Customer Reviews

Thugs and Kisses (The Odelia Grey Mysteries)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just like the first two Odelia books; Too Big To Miss and Curse of the Holy Pail, The: An Odelia Grey Mystery (Odelia Grey Mysteries) the third book in the series is a must read as well. I have had to shelve many of my past book series due to lack of time but when Book Three of the Odelia Grey series arrived I found time. I love the personality of Odelia and can imagine being friends with her. In this latest book we find her in not only one tangled web but two with some very unexpected suspects and quite a surprising ending.

Sue Ann Jaffarian's character, Odelia Grey, is a woman I want to spend more time with. When her tyrannical boss goes missing, the high school bully is shot at her reunion and her relationship with long-time boyfriend Greg hits the skids, Odelia is the only one with the brains and the wit to hold it all together. Jaffarian weaves all three plots together seamlessly and ends with a character twist that'll thrill long-time fans. It's her best yet.

Thugs and Kisses has wonderful pacing, with several taut story lines that intertwine, and an ending that both astonished and touched me deeply. If you're looking for the witty quips from the mouth of a heroine you'll cheer for, pick up Thugs and Kisses!

I loved this book, could not keep my nose out of it. Sue Ann Jaffarian has a way of putting a story together that makes it impossible to put down. I love Odelia Grey, I love her boyfriend, I love her best friend, even her jerk boss... what a great story! I almost missed a day of work, just because I wanted to finish it. Keep them coming Sue Ann!

Sue Ann Jaffarian does it again with this third offering in the Odelia Grey series. With two mysteries to solve and her love life in a confused jumble, Odelia manages to keep her wits about her (with the help of a Thin Mint or two) as she works to resolve them all. A real page-turner!

I wasn't ready to go to bed, so I started this book at 11 p.m. Needless to say, I just couldn't put it down. At 2:30 I finished this great book. I'm HAPPY to say I stayed up to read it. The twists and turns kept me glued to my Kindle. I love Odelia, she is so human. She has down days just like the rest of us. Her body doesn't get in the way of her mystery solving at all. I had planned on saving this series for vacation, but I can't wait that long to see what happens next. Grab a copy and jump right into the life of Odelia!

This is the third in the series that I've read. The writing has improved and the storyline as well. Keep up the good work. I highly recommend this series if you like a strong female character with a lot of guts. Not much violence (good thing).

I have read Sue Ann first 2 books & anxiously await her new book every year!
Her books are very enjoyable & fun. They are also very realistic & celebrate human diversity! Thanks Sue Ann...

Odelia is attending her 30th high school reunion. She's upset when she sees the theme, a recreation of the class' senior prom. Thanks to Donny Oliver, prom night is one night Odelia has no desire to relive. But right in the middle of all the festivities and memories, Donny is murdered. And this latest corps is just another in a long line of things that are driving a wedge between Odelia and her boyfriend, Greg, a man Odelia thought she would marry.

Meanwhile, Odelia's boss, Mike Steele, has vanished. While Mike is an egotistical jerk of a lawyer, Odelia does care for him. At the request of the senior partners, she starts looking for the missing man. Can she find Mike? Who killed Donny? And can she work things out with Greg?

If you have the idea that this is another jam packed book in the series, you'd be right. With three stories, things move quickly. But the transitions from one plot to another seem flawless and worked well to keep me entertained. This was especially true when one or the other mystery seemed to stall out. The ultimate solution relied a bit on coincidence for my taste, but it is a minor complaint overall.

I love the characters, too. Zee and Greg aren't around as much, but I did enjoy their scenes. Odelia still provides plenty of entertainment. And a few of her lines as things begin to come together are laugh out loud funny.

Whether you start the series here or are already a fan, this book will leave you wanting more adventures with Odelia.

Odelia Grey is a paralegal at Wallace, Boer, Brown, and Yates. Her immediate boss Michael Steele requested her and the partners thought she would be good for the hard to get along with anal-retentive obsessive attorney because she has patience and should be able to keep him grounded. They bribed her with a big pay raise and her own office.

Since her wheelchair bound lover Greg Steven is ill, she takes Detective Dev Frye as her date to her thirtieth high school reunion. While dancing with Dev, Danny Oliver is shot and killed. Everyone has a motive for killing him including Odelia and her friend Sally Kipman who lost custody of her son to him in an ugly court battle. While dealing with being a suspect, her boss Steele never returns from his mini vacation. His car is found at the airport, certain documents from a client are tampered with and he never showed up at the inn where he made reservations. Although it looks bad for Steele who some think broke the law and fled the country, Odelia knows he is too obsessed to do anything illegal. She and Sally team up to help each other locate Steele and find out who murdered Donny.

Ignoring the amateur sleuth investigating plausibility, THUGS AND KISSES is a very enjoyable reading experience. The whodunit and the missing person case are well thought out; run parallel to each other and the sequences smoothly change from one case to the other. The protagonist, a size twenty who is very comfortable with her body does what she believes is right because she has a strong sense of justice and loyalty. Obstinately she refuses to be swayed from the case by her lover, family or friends which sometime make for strained relations.

Harriet Klausner