Short Change [Hardcover]

Patricia Smiley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2007

L.A.-based Tucker Sinclair has her hands full trying to get her consulting business off the ground. But it won't be easy: with her clients' businesses threatened-and then their lives-the stakes are deadly high.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Smiley's diverting third Tucker Sinclair mystery (after 2005's Cover Your Assets), the self-employed Los Angeles business consultant is sorting out the financial problems of her friend PI Charley Tate when distraught and disheveled Eve Lawson walks into Tate's office with complaints of being followed. When Lawson disappears, her boyfriend is killed and Tate is run off the road, Tucker turns detective. She retraces Lawson's erratic recent history, interviewing family members and former boyfriends, but something doesn't add up. At the center of the mystery is a small piece of property, owned by Lawson, that stands in the way of a major luxury development. That the murder occurred in the jurisdiction of LAPD detective Joe Deegan, Tucker's boyfriend, creates a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, Tucker is fighting her aunt for ownership of the cozy beach house she inherited from her grandmother. Satisfied fans will enjoy the forays and foibles of this charming heroine. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The third Tucker Sinclair mystery finds the feisty L. A. business consultant enjoying her independence, though she's struggling to keep her firm afloat. That's why she agrees to expand her role with Charley Tate, of Tate Investigations, from consultant to investigator—searching for a client who has disappeared. Her sleuthing brings her into a world of corrupt business, identity theft, and long-held family secrets—and, of course, puts her own life at peril. A delightful heroine who mixes humor with crime in the manner of Stephanie Plum. Wilkens, Mary Frances

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover; First Edition edition (July 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451221443
• ISBN-13: 978-0451221445
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,892,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All About Eve, December 10, 2007

By 

Gloria Feit (Long Beach, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Short Change (Hardcover)

This is the third entry in the Tucker Sinclair mystery series, and it is just as much of a good read as the earlier ones. Tucker is a management consultant, her primary expertise rescuing businesses in trouble; the fact that she is a smart, resourceful woman with a knack for getting herself into - and hopefully out of - trouble is just a bonus. Her latest client is a p.i. named Charley Tate, a retired LAPD bomb squad sergeant. As Tucker is attempting to turn his business into one that actually earns him a profit, Charley is hired by a woman who identifies herself as Eve Lawson and tells him she fears she is being stalked, and pays him a $1,000 cash deposit to find out who has been following her. Tucker reluctantly agrees to assist him. Then, in short order, the woman disappears, and a wanted embezzler, whose name and description fit that of Eve's boyfriend, is found murdered, and Eve becomes a suspect in the murder; it appears that either she killed him or she's to be the killer's next victim.

Of course, there are the requisite number of personal preoccupations, e.g., Tucker's boyfriend, a handsome homicide detective with the LAPD, who seems to have had a relationship with a Deputy DA who thinks the relationship is still present tense; and a paternal relative who claims that Tucker's father is someone other than the man her mother married. While trying to deal with these distractions, Tucker becomes increasingly involved in the investigation of the murder and the whereabouts of Charley's client, imperiling herself in the process. There are questions of fraud, corporate greed and shady property dealing, though the tone is mostly light and the writing funny. Tucker is a good-humored and capable woman who is surrounded by a mother named Pooky who runs a yoga studio one of whose employees is named Petal; just possibly a father who goes by the name of Peaches LaRue; a West Highland terrier who was adopted and who is therefore referred to as a "used dog," et al - an altogether charming bunch, in a book whcih is equally delightful and fst-moving.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A smart and sassy female detective story, July 16, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Short Change (Hardcover)

(Also available as CD)

Los Angeles business consultant, Tucker Sinclair, has left corporate America and is trying to build her own business. She's currently working with Charley Tate. Charley is a P.I. who is also trying to get his business off the ground. But Charley's been sidelined by a hit-and-run driver (and a wife who rather he spent all of his time with her) and Tucker steps in to save the day.

Eve Lawson is a strange woman. It's as if she stepped out of the 1980s. She breezes into Charley's office and hires Charley to find out who is following her. The question is: who would want to follow a writer who is working on a book about the post-World War II real estate boom in Los Angeles?

But while Charley's back is on the mend, Eve's boyfriend turns up dead and Eve goes missing. Tucker had better start working overtime to solve the crime before anyone else dies. And while she's at it, Tucker has to build her own business, save Charley's, salvage what's left of her own love life and figure out a way to get her conniving aunt off her `back.' Auntie Dearest wants to evict Tucker from her ocean digs--and it might be that Tucker's mama will have to save the day.

Short Change is a fast and fun romp into Tucker Sinclair's world. She's smart, savvy and unique with enough dysfunction to make her a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to Patricia Smiley's next Tucker Sinclair novel. I want to see what happens with Deegan.

Armchair Interviews says: A new mystery series worth reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun investigative thriller, July 6, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Short Change (Hardcover)

Management curmudgeon Tucker Sinclair left her corporate job when the partners failed to support her during a murder investigation. She opened up her own business and scrambles to build a solid client base. Ex-cop turned private investigator Charles Tate asks for Tucker's help; ergo she gets sucked into one of his investigations. Evie Lawson asks Charles to help her because she thinks someone is stalking her. They are to meet, but she is a no-show; Tucker as a favor to Charlie goes to Evie's house, but she is not there either.

Tucker's police officer boyfriend describes a homicide victim to her, who is Evie's former lover; Evie is a person of interest to the police. Charlie is in a car accident so he asks Tucker to continue to help him on the case. Evie's stepbrother demands Charles find her before she harms herself as he insists she is mentally unstable and probably suicidal. Tucker discovers that Evie is holding up the construction of a multi-million dollar development project by refusing to sign away her property. She now knows why seemingly everyone is desperately seeking Evie, but like the others on the hunt she has no idea where the woman hides.

Though the tale can turn a bit confusing with the universe searching for Evie, readers will agree that Patricia Smiley has written an appealing amateur sleuth mystery due to the intelligent, determined, and caring heroine. Charles provides comic relief when the tension looks overwhelming especially as the taut noose chokes Tucker. There is a lot of action in this fast-paced tale, but it is the characters especially tough and tender Tucker who make SHORT CHANGE a fun investigative thriller.

Harriet Klausner