy the second Tattoo Shop Mystery (see Missing In Ink).

Harriet Klausner

Brett is a tattoo artist in a tony section of Las Vegas.. When a friend invites her and the staff to a Drag Queen show after tattooing most of the "girls" Brett is looking for a nice night out.
One of the girls is shot with a champagne cork in a attack and later ends up dead, Brett suspects there is more going on than just Gay fear and hate.
Trevor McKay had a secret and someone had come into the club to deliver a messaage to him before the attack.
Charlotte, Bretts' new tattooo trainee comes up missing and is suspected of making ricin poison with another "gentleman" that had tattoos similar to the attackers tattoos.
Brett is thinking all is not what it really seems and gets attacked, threatened by a senetor and her tyres slashed. What secrets did those Drag Queens have, why are they linked to terrorists and what really happened at the Queen of Hearts Ball?

#2 Tattoo Shop mystery, featuring Brett Kavanaugh, who owns the Painted Lady tattoo shop in Las Vegas. Brett is at a drag queen show, an invited guest because she did tattoos for several of the stars, when one of them is attacked deliberately during the show--a champagne cork popped directly at her. When Trevor (aka Britney Brassieres) later ends up dead, the apparent victim of poison, Brett gets involved in a bizarre case involving several other drag queens, her trainee employee Charlotte, and the police detective who is now dating her brother Tim's ex-fiancee. Oh, and there's a handsome emergency room doctor in the mix as well. Soon the FBI is involved, as the poison was nothing less than ricin, a seriously dangerous chemical often used in terrorist attacks. Somehow, Brett's employee Charlotte is mixed up in all of it, though she's not sure just how, and she begins to doubt how well she really knew the girl.

I actually liked this better than the first one. I feel like I'm getting to know Brett better, and while there is a little romance thrown in, it didn't feel like the focus of the book, and this was definitely better than your average cozy, although as usual with amateur sleuth mysteries, the main character ends up doing some pretty stupid stuff. The tattoo informaton is interesting too, of course.

I thought this book was even better than the first in the serious. It starts out with a bang, literally, as a champagne cork is sent flying into the face of a drag queen. Brett is in the audience and has to start unraveling a tangled mix of politics, drag and, of course, the requisite tattoo. She also scores big in one of the casinos and gets drawn deeper into the mystery. There's a romantic element here, too, with a twist (Brett gets to tattoo him!), and Olson keeps us guessing about who the bad guys are extremely well, complete with Facebook and the possibility of tattoo removal.

With one of her staff on the lam and a possible suspect, there is even more incentive for Brett to get to the bottom of it. As other reviewers have said, there is a lot going on here but to me that's what made this such a fast read, and I like that we get a glimpse into the life of a tattoo artist (well, more than one, with her rival tattooist playing a role once again) but also when it comes to solving the mystery. I'm looking forward to the remaining books in the series.

Karen E. Olson's PRETTY IN INK provides a fine Tattoo Shop Mystery, telling of the owner of one of Vegas's hottest tattoo shops who sleuths in her spare time. An opening night of litter ends in disaster in this thriller.

this book is the bomb........its makes me happy i purchased a Kindle,,,but when it comes to detail...I live in Vegas and without giving away too much there's a casino "episode" that would never have happened in the real world w/out a visit to the IRS "FILE NOW" department but GREAT and ordered sample of "The Missing Ink". which w/out a doubt I purchase ..BUY THIS BOOK!!!!**

This was a good book and I enjoyed reading it BUT a lot of the scenes in the shop and when she is tattooing are horribly incorrect! It would have been nice if the author did a little bit of research into tattoo setup, the average person does not need more misinformation about what goes on in tattoo shops. I wont get into everything but two major things that bothered me were:

1) Tattoo artists should NEVER use latex gloves. Many people have latex allergies and latex breaks down with exposure to anything with petrolium jelly in it (like any sort of ointment that artist might be using while doing the tattoo)
2) Deoderant should never be used to put a stencil on. Yes, it works but think about it. Very unhygienic and pretty much gross unless you use a different deoderant stick for each person.

Other than that this was a good book. Im not trying to bash but it seems that while the author does have some respect for tattoo culture she just needs to get her facts straight.

I was exhausted by the time I finished the book! The main character, Brett, was too. I love this series, love the characters. Great storytelling.