The Vodka Dialogue

Cassidy Blair #1

by Kirsty Brooks

Cassidy Blair, twenty-nine years old and addicted to pot noodles, is making little progress convincing customers at DVDWorld that John Hughes movies are better than recreational drugs. But when she helps a colleague spy on a wayward fiance, and gets paid rather well for her trouble, Cass realises she has the perfect credentials for any P.I. — she's tense, cynical and slightly grouchy. Plus she owes the VISA company a lot of cash.Assisted by the handy skills of her friends and her favourite cocktail, the Vodka Dialogue, Cass manages to follow the trail and escape from more embarrassing incidents than she's ever known in her life… this from a girl who's been drunk on Wheel of Fortune!Romance, adventure, humour and crime combine to make THE VODKA DIALOGUE the most entertaining Australian crime novel to hit the scene in years!

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Australia, Mystery, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Kirsty Brooks is the author of The Vodka Dialogue, The Happiness Punch, The Millionaire Float, The Lady Splash, (published by Hachette Livre, Australia), Hitching: Tales from the byways and superhighways, Mad Love and Lady Luck (published by Wakefield Press).

She has a Journalism Degree, an Advanced Diploma in Professional Writing and was awarded the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship in 2004.

She is the director of Driftwood Manuscripts, teaches Professional Writing at AIT Arts and has three chickens, forty rescue birds and one excellent dog.

Kirsty has been a guest at every major Australian writers’ festival. She runs workshops and seminars on writing, publishing and manuscript assessment, is a mentor for emerging writers and is currently writing her upcoming titles, The Tequila Bikini and The Dignity Flip along with a new YA series.

She welcomes your feedback, comments, conversation and views on the world. Please email her at mail@kirstybrooks.com.

Reviews

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the comfort of this book! The exact opposite experience of reading a heavy going, issues based book such as a thousand splendid suns which I read prior to this (and was equally as good, but in a very different way!. I have read The Vodka Dialogue a number of times and I enjoy it for a couple of reasons, firstly it is set in Australia, Adelaide to be precise, and it may be because of this, that I find the dialogue very natural and easy to read. It is also very funny and I think there is something very pleasing about that moment when a book makes you laugh out loud! And finally this book reminds me of a great little second hand book store in Canberra where I bought it and in turn I remember reading it for the first time on a cold day, with a glass of red wine in hand. Lovely.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Absolutely ridiculous and boring. Could't stick with it. I managed to finish it because I always give books a chance to get better... this one didn't.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 1 out of 5]

More books should be set in Adelaide. Was the setting believable? Well it was oddly vague at times but more or less, yeah. The characters all reminded me of people I really disliked in high school (scary to see them over 30 and still acting the same way). The story was "sex positive" in a tawdry, shallow and depressing sort of a way. I am not judging it for being tawdry and shallow (each to their own) but honestly HOW DEPRESSING TO READ!!!!

The love interest was abusive, used his job as a cop to variously blackmail, terrorise and put down the girl he was interested in...despite this we were meant to somehow see him as both "nice" and "hot". Nope! The plot didn't really hold together, it seemed more like a set of far-fetched excuses to show the protagonists underwear and get her beaten up than anything else. I didn't at any stage get caught up in it or genuinely want to know what improbable slap-stick (but unfunny) sequence was next.

The writing was pretty appalling too. The author got some sort of a grant to write this (I gather) which could have been used better. At the very least an editor is needed. I find it improbable that anyone outside of the author's close circle of friends would enjoy this book...but it is possible the sex-positive aspect would gain some people's interest. Maybe. Even then there are surely people who have done it better?

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book enjoyable enough. I liked that it was set in Australia, and thought the dialogue was pretty natural. It is dated by many of the references to CDs and the like but that's the nature of many contemporary books. I did think the book would more be about the protagonist finding her way as a PI. I think I misinterpreted it as a humorous crime book, when really it's chick-lit romance. The writing's hit and miss, but the characters are generally likeable and plot is light hearted.

[Kathy S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’m getting too old for these type of books despite growing up in Adelaide and being familiar with the locations mentioned. I’m sick of endless references to being overweight and of tv shows and movies I’ve never seen nor are likely to. Maybe my life is too boring for the immaturity of the main character.

[Antof9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note 1 from my entry on BookCrossing:
Mid-read journal entry: This started suspiciously like those stupid Shopaholic books, and I almost got upset. So far, though, that hasn't been the main focus. The main reason I wanted to journal is some funny stuff I read tonight, while having dinner at Dervish, a Turkish restaurant right off Times Square in NYC. I took the ferry over, walked around a bit, tourist-dodged, and found this restaurant I had spotted on my last visit. While enjoying my dinner, I people-watched and read a couple of chapters.

The funny parts of the book (and random things I wanted to comment on)?

1. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, even Neil, who once told me I had 'significant hips'. ROFL!
2. a "musk lifesaver"? What the heck is that? I can't even begin to tell you all the gross things that could be (in my head). None of them good.
3. for the Americans, Aussies call "mix tapes" "compilation tapes" :)
4. how funny the "translation" in this one! John McClane in "Die Hard" would have kept going. Only John McClane also wore sissy boy singlets under his clothes and managed to turn them into macho wear. This cracks me up! To us, a singlet is a one piece (a unitard, perhaps) tank and shorts that wrestlers wear. What he has on is a tank top. They're pretty macho, in a specific way! Some people call them "Dago Ts" (they're popular with Italian guys named "Vinnie"), and some people call them "wife-beaters" (not such a nice reference, but obviously it's macho asses who beat their wives; again not sissies). Some women like them, some don't; but rarely would anyone describe the tank Bruce Willis wears in Die Hard as "sissy"! So how funny is that that the average Australian might have thought this?! LOL

Anyway, back to the book. Oh yes, and the Işkender Kebab was wonderful :)

edited to correct spelling. I have it on good authority that despite the menu, it's "Iskender". And I'm still remembering how good it was!

Note 2 from BookCrossing:
Anyway, I did finish this on my NY/NJ trip last week, and found it enjoyable. I was very concerned that it was going to be too "shopaholic"-like, but thankfully, it wasn't. That character makes me seriously crazy. It does feel similar to Good in Bed (although I really, really like that book. Maybe because it was my first chick lit?). I would have liked a little more "resolution" in the end, but then the author couldn't write a second book, right?

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I would like this one as it seemed similar to another Australian crime chick-lit type book I read last year, which was set in Perth, and I really didn't like it. This was a pleasant surprise and I find myself eagerly looking forward to the next one. Really want to see where things go with Sam :)

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found 'The Vodka Dialogue' by Kirsty Brooks tacky and silly; a Janet Evanovich clone with a madcap, klutzy though smart heroine as a PI, and a brooding, nice cop. I guess it's perfect for a curl-up on the sofa, escapist read. Published in 2004 it seemed very dated with its music and clothes references.

[Miss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a random find (Lifeline Bookfair) and was surprisingly enjoyable. Like an Aussie version of Janet Ivanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series. But, in a lot of ways, much better. Cassidy didn't annoy me as much as Stephanie... or maybe it was because of the "aussie" aspects in the story that I was able to identify with?

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

really funny and easy to relate to especially since it is based in Adelaide

[Allison Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love that it was set in my home town Adelaide South Australia (so few books are). She's a gutsy character and it was a light hearted laugh .

[Brodie Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny, addictive and heart warming

[Fez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait for the next one! Absolutely loved it