Strawberry Tattoo

Rating:
Summary: Saucy and Fun
Review: If you travel a lot for business, there are few better companions than Lauren Henderson and her Tart City sisters. They have breezed me through red eye flights and interminable seminars. Sam Jones is saucy and fun. I only wish her first two books were available here.

Rating:
Summary: edgy fun
Review: It was initially difficult to get the rhythm of this book (I'm American, and some expressions and spellings created little glitches which detracted from the smoothness of the read), but after a while, I just went wild for the style and humor of the main character. I can't wait until the next Sam Jones escapade!

Rating:
Summary: Another Champ
Review: Lauren has written another winner. Sam Jones, the main character, finds herself looking for clues and answers in yet another page turning mystery. Her witty style - fashion sense and humor make her one of my heroes. A quote from the novel, "..., saying a silent prayer of thanks, as so often, to the person who invented Lycra miniskirts." Here is Sam's idea on kids, "Children in any quantity give me hives." This story revolves around her first New York show. You will be trying to figure out who done it while knowing she has already got the person pegged. A must read!

Rating:
Summary: Another Champ
Review: Lauren has written another winner. Sam Jones, the main character, finds herself looking for clues and answers in yet another page turning mystery. Her witty style - fashion sense and humor make her one of my heroes. A quote from the novel, "..., saying a silent prayer of thanks, as so often, to the person who invented Lycra miniskirts." Here is Sam's idea on kids, "Children in any quantity give me hives." This story revolves around her first New York show. You will be trying to figure out who done it while knowing she has already got the person pegged. A must read!

Rating:
Summary: Sam Jones in New York
Review: My favorite English "crime girl behaving badly" has "crossed the pond" to exhibit her art at a show in the Big Apple. Naturally, murder, mystery and mayhem follow her. I thoroughly enjoy these books, because the author has created a thoroughly modern heroine who does outrageous things, and makes no apologies whatsoever for her actions. Often the mystery is secondary to the characterizations and the verbal byplay, but that's fine with me. Strong female characters are still a bit unusual in fiction today, particularly in this type of work (with the exception of Dennis Lehane's PI series)and I for one am happy to see Sam Jones continue her career for many, many more years.

Rating:
Summary: Lucky Me!
Review: Over drinks at the most recent Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention,a fellow mystery writer with whom I had made several Los Angeles appearances, elbowed me and inquired about the identity of the stunning brunette holding court down the bar. I explained the exuberant woman was Lauren Henderson, the creator of Sam Jones. My friend was not familar with Ms. Henderson's work so I went on to give him a brief explanation of Lauren Henderson, Sam Jones, and Tart Noir.

STRAWBERRY TATTOO is a perfect Sam Jones adventure. It has everything Ms. Henderson's readers have grown to expect from her stylish and sexy protagonist.

Sam Jones is invited to New York City as part of a gallery display featuring the works of emerging British artists. Of course, with Sam Jones on the scene, one knows dead bodies are sure to follow. Sam, despite her promises to stay out of trouble, investigates the homicide. As Sam takes on Manhattan, everyone knows Manhattan doesn't stand a chance.

As with all Sam Jones novels, style matters as much as substance. Sam is a true original in mystery fiction. She is a strong, hip, and witty protagonist. Tart Noir is one of the freshest breezes to hit crime fiction in decades, and STRAWBERRY TATTOO is one of the best examples of this sub-genre.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, sarcastic fun
Review: Sam is an artist, a sculptress who makes mobiles, who happens to run into a lot of dead bodies wherever she goes. She also can break a man's fingers, slug down martinis, mess around with hot pretty boys in club bathrooms, and make wisecracks which will leave you laughing aloud. This book is pure fun, with very strong and diverse characters. This is not your usual mystery... Sam is someone we can all identify with, try to avoid, and try to be like all at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: a series to savor
Review: Third in the series finds Sam Jones in NYC where two of her big mobiles are to be shown at a Soho gallery along with three other yBAS (young British artists). The fun of this novel is Sam's take on NY. From the wild cab rides to the hustle and bustle to the public ingesting of drugs, Sam enjoys NY and contrasts it with London.

She arrives a week early to hang her mobiles and meets the crew at the Bergmann LaTouche Gallery. Carol Bergmann is the owner and she is all efficiency and competence. But even her sangfroid is tested when the paintings of one of her regulars, Barbara Bilder, are vandalized in the gallery. And at the same time, one of the assistants at the gallery, Kate, with whom Sam was to work and with whom she felt an immediate connection, is found dead in the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park. She had been garroted and left dead on a bench. When the surly Don, who moves and hangs the installations is also found dead, Sam determines to find out who did it.

Complicating the scene is that early arrival of Lex, one of the yBAS, who had tried to stick his tongue down Sam's throat in a ladies room in a British pub a week before. Lex had been staying with Kate and now that she is dead is scared to go to the police and be implicated. And Lex had a one-night stand with another of the yBAS due to show at the gallery and she has turned into an obsessed stalker. Lex is very handsome but Sam is being faithful to her actor lover, Hugo. It is tough for Sam to do without her shag, but she manages with copious amounts of vodka and cocaine and other mind-altering substances.

This is a great read for Sam's views on things. She is a wild woman and lots of fun. Seeing the world from her viewpoint is a gas. I enjoyed this thoroughly and laughed aloud. The series just gets better and better.