Too Many Blondes

Sam Jones #2

by Lauren Henderson

The second Sam Jones novel.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Chick Lit, Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Born in London in 1966, Lauren Henderson read English at university and then worked as a journalist for - among other publications - the New Statesman, Marxism Today, the Observer and Lime Lizard, a much-mourned indie music magazine. Lauren now divides her time between Italy and London and, when not wine-tasting, writes full-time.

Reviews

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's is nothing like a good British mystery to keep me reading. The main character of this one is a sculptor who moonlights as an aerobics instructor. Henderson has taken me through the rave clubs of London and I enjoyed every minute of it. Plus there's quite a good mystery to solve. A fun summer read.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first in this series at work so I probably wasn't as fair to it as I could have been given that I could only read at lunchtime and so I finished it in a protracted period of time. As a result of that I bought the second one to give my full attention to and I must say I wasn't totally sold. I like the concept but the problem is there are only so many suspicious deaths you can be involved in before it starts to become completely implausible and I'm afraid we're at that limit.

I think there's probably some content in here that is designed to shock; a single woman having quite a lot of sex with totally different men, drug taking and excessive drinking, inappropriate jokes about murder but it seems like it's thrown in just for that purpose and doesn't really further the story apart from to try and make you see the central character as an anti-heroine, whatever that means.

I've got the next in the series and we'll see if it's any different. If not, I may give up the series there.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

Right, I'm totally caught up on this series now. What impressed me most about this book was how well it was joined up to both the book before and the one after. Henderson links the series together excellently. There was even a mention in the first book of a development that doesn't happen until the latest book. It's stuff like this that really makes a series work and be more than it's individual parts.

This book is set at Chalk Farm gym where Sam is supplementing her sculpting by working as a part time weights instructor. The place and the politics worked for me where some of the characters didn't quite work. The plot's quite decent though I think mystery resolution is work outable but that might be because I've read the later books and a bit of quick thinking led me to pick one of the less likely suspects here and come out right.

Good stuff though not as good these books get later in the series.

[Amanda Larkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in the Sam Jones series and it’s a corker. This time the murder happens in Sam’s Chalk Farm gym and the cast of characters/suspects is a good one. A few red herrings and I didn’t guess who it was (even though I have read it before).

My favourite bits were finding out more about Sam and reliving my memories of raves from the old days. Again, more wonderfully realised l details of 90s London and I liked the descriptions of Sam’s mobiles Thing and Son of Thing.

I recently re-read The Black Rubber Dress so onto Freeze My Margarita next!

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dacă primul vol din serie mi s a parut drăguț, asta mi s a parut oribil. 2 stele.

[Douvonté · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, smart, a little cunning and lots of sassy are to be found when Sam Jones is on the case. Sam is one of my favourite female character. She's competent but not goddess like perfect. She's good at what she does, she's creative and a not so bad artist. She lives her life by her own rules and ethics. She's not weakling and knows what she wants but not necessarily how to get it. In this second adventure, Sam finds the manager of the gym she works part time dead in the loo. She tries to help her friend get out of jail and avoid a murder conviction. It's London in the mid 1990's, it's the art scene, the bar scene, the network of friends you have when you are starting your career and you are young and almost care free.

I like this series. It's well written. In the words of the immortal Madonna : it has style, it has grace, it gives good face. *g*

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'll read the other books in the series too, now! It was really good and the humour was sooo good. I thought a few things in the book were a bit clichee or overrated, but all in all, it was exciting, easy and fast to read and had a pretty good subject!

[Mirela25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep, just the way I expected it to be. Great, funny and filled with mystery. I enjoyed every minute of it, every page, hehee. Sam is the kind of girl you wanna be friends with :)

[Tom]

DeYoe
Sam Jones #2