Maggie Needs an Alibi by Kasey Michaels
Apr. 9th, 2008 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyThis is a light and fluffy mystery. A writer of Regency mysteries is very surprised when her hero, Viscount Saint Just, and his sidekick mysteriously appear in her apartment. Amid the amusement of two old-fashioned gentlemen trying to adjust to life in the modern Big Apple, and the dramas of the publishing industry, the plot thickens when Maggie's ex-boyfriend dies and she is the prime suspect.
"At forty-five, Bernie was still beautiful, although the battles to stay that way were getting harder, which was why the woman indulged in two other vices. One kept her Platinum Mastercard humming with bills from every health food store in the city, and the other could land her in jail.
Every morning, every evening, and once in the afternoon, Bernice Toland-Jones lined up her bottles of supplements and swallowed about two dozen different pills.. Saint John's Wort to fight depression. Garlic to keep her heart pumping. Ginko biloba to keep her mind sharp.
Bernie's body was her temple, and she worshiped at the shrine. But when those extra pounds piled on, Bernie went another route - only occaisionally, but effectively.
She snorted coke." (p 47)
A few beefs. The back cover explains that Maggie gets into trouble when her ex-boyfriend dies on her sofa. Except that he doesn't - he dies in a hospital, and not until the book is almost half over. Also, Maggie doesn't need an alibi exactly - she has no opportunity to say that she was somewhere else when the victim collapsed, since he did so in her apartment and she was the one to call 911, and anyway, the time the guy was attacked can't be pinned down. An alibi, friends, is when there is some kind of concrete proof of when a killer struck, and you can prove you were somewhere else at the time. "Maggie Needs a Lawyer" would have been a much better title, and did she ever need a lawyer! But she doesn't get one, or even ask for one, despite the fact that the police question her informally many times.
Possibly the beef that annoyed me the most, although I cannot now find the quote, was when Maggie said to one of her quasi-fictional guests, "When in Rome, do as the Romans," and Sterling replies, "But we're in Manhatten!" Ka-bump-bump. Right? Except that the saying is way, way, older than that. See here and here.
So, the saying would probably not be so unfamiliar to Regency guys. Also, they know how to use the stereo and TV because Maggie uses them, but they've never heard her use modern idioms? I find that hard to believe. There are lots of other examples, but that bugged me the most.
Well, okay. And then there's the fact that the main character has about as much spine as a wet dishrag. Argh. Nor does she regain control of her life at the end of the book.
Despite all this complaining, I still have to give the book three stars. It was funny and engaging and I had a hard time putting it down. Nor could I figure out who had done it or why. Well, the dead guy was a jerk, but still. I feel that annoyance would overtake the pleasure if I kept on with the series, so I'll let it rest with one. Fans of romance/mystery/fantasy crossovers may enjoy it. Others may wish to give it a miss.
"At forty-five, Bernie was still beautiful, although the battles to stay that way were getting harder, which was why the woman indulged in two other vices. One kept her Platinum Mastercard humming with bills from every health food store in the city, and the other could land her in jail.
Every morning, every evening, and once in the afternoon, Bernice Toland-Jones lined up her bottles of supplements and swallowed about two dozen different pills.. Saint John's Wort to fight depression. Garlic to keep her heart pumping. Ginko biloba to keep her mind sharp.
Bernie's body was her temple, and she worshiped at the shrine. But when those extra pounds piled on, Bernie went another route - only occaisionally, but effectively.
She snorted coke." (p 47)
A few beefs. The back cover explains that Maggie gets into trouble when her ex-boyfriend dies on her sofa. Except that he doesn't - he dies in a hospital, and not until the book is almost half over. Also, Maggie doesn't need an alibi exactly - she has no opportunity to say that she was somewhere else when the victim collapsed, since he did so in her apartment and she was the one to call 911, and anyway, the time the guy was attacked can't be pinned down. An alibi, friends, is when there is some kind of concrete proof of when a killer struck, and you can prove you were somewhere else at the time. "Maggie Needs a Lawyer" would have been a much better title, and did she ever need a lawyer! But she doesn't get one, or even ask for one, despite the fact that the police question her informally many times.
Possibly the beef that annoyed me the most, although I cannot now find the quote, was when Maggie said to one of her quasi-fictional guests, "When in Rome, do as the Romans," and Sterling replies, "But we're in Manhatten!" Ka-bump-bump. Right? Except that the saying is way, way, older than that. See here and here.
So, the saying would probably not be so unfamiliar to Regency guys. Also, they know how to use the stereo and TV because Maggie uses them, but they've never heard her use modern idioms? I find that hard to believe. There are lots of other examples, but that bugged me the most.
Well, okay. And then there's the fact that the main character has about as much spine as a wet dishrag. Argh. Nor does she regain control of her life at the end of the book.
Despite all this complaining, I still have to give the book three stars. It was funny and engaging and I had a hard time putting it down. Nor could I figure out who had done it or why. Well, the dead guy was a jerk, but still. I feel that annoyance would overtake the pleasure if I kept on with the series, so I'll let it rest with one. Fans of romance/mystery/fantasy crossovers may enjoy it. Others may wish to give it a miss.