Customer Reviews

Wicked Women Whodunit

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

 

 

I picked this book up at a bookstore and clearly didn't make a wise purchase. For those of you who really like mystery and suspense, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! The writing is terrible and if you really like mystery and suspense, these are not the authors for you. Although I should qualify that and state that after the first two stories, I did not read the last two because I was sure they were probably the same style as the first two. The stories have no real plot other than "tired and bored city girl meets hunk and has sex with him." In fact the first two stories are so short on plot, suspense and writing ability that you could swear they were written by the same hand. Even the author's beloved sex scenes are poorly done and sound like the ramblings of an adolescent.
Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book. It is awful! The only mystery contained within these pages is how and why they were actually published.

This anthology is a complete and utter disgrace. The so-called whodunit novellas are a total joke. I cannot believe I spent fourteen dollars on this. Talk about money down the drain! The only mystery in this book is what made Brava decide to release this fiasco. All of the novellas (or at least the first three I read. I didn't bother to finish up the book by reading the last story) are underdeveloped and too abrupt to make the mystery remotely plausible. There is supposed to be some building of tension and slow gathering of clues in a whodunit. The reader gets none of that here. I love MaryJanice Davidson and am partial to her work, but even her novella was a major stinker. The plot is nonexistent, characterization is absent (especially with Turner -- the so-called hero in the story), the sharp wit and memorable quips are missing, and the murder mystery in reverse thing would have been clever had it been developed and executed in a better way. I also noticed that the character Dana had been described as a "pleasant-looking blonde with curly Orphan Annie hair and big blue eyes," and then her hair was later described as red. Which brings me to another problem I had with this book: poor editing. There is a plethora of mistakes in this book. Was this book rushed into printing or something? Well, one thing is certain is that the authors are encouraged to churn out crap at hyper speed! Ms. Davidson is such a wonderful author, but her work as of late is below par to her earlier stories and to the stuff she writes for Berkley. In fact, all of the stuff she has written for Brava -- with the exception of Under Cover, The Royal Treatment, and the novella in the How to be a Wicked Woman anthology was surprisingly good as well -- is nowhere near as good as Undead and Unwed, Thief of Hearts, Adventures of the Teen Furies (which I read just a few days ago), and the Wyndham Werewolf novellas in the Secrets anthologies. Hello Gorgeous! is pretty good, but also not up to Davidson's standards. I do not mention the other authors in this anthology because I am unfamiliar with their work. And I don't think I'll be giving their stuff a whirl again after reading this. I didn't expect War and Peace when I picked up this book, but I still expected something great -- or at the very least good -- for the amount of money I spent on this book. Alas, I won't be wasting my time or money on either the Bad Boys or Wicked Women anthologies anymore. I won't be ripped off this way again.

I felt cheated when I bought this book, and in fact, I ended up returning it. The efforts put forth by the authors for this anthology were lackluster for the most part. MJD's story was not even up to her usual hilarious standards, and I really had a hard time understanding why the two characters got together since there was little developement about their backgrounds, which matched the skimpy plot. Do yourself a favor, borrow a friend's copy or go to the library, but this is not worth the cover price.

I really like the wicked women series, and until this book I could have recommended all of them as being a good read. This one greatly departs from the others in both subject matter and quality of writing.

I was especially horrified by MaryJanice Davidson's (dare I say it?) pathetic attempt at a murder mystery. As I am a big fan of hers, it pains me to have to say that, but I am hoping to warn others that usually enjoy her stories to not read this one. Also, I am hoping that those who have never read any of her stories will not start with this one. My favorite book by this author is Royal Treatment. Contained in Royal Treatment and the author's other books, but missing in this story, is her usual wit and interesting characters. I am still unsure as to why I should care what happenned to the characters in "Ten Little Idiots," not that much did. I'm not mentioning the sex scenes because they aren't worth mentioning.

Single White Dead Guy was a passable story, if very predictable. It doesn't carry the book though. The title could have been used more effectively to set something up for a better written story.

Like another reviewer, I stopped reading before finishing the book (at the begining of story #3 to be exact). Then, I decided I should give the last story a try just to be fair since I was writing a review. Although, it does not make the book worth buying for it alone, it is the best story in the book. It takes place on a reality show that goes awry. I also upped my rating from 1 to 2 stars after reading it.

It is unfortunate that this collection is what we got when romance writers tried to do a mystery. I hope that this does not spell the end, but I also hope that next time it is attempted, it is executed with more style and wit, and less compromise. Fusing these two generes seems natural- what is romance without a little mystery?- but three of the four authors couldn't quite generate a good match between the two. At least Nancy Cohen created a decent potion of mystery and romance. The other authors sacrificed plot to focus on romance, but the romance wasn't good enough to overcome the plot problems. So, you get robbed of satisfaction from either. Just like I feel I got robbed of my money by buying this book.

I suggest checking out one of the other books in the Wicked Women series.

Mary Janice Davidson is a hit or miss author with me and this story most definitely MISSED. I couldn't deal with the character motivations. They just made no sense.

Amy Garvey's story was okay...it wasn't predictable per se, but it also didn't pull me in.

Jennifer Apodaca's story was by far the best. She engaged me and interested me in the plot. it was a BIT predictable but by FAR the best.

Nancy Cohen is a mystery writer so I expected her story to be the best. It was the worst. There were continuity errors all over the place. The romance wasn't developed at all.

This was one of the weakest and worst edited Bravas I've read.

I could review each short story individually, but they'd all merit roughly the same response: awful. They were raunchy and juvenile, reading as if they were thrown together in a weekend without any serious editing. A fringe of mystery as an excuse for sex scenes, mostly, with shallow characters and weak, rushed plots. Hardly worth the time it took to read.

I expected better from these authors. Do yourself a favor and pick up Davidson's 'Undead' series instead.

In the oft repeated words of one heroine, "Oh golly!" Sooo bad all together. Half-hearted efforts at plot, second rate sex, and just plain bad writing. Mercy, please.

I couldn't even get through the first story in this book. The writing was so horrible and I could not follow the plot at all. I moved on to the next but it was just as bad as the first. Unfortunately this was the first book I had read by any of these authors so I'm not sure if I'll try one of their novels again.

"Ten Little Idiots" by MaryJanice Davidson. At an offshore Maine island getaway given to her by her friend, Caro decides another good intention is turning into a trip from hell. One of the other guests Dana claims to have murdered someone, but everyone is accounted for.

"Single White Dead Guy" by Amy Garvey. It must be karma that last night was perfect as Lanie spent the greatest evening of her life in bed with hunk Will. However, banking on breakfast with Will, she finds him dead on the outside steps until he blithely walks in with her morning meal.

"Fast Boys" by Jennifer Apodaca. Someone murders tabloid reporter Ranger, but make it look as if Tess killed him for using her to uncover dirt on her beloved NASCAR driver Ark. Tess plans to prove her innocence on both the murder and the Ark exposé; in spite of his need to race away from her Ark needs to help her.

"Three men and a Body" by Nancy J. Cohen. Heather tries to win the reality TV show contest because the prize is a Florida B&B although she is attracted to one of her opponents, Rex. However, Heather changes her goal when another contestant is murdered and she and Rex may be on the short list for elimination.

These four amusing amateur sleuth romances are well written fine novellas starring wonderfully "wicked" women solving a murder mystery while finding the right hunk.

Harriet Klausner