The Red Hot Empress (Annie Szabo Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Meredith Blevins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005 | Series: Annie Szabo Mysteries

Annie Szabo has discovered a miracle: Jimmy Qi, a kid from Chinatown with the power to heal using music. He's dazzling, he's a scoundrel, he's wise, and he makes a great newspaper article.
But now everyone wants Jimmy. Feeling responsible for creating San Francisco's latest hot commodity, Annie enlists her mother-in-law, the audacious fortune-teller Madame Mina, to help keep Jimmy safe from his avid pursuers: an evangelist; an ex-hero with a troubled past; a tong society; a CDC doctor; a dolphin fanatic; and an FBI agent who seems too good to be true.
Then the bodies start turning up. Annie grabs Jimmy and runs, luring the killer through a tangle of Chinese New Year celebrations and north up the deserted coast where she forces the killer to face justice.
Once again, though the spicy Szabo women would like to kick back with a lover, a good movie, and a few laughs, life has something else in mind. One meeting with an extraordinary boy leads them headlong into another wild adventure. Annie and Mina won't back down until their world is set right.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Blevins's third Annie Szabo adventure offers a more coherent plot than the previous entry to feature the California freelance journalist, The Vanished Princess (2004). Nudged by mother-in-law Madame Mina, Annie writes an article about Jimmy Qi, an Asian boy with the power to heal through music, which soon puts the youngster in danger. Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of the rising star of San Francisco's Chinatown—including a shady evangelist, the FBI, the tongs and a man who talks to dolphins. After two suspicious deaths, Annie and Jimmy go on the lam, not knowing whom to trust or why. Leo Rosetti, Annie's lover, and her daughter, E.B., are also tossed into the intrigue, along with meddling world-famous twins who have taken a shine to Annie and Jimmy. Through it all, Annie keeps her cool, until a devastating family secret almost costs her both her mind and her life. While the author ties up a few loose ends too neatly, she succeeds in weaving humor, zany characters and the occult into an entertaining story with serious undertones.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"In this fine sequel to her highly praised debut, The Hummingbird Wizard, Blevins, a fifth-generation Californian, blends a wild story, wonderful wit, and great characters."--Library Journal on The Vanished Priestess

"Meredith Blevins covers new literary ground...pulling it off with flair and grace and humor."
---Jonathan Kellerman on The Hummingbird Wizard

"If you don't fall in love with the Szabos, you don't have hormones. A sublime debut whose sequel can't come fast enough."
---Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Hummingbird Wizard

"An exciting debut. Blevins has written a thoroughly original first novel with characters you'll never forget."
---Tony Hillerman on The Hummingbird Wizard

"Fascinating gypsy lore, unforgettable characters, and a wicked sense of humor distinguish Blevins's highly unusual mystery debut....This stellar first, with its assured prose, will delight any mystery fan."
---Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Hummingbird Wizard

"Blevins flavors her lively prose with frequent humor and unexpected twists; readers will also be drawn in by the riveting characters, great plot, and insights into Gypsy culture."
---Library Journal (starred review) on The Hummingbird Wizard

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765307812
• ISBN-13: 978-0765307811
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #895,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good mystery--worth a read, April 18, 2006

By 

Maria Schneider "Maria E. Schneider" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Hot Empress (Annie Szabo Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The entire series is good--in the first book Annie deals with her past and comes to grips with it. Book 2, she really gets going on her adventures. Book 3 has the most complex plot. Blevins also has a way with descriptions--in one sentence you see Chinatown, you smell it, you're there. The gypsy lore is perfectly done--you see parts of it without a lot of extraneous detail and it's all completely believable. I really enjoyed how Annie's lovelife developed in this book--it matured and left the baggage behind. The zany aspect isn't gone however; Mina has it in spades, in her lovelife and lore, which fits perfectly. There's enough action to make the pages turn--good, quick read, an excellent mystery for an afternoon.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot all over!, October 1, 2005

By 

Rebekah Maxwell (Columbia, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Hot Empress (Annie Szabo Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is a great, fun read with a lot of heart. Annie Szabo is back for her third trip through Mystery Land, and she's brought the whole endearing crowd of Usual Suspects. Plus a few more. Madame Mina, Annie's Gypsy mother-in-law, is back as the most unorthodox sidekick in mystery history, and Blevins has thrown in some excellent and compelling additions. Blevins has a talent for writing totally believable characters and Jimmy Qi, who debuts in this novel, is charming and engaging.

Annie's clan goes through a few usual and quite a few outrageous life changes, and manage to land on their feet (though not unscathed). The Szabos never do anything halfway and this story is no exception. I won't spoil it for anybody who hasn't read it yet, but the fireworks don't stop from beginning to end. Love, laughter, hope, help, magic, danger and family collide in one glittering malestrom.

Another of Blevins's talents is weaving in absorbing tidbits from various cultural influences, and without being heavy-handed or cloying. Here we've got Gypsies loose in Chinatown being chased by the Feds and it all makes perfect sense. If you love a good mystery, buy this book.

(I still can't believe these people are not real.)