Liar, Liar

Cat DeLuca Mysteries #1

by K.J. Larsen

Liar, Liar, the first book in the Cat DeLuca Mysteries, has it all: a strong plot, memorable characters, and an astonishing finish.

Cat DeLuca’s short, stormy marriage to run-around Johnnie Ricco was a crash course in infidelity. It taught her everything she needed to launch the Pants On Fire Detective Agency. Now armed with spy glasses, camera and chocolate, Private Investigator Cat DeLuca catches cheaters. She scales balconies and dangles from hotel windows to nail the 8X10 glossy that'll sweeten a client’s divorce settlement.

Life takes a strange turn when a reporter for the Chicago Tribune (Rita Polansky) masquerades as a client with a liar-liar husband. Rita retains Cat to follow Chance Savino, a seriously hot guy with a pocketful of smuggled diamonds. The detective is fast on his heels when an explosion hurls her out of her sling-backs and into the hospital. The FBI claims Chance Savino was killed in the blast but concussed Cat’s choppy memory plays a different scenario.

Cat escapes the hospital to meet with her client. When Rita fails to show, Cat finds her at home with a knife in her chest. Cat learns the reporter was researching a ball-buster case involving a gangster, gun smuggling, and a pocketful of diamonds. She discovers two clues at the murder scene: a clutch of Starburst candy wrappers and the “dead” Chance Savino rummaging through Rita’s drawers.

As no one else sights Chance, everyone around Cat believes she’s crazy. Everyone except a determined killer who’s added Cat to his “kill” list. A botched attempt puts ex-husband Johnnie Ricco on the short list of suspects. When the bullets start flying, Cat will need more than chocolate for back-up. This is Cat’s first big case and she’s determined to prove she’s more than a hootchie stalker. The question is can Cat, catcher of cheaters, catch a killer before he gets her?

Cat DeLuca is an unlikely heroine and her partner, a beagle named Inga, is quite likely to eat the evidence. K.J. Larsen’s characters sizzle to life. Liar Liar delivers steamy romance, intrigue, and laugh out loud humor for a wickedly delicious read.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Cozy Mystery, Humor, Chick Lit, Crime

256 pages, ebook

First published May 27, 2010

About the author

Sisters Kari, Julianne, and Kristen write under the pen name, K.J. Larsen.

Writing a novel together was second nature for the three sisters who created their own Nancy Drew mysteries as kids. “We live very different lives,” Kari says. “What brings us together is a voracious love of mystery, a wicked sense of humor, and the thrill of victory.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kari Larsen lives at the foothills of Mt. Rainier and loves hiking, stand-up comedy, and the Blues. She’s written a column for a local paper as well as numerous plays and children’s stories. She’s a mean baker and a bit like Cat’s crazy Mama. Her canolli will drop you to your knees.

Julianne is the youngest of the six Larsen girls and spoiled as God intended. She teaches classes in organic gardening and is a gifted artist and poet. She lives on a farm with her horses, her beagle, and more four legged children than any person with good sense. Like Cat, she prefers jeans and a sweater but she cleans up nice.

Kristen is a gifted writer, weaver and actress and has appeared in plays off off Broadway. Her eyes are green like Cat’s and she’s a shoe-in for the role in the blockbuster movie to come. She lives in the Chicago area and was recently spotted dancing in Bridgeport with Chance Savino. Kristen’s shitzu, Buster, and Cat DeLuca’s beagle, Inga, are rumored to be dating.

Reviews

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to Liar, Liar on audiobook and made it to about 35% before putting it in the DNF pile.

I liked the strong, female detective who uses all resources available to her, but the story dragged on too long, for me.

I encourage Goodreads readers to review all reviews before making a decision on this book.

[thewestchestarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unintentionally funny. At the end Cat DeLuca’s self-introduction that leads off the book, you know things are not going to go well. It ends with the phase: ”my life brook into a thousand Monopoly pieces”. Um, a thousand ”Monopoly” pieces? Does that make sense to anyone else? These little bits of weirdness, reminiscent of talking to an Indian call center employee pretending to be ”George from the Midwest” permeate the book. Cat goes out for dinner and has an ”Italian salad” - maybe the author meant antipasto salad? On top of this, the book is obsessed with lowbrow Italian cuisine. Cat sucks down cannoli, pizza, sausage, and pasta on nearly every page. We are never directly told what she weighs but imagining the goofy action sequences with the size woman Cat would have been in real life given her diet makes for some unintentional laughs. Also funny is the book’s moral compass. See Cat is the heroine even though her family has strong ties to the Italian mob and is populated by corrupt Chicago cops. Her crime boss Uncle Joey is employed as a permanent deux ex machine who runs in and kills the ”bad” guys and blows up their warehouses when Cat runs into trouble. Given that Cat has the mafia, the Chicago police force and some members of the FBI on her side, one can’t help but feel her antagonists are unfairly overmatched. Even if the writing and characters weren’t such a mess, the mystery plot manages to both lack surprises and is hard to follow. In short, look elsewhere for your detective series fix particularly at the classics such as Miss Marple and avoid this high calorie/low nutrition tepid dish.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into it. The plot was weak, the dialogue ok--with lots of funny one-liners, but the characters are not particularly interesting. I'm sure the publisher took the book because of the similarities to the highly successful Janet Evanovich series with Stephanie Plum. Unfortunately K. J. Larsen doesn't reach the same level of interest with her Cat DeLuca's Pants on Fire detective agency.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good mystery even though the pacing through me off a little.

Liar, Liar is a book that ended up working for one of my reading challenges. Not that I wouldn't ever dive into a good mystery book or anything. In it, you will meet Cat DeLuca. She runs her own agency that catches adulterers. Then there's her brother, Rocco, who is a cop. I was definitely getting some mob feels as well but I wasn't complaining one freaking bit.

Now Cat definitely had some funny moments. I will admit that I laughed and snorted at some things - hey! it's the Italian in me. That being said, I enjoyed getting to know her and reading this book. It was definitely entertaining from time to time. If I could change one thing it would be the boring parts - enter the whole pacing issue I mentioned before.

In the end, not sure if I will dive into the next book or not. There's just way too many books to read and I need to knock down my TBR!

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This does remind me of the Stephanie Plum series, but I like Cat more. I would have given this a 5, but the 3 way potential love triangle....ugh...just no. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Cat and her family's antics..her mom was hilarious with her dinner bell. She has the bra of many things. If you read this were you team Chance or team Max?

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay cooler authors? I think not. (met them at Borders yeaterday! They were sooo funny plus supper like, suportive.) They're sisters for one, and they were really sweet to their fans.

Better characters? I'm gonna go with a no again. I loved the huge italian family and crazy "dead men". Cat's just hallarious in genral, running a detective angency for women that want to find out if their husbands are cheaters, and Chance the dead man that she keeps runnining into, with such pretty eyes. She had crazy cousins and a mother who held a funeral for a car. Tell me what not to love there.

Is the possible better plot twists? No. Just no. Although Kristen was not there when I met the authors, Kari and Julianne told us (my mom and I. Hah. We both got a copy) that they all had different ideas for who did it! I'm not sure I loved the one who ended up doing it, because I had kindof guessed like halfway though, but I thought it was hallarious they had no plan and ended with a book this good.

Any way funny and semi scray I loved it and totally think others should read it. I mean unless your afraid to laugh. The don't. But if your afriad to laugh, i think you should proably like go away from everything and get a therapist. justsayin'.

[catechism · Rating 1 out of 5]

Look, I enjoyed the first few Evanovich books but that was a long time ago and I am just Done with this genre -- you know, the Clumsy Girl who's obsessed with cannoli but also super sexy, and she's surrounded by super competent men and overbearing relatives who treat her with unbearable condescension and tell her how crap she is and it's supposed to be cute, and even cuter when she turns out to be right, not that she's right because she's competent, and not that her rightness makes any difference to anyone. Meanwhile, all the other women in the book are shrill harpies or hoes. Hoes! Ugh, I have no idea how or why I suffered through this book.

Audiobook narration: not great, Bob. A Chicago accent is not the same as a New Jersey accent.

[Mirthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good and funny story!

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing read. Very humorous of a stereotyped Chicago Italian family. It is a family filled with law enforcement members, a couple of daughters, one of which owns her own private investigative agency. This book features Caterina (Cat) Deluca.

Cat owns the "Pants on Fire Detective Agency" that specializes on getting the goods on cheating, naughty spouses. Cat was inspired by her ex...a cheating spouse. While she is on surveillance, she follows a suspect to an abandoned building. Expecting a wandering woman, what she gets instead is knocked out by the blast of a bomb, that the local cops are calling a 'gas leak.' They also say her suspect was killed, but, she talked to him? What is going on?

Cat must follow the trail and figure out what truly happened. Despite her family's insistence that she is mentally unstable (the concussion,) and should be a police dispatcher, Cat soldiers on with a cast right out of "Guys and Dolls."*

Twists and turns and varying plots and scenarios fly through this hilarious romp of a mystery. The ending is a wonderful conclusion including funerals that truly touch your heart.

I really loved this book and will joyfully read the next book in the series. Give yourself a treat is you enjoy comedy and a good mystery or dozen.

* Guys and Dolls is a famous Broadway Musical (and Movie) featuring the lives of NYC gangsters and their loves. It is a romance with comedy and fabulous music.

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, you will love this series.

Cat DeLuca runs the Pants on Fire agency...she goes out and catches the adulterers. She has a brother Rocco that is a cop, Uncle Joey (who may not really be her uncle) who "takes care" of people (can we say mob?) and a Catholic mother who likes to use the guilt card. Her family is a blue collar Italian family in Chicago to set more of the picture.

I will say I haven't laughed as much as I did with this book. Definitely check it out!

[judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the middle of a DeLuca family dinner I realized I was waiting for a small car to pull up and tons of clowns to fall out. Closed the book. Leave Janet alone.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Normally when I get partway into what I know is going to be a very low rated book, I stop reading. Sometimes I don’t. This was one of the ‘don’t’ times and I’m still unsure how I feel about that decision. On one hand, it’s good to finish something I’ve started, even something I found didn’t suit my personal tastes. On the other, I have to now live with the memory of more than 30% of this travesty.

I can’t even find something remotely positive to say, except I guess, it wasn’t longer than it was. And, I suppose, that the level of believability was maintained throughout. That it was an incredibly low level is neither here nor there. No, actually, it is both here and there. In fact, it’s everywhere. Perhaps the book was meant to be a farce. That would explain the sheer idiocy. Though I seriously doubt it. The characters didn’t have the intelligence of stupidity done well, or purposefully. Rather, it was more of a blunder through someone’s idea of chick-lit murder-mystery Stephanie Plum-rip off quick-cash scheme gone horribly wrong.

I’m going to hide the rest of this behind a spoiler tag because I can’t keep it general. The singular points of idiocy are just too much for me not mention.

First up, this isn’t funny. It barely reaches cringe-worthy. The ‘humour’ is tired and old and done much better in other books. The stereotypical Italian family is insulting. And seriously, was this set in the 1950s? The attitude of the family toward Cat’s life and job is just plain sexist and one dimensional. She’s a PI who specialises in exposing cheating partners/spouses. She’s DOESN’T take nuddy photos for questionable publications, but to hear her family talk about it, she’s a porno-photographer. Which leads to the suggestion, generally implied throughout and in fact outright stated at one point, that everyone else holds her responsible for breaking up marriages. Not one member of her family was supportive of her career choice, which was legitimate and, as we the reader are constantly reminded, very lucrative. (The incessant fashion parade and label-name dropping wore incredibly thin incredibly fast.)

The family also constantly assures Cat that a mild concussion means she completely bonkers. They keep telling her the mysterious man she keeps seeing is only a hallucination. The guns she finds hidden in crates bound for overseas relief aid were figments of her imagination. They don’t think she should be driving in her condition. A, are they that dismissive of their daughter’s/sister’s judgement they can happily tell her she’s constantly wrong about these things? If so, then I don’t care that they’re family, drop those bastards, you don’t need all that negativity in your life. And B, if they were truly worried, take her to see a doctor. Don’t let her walk out of the house and get in a car if you honestly think she shouldn’t be driving! Don’t let her walk around suffering dangerous hallucinations! Do something the eff about it!

But perhaps the most ludicrous part of all was the ‘murder mystery’ and the treatment of laws and law enforcement. Honestly, unless every Chicago cop is crooked and open about the fact, then everything pertaining to the police force in this book is insulting. From Cat’s cop brother cleaning up a scene of crime and not reporting it; to an uncle, also a cop, leaning on crooks and witnesses and victims alike; to the entire family of cops helping break into a business and belting up a bunch of folks they previously believed innocent (see earlier comments about how no one believes anything Cat has to say), none of it paints the Chicago PD in any sort of good way. Especially when you put a captain and chief on top of it all who are dumber than the rest of them put together. Ignoring your chief witness/victim in order to point the finger at the least likely suspect is simply pathetic, all because apparently a knock to the head makes the witness/victim a crazy female and unworthy of serious consideration.

As bad as the police are made out to be, our heroine isn’t much better. She B&Es all over the place (which her cop family knows and allows with only a token head shake which is more along the lines of ‘little girls like you shouldn’t be doing such blokey things’, not ‘it’s illegal and I’ll run you in if I catch you at it’.), tosses a murder victim’s homes, then cheesily tells the corpse “I’ll find who did this to you and make them pay”, before wiping her prints off everything, thus wiping away most of the evidence the murderer may have left behind as well. Further, she makes a call to the victim’s place of work, using the news of the woman’s death in order to show up and nick off with her laptop, BEFORE the police are even aware of the murder. But that’s okay because all the cops in Chicago are crooked and wouldn’t think to investigate the murder or anything.

Un-spoilering now because I want this bit known to all...

But even then, the most unforgivable thing is this… she leaves her dog in the car while she does her investigating. That is not okay on any level.

Then there’s the dodgy grammar things like using ‘check’ instead of ‘cheque’ or spelling ‘uey’ one way, and then spelling it ‘uwee’. And I do get that the application of Dr Pepper Lip Smacker (whatever the hell that is) is a nervous habit/tell thing, but did it have to be ‘slathered’ on every fricken time?

In conclusion, all I can say is that perhaps this book was published to cash in on the Stephanie Plum craze and I guess there are a lot of people who liked this one. That’s fair, each to their own and normally, I don’t go on and on about books I don’t like, but I couldn’t hold it back this time.
For anyone looking for a fun, quirky, intelligent PI/mystery read, I can’t recommend The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz enough.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

** 3 MYSTERIOUS STARS! **

Well as you can see I decided to push through and finish this book today.
As previously mentioned did I have a hard time getting into it and remaining interested.
I don't know whether it's because I'm in a weird reading mood or because this book simply just didn't phase me.

I found it to be a bit boring yet it does have its entertaining parts as well. It's a very short book (237 pages) so I should have been able to finish this in like...two days, but it ended up being a tad bit more than that (read: 3 weeks).
I guess if you're really into the mystery, detective kind of shit with a humorous twist you could like this!
I, however, am still quite indecisive of how I feel about it! Although what I do know is that I don't have the desire to continue the series.

[Helen O'Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to it in one day. Very enjoyable 😉. Private deceive Cat DeLuca has a a detective agency called Pants on Fire. Big Italian family, lots of food, humor, a beagle for a partner, classic cars and a little romance.

[Florence Witt · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Vulgar and crass

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pants on Fire Detective Agency....that should tell ya something. A comic fun debut. 3.5 stars

[Jakky · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, a 3-star review means I don’t regret reading it, but I don’t think I can, in good conscience, recommend it. It’s silly and trite and contrived and it doesn’t know whether it’s a comedy or a mystery, but it wasn’t terrible - I tend to ditch terrible books pretty quickly as I just don’t have the patience…. Read this if you need mindless entertainment that you won’t remember in a week.

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

My impression so far of this book is that it tries too hard to be a Stephanie Plum knock-off.
The overbearing family, the sidekick pet, the mafioso family connections.
I am going to give this a few more chapters to see if she ever gets into solving the case of who is Chase Santro-whatsisface and who is the blue eyeliner lady passing herself off as his wife?

I stuck with this book and still feel it is a Stephanie Plum knock-off. Although instead of forgetting to pack a gun as Stephanie always does, Cat DeLuca wears inappropriate footwear for stakeouts and then is shocked (shocked!) when she has to run after or away from someone. Seriously, you are a PI sneaking into a warehouse. What makes you think beaded flipflops is the way to go?

Stephanie, I mean Cat, is lucky to have brothers who can run plates for her and show up when she is in a jam. She's even more lucky to have Uncle Jimmy to beat the crap out of anyone threatening her. It is amazing to me that she is as successful as she claims to be.

I'm going to give the second book a try just to see how this evolves. If she continues to say "Liar, Liar" to everyone, I'm going to quit reading. Just saying.....

[Elly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, for a €1,99 impulse buy it is okay, but I see why it ended up on sale. This book is full of ideas, but most of them don't seem to be followed trough on. The main character lacks character. It is odd how she is running a detective agency catching cheaters but can afford lots of expensive clothes, how every guy in the books is either family or immediately in love, and every character just seems to be there to be of help, and they do not have actual reasoning for helping. The action scenes are not really worked out, making it not have a lot of tension. The story premise was fun, and it had good ideas, but I just wish more time was spend on actually developing the stories, and giving the characters some personality (aside from a caricature). Not a terrible read, and okay for the poolside, but if it falls into the pool itself, you would not miss the ending,since there is a complete lack of tension,even when scary-ish things happen, I find myself not caring. The cover is pretty interesting, but that's all.

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were places where I found the writing to be a bit scattered and hard to follow. The charactors are great and easy to identify with. There were times I laughed out loud at Cat and her gangs high jinx.

My favorite charactor would have to be Mama DeLuca with her quick wit and undying love for her family. Anyone coming from an Italian family can relate to Cat's family and laugh along at her frustration.

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any readers who like Janet Evanovich and Lisa Lutz. I gave Liar, Liar 3/5.

[Colleen Fauchelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cat Deluca sets up 'Pants on fire agency' to catch cheating husbands. One day a client comes in and she gets on the case but it soon changes from a simple spy on the guy case to a murder mystery.

I like cat - she is funny, doesn't give up even when the odds are against her and her mum wants her to get a safe job as a dispatcher. She is brave and a little crazy, she likes the flash things in life but isn't afraid to get dirty.

I liked this book, it was funny and easy to read. I look forward to reading the next instalment.

[bup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Chicago, "Liar, Liar" is a funny, action-packed mystery at high speed. If it took itself seriously, then...but it doesn't. Cat DeLuca, the protagonist owner of a detective agency, is a fully realized character with lots of attitude and a crazy family.

A completely fun ride.

[Pat St. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious mystery, in the vein of The Spellman Files (Lisa Lutz). Inept (or semi-ept) detective Cat DeLuca, aka DeLucky, attempts to uncover a plot involving the FBI, Chicago police, and any number of crooks. You'll fly through this one!

[Stargazer · Rating 2 out of 5]

If i hadn't read the janet evanovitch series, which i loved, i'd probably have liked it, but it was so hard not to continually think of stephanie plum and her life/plots/characters. A fairly good rip off, but a rip off nonetheless.

[Linda Lassman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reminded me SO much of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series: huge, wacky Italian family, two romantic interests, the bad boy undercover agent (Chance=Joe) and the other bad boy who is assigned to be her body guard by her possibly mafia-don uncle (Max=Ranger), a completely unqualified and incompetent sidekick (Cleo=Lula) that she is too softhearted/softheaded not to hire, mayhem at every turn. The main difference is that Cat is a successful and competent PI (because she actually makes a good living), unlike Stephanie, who only solves crimes by accident.

I got this audiobook because it seemed like it would be a fun book to listen to while I drive, and for the first few chapters it was. And then her family--specifically her mother--started being actively annoying (after she is injured in the explosion at the beginning of the book, one of her nephews came with the rest of the family to visit and sits on her chest, cutting off her oxygen feed, which at that point she needed to breathe, but no one noticed because they were all being loud and arguing with her and each other, but not actually paying any attention to her). I hated that once Chance had been identified as the person killed in the explosion, even though Cat insisted she had seen him, her family--led by her mother--insisted that she was crazy and have an intervention with a priest, tell everyone (most specifically, the police chief, because many of her family members are police) she's crazy, and no one believes her. And then Chance keeps appearing, but vanishing again when she tries to get someone to see him. (Why she didn't figure out after the second time he did this and held on to him while she yelled for a witness, I don't know, and it really, really annoyed me.) I was also really, really angry when Chance (getting her mother to let him into the house--and her mother refuses to believe he's the guy who's supposed to be dead) feeds Cat's beagle, Inga, Cherry Garcia ice cream with chocolate sauce and no one seems to know that chocolate can kill dogs. I was also disturbed that while Cat suffered a concussion in the explosion, except for headaches, she was up and functioning normally the next day. And when she figures out that the Bad Guy, Eddie, is smuggling guns in international charitable donations and goes to her brother, the detective, to get the police involved, the first reaction is "oh, she's crazy because of the concussion", so it takes 4 hours before the police and ATF finally show up to raid the warehouse, by which time Eddie has had hours and hours to get rid of the evidence, so once again, she's crazy. And when shortly after the failed raid, someone blows up her car, everyone insists its someone who she identified as a cheater in her job as a PI and refuses to even consider it might have something to do with the previous explosion or the raid--because, after all, she's crazy. After everything else, when the nosy neighbour tells her she has a client waiting for her in her home, she goes in without a second thought, only to find the real villain, FBI Special Agent Larry Harding, waiting for her. Fortunately, he's not very competent so she manages to disarm him and accidentally kills him, but it's ok and no consequences to her because they know he's a corrupt agent.

There really were some funny scenes and the plot was actually interesting. I just found the characters got in the way of the story and ultimately just ruined a potentially hilarious new series.

[Kimiko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cat DeLuca is the owner of the Pants on Fire detective agency. She only does one type of work; photographing and catching cheaters. So while on a job following Chance Savino to a building, the building is blown up and she is hit in the head by the "For Lease" sign.

Ending up in the hospital, her Chicago Italian family decides she is brain damaged and going insane when she tells everyone the man she was following, who went into the building that was blown up, is not dead. Her family does an intervention with their local priest and wants to have an exorcism performed on her because she "sees ghosts". In the meantime, Cat is busy trying to follow up on the case and finds out the woman who hired her (ostensibly, the wife of Chance Savino) ends up dead.

Cat is a capable investigator (gutsy, ballsy and sarcastic) but she has zero common sense. Every chapter I read, I thought, wow, how stupid. And she relies on men (her family mostly) to bail her out of trouble. This book, while supposedly trying to be funny, just left me shaking my head in annoyance. Stephanie Plum, she is not. Cat lacks the charm and innocense. This book was too predictable (easy to figure out). I kept reading thinking something more or better was going to happen, but it never lived up to the hype.

[Charlotte (charami) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gelezen voor de NEWTs readathon van Book Roast:
Exceeded Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures: boek met minder dan 300 bladzijden.

Heb mij echt door dit boek moeten sleuren, ondanks de weinige pagina's en de non-stop actie.
Ik kon er nooit helemaal inkomen. Het ganse verhaal kwam geforceerd en compleet ongeloofwaardig over. De dialogen probeerden krampachtig grappig te zijn, maar waren eerder gekunsteld en een beetje zielig. Het hoofdpersonage was, zoals detectives zo vaak zijn in verhalen, ongelooflijk koppig en eigenwijs, maar niks kon mij er toe brengen sympathie voor haar te voelen. Ze irriteerde me eerder met haar domme beslissingen en eenzelvigheid. En ook, op elke bladzijde werd wel één of ander pseudo-italiaanse lekkernij naar binnen gewerkt, gezogen of gelikt. Pshh, beetje overdaad. Als ik zou eten wat het hoofdpersonage at, dan kon ik letterlijk niet meer door de deur, laat staan stiekem foto's nemen van overspelende mannen, lol.

Ik hou van luchtige detective verhalen die het allemaal zo serieus nemen, maar deze Liar, Liar kon me allerminst overtuigen. Er bestaat blijkbaar zoiets als te luchtig proberen zijn.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Liar, Liar”, first book in the 'Cat DeLuca' series, is like a curate's egg – there's good bits amidst the dross.
Cat runs the Pants on Fire Detective Agency which specialises in exposing marital infidelity.
When her latest client hires her to catch her husband, Chance Savino, in flagrante it proves surprisingly difficult.
She keeps meeting him but no-one else does – besides which, he's supposed to be dead.
It turns out he's not married and his 'wife' is actually an investigative reporter. Unfortunately, by the time Cat finds out, Rita Polansky has been murdered.
What follows is a tale of stolen diamonds, further murders and lots of repartee.
The novel is relentlessly cheerful, does have some funny scenes and gets the job done.
However it relies far too much on action, dumb criminals and coincidence to even remotely believable.
It's a readable piece of fluff.
2 Stars.

[Debbie Maskus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had planned on reading a great mystery set in Chicago, but the sisters Larsen presented another version of Stephanie Plum. Cat DeLuca jumps in your face as a private investigator with tons of relatives in the Chicago Police Department, and an Italian mother that out cooks Julia Child. Of course, a couple of hunky men rotate around the gorgeous Cat. Cat has a beagle, instead of a hamster, and no 'ho as her sidekick, just a crazed woman with a stun gun. The constant mention of food forced me to down a sharing bag of M & M peanuts, and the misery is staring. Cars feature big in this tale, and the cars bear feminine names: Dorothy and Olivia. The story served as my Illinois state reading, and the setting could have been anywhere as nothing hinted of Illinois.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It was very funny, and had a nicely developed mystery too. The characters made me laugh out loud. Cat was an extremely likeable heroine, and her family was so entertaining that I had a hard time putting the book down. I hope that this author (which actually is a writing team of three sisters!) will be coming out with a sequel to this one- I will definitely be watching for it!
(Looks like the sequel will be called "Sticks & Stones"- coming out 2/2012.)