Some Like It Lethal (Blackbird Sisters Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: delightful and clever mystery
Review: Some Like it Lethal is the third Blackbird Sisters mystery. It is as enjoyable as the first two of the series (How to Murder a Millionaire and Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds). I read the entire book in an evening, as it reads very fast and is difficult to put down. Nora Blackbird, the middle sister and narrator of the story, is an engaging amateur sleuth. A former socialite fallen on hard times, she now works as a society page reporter for a Philadelphia newspaper.

In Some Like it Lethal, the holiday season is just starting with the Hunt Breakfast, which Nora attends in order to cover it for the paper. While there, the body of Rush Strawcutter is found bludgeoned to death in one of the horse stalls along with Emma Blackbird, Nora's younger sister, who has been beaten and is nearly dead from alcohol poisoning. The police finger Emma as the murderer, and that leaves Nora to find out the truth. A subplot of a blackmailing scam comes to the surface, which Nora also needs to deal with.

Nancy Martin writes great dialog for her characters and the plot moves along well. I was able to figure out who the blackmailer was early on, but how everything intertwined and came together in the end, I was not able to discover in advance.

Nora is a delight to spend time with and it is easy to see why Michael Abruzzo is back in this third story to woo and court her. Nora is a young widow whose first marriage ended in tragedy when her doctor husband became a cocaine addict and was shot to death. Therefore, Nora is wary about the whole dating scene, and Michael's family's association with organized crime (he claims he has nothing to do with them) adds to her concern. On the other hand, Michael is very considerate of Nora and she finds him very sexy. Some Like it Lethal continues their story with some surprises.

The addition of Spike, a very small dog of extremely murky heritage, provides for some great fun and dialog, as does Libby Blackbird, the eldest sister, who is embracing her inner goddess after the recent birth of her fifth child.

If you are new to the Blackbird Sister mysteries, Some Like it Lethal, can be read on its own. Martin gives enough background for everything to make sense; however, for full enjoyment of all the characters and situations, I recommend reading the first two books of the series. They are all worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Gagably bad
Review: This book was so bad I had to make myself stop gagging and
finish it just to see if it would get any better. It didn't.
We have a main character who faints when excited; she can't even
drive a car. A main character who throws her pseudo Mafia boy-
friend out because he has a gun, when he has gone out of his way
to help her. The only character slightly interesting is her
sister,Libby. Ellen Hart's Cordelia in the Jane Lawless books
is 100 times more likeable and readable than Libby. Finally,
who cares who the author's ancestors are?