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Hollywood Alphabet #4
Hollywood Dirty
HOLLYWOOD DIRTY: A HOLLYWOOD ALPHABET SERIES THRILLER
Kate and Bernie are back in this edge-of-your seat thriller with laugh out loud humor. Hollywood Dirty is the fourth book in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers.
LAPD Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner, Bernie, are out to solve one of the biggest crimes in Hollywood history. Olympic gold medalist, Jezzie Rose, America’s sweetheart, has been found dead and dumped in an alleyway. All signs point to Jezzie’s former boyfriend as committing the crime, but the case takes an unexpected turn when Kate suspects someone else is involved. Things get complicated when LAPD’s new chief of police allows the press into the case. To make matters worse Kate’s love life is on the rocks, her roommates Natalie and Mo insist on interfering in the case, and her sexually obsessed elderly landlord, Nana, has taken in a clinically depressed Elvis impersonator. Oh, and one other thing. Kate is determined to get to the bottom of a thirty-year-old family secret that involves lies, betrayal, and murder.
Can Kate track down the killer, keep her friends under control, deal with Nana and Elvis’s lusty relationship, find love again, and finally uncover the truth behind her family secrets? Hollywood Dirty is loads of trouble, tons of laughs, and full of the dirty little secrets that makes the city of dreams famous.
Hollywood Dirty is the fourth book in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers. Other books include Hollywood Assassin, Hollywood Blood, Hollywood Crazy, and coming soon, Hollywood Enemy!
About the Author:
MZ “Mack” Kelly spent over thirty years in the field of law enforcement. His experience includes dealing with violent felony offenders, making sentencing recommendations to the courts, running a jail, and developing innovative programs to keep our streets safe.
His law enforcement experience was in Southern California, not too far from the famous Sunset Strip, and includes run-ins with some of America’s craziest criminals, not to mention a few wannabe actors, and even an Oscar award winner!
Kelly is the author of four novels in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers, with more to come. You can visit him at: mzkelly.com
Kate and Bernie are back in this edge-of-your seat thriller with laugh out loud humor. Hollywood Dirty is the fourth book in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers.
LAPD Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner, Bernie, are out to solve one of the biggest crimes in Hollywood history. Olympic gold medalist, Jezzie Rose, America’s sweetheart, has been found dead and dumped in an alleyway. All signs point to Jezzie’s former boyfriend as committing the crime, but the case takes an unexpected turn when Kate suspects someone else is involved. Things get complicated when LAPD’s new chief of police allows the press into the case. To make matters worse Kate’s love life is on the rocks, her roommates Natalie and Mo insist on interfering in the case, and her sexually obsessed elderly landlord, Nana, has taken in a clinically depressed Elvis impersonator. Oh, and one other thing. Kate is determined to get to the bottom of a thirty-year-old family secret that involves lies, betrayal, and murder.
Can Kate track down the killer, keep her friends under control, deal with Nana and Elvis’s lusty relationship, find love again, and finally uncover the truth behind her family secrets? Hollywood Dirty is loads of trouble, tons of laughs, and full of the dirty little secrets that makes the city of dreams famous.
Hollywood Dirty is the fourth book in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers. Other books include Hollywood Assassin, Hollywood Blood, Hollywood Crazy, and coming soon, Hollywood Enemy!
About the Author:
MZ “Mack” Kelly spent over thirty years in the field of law enforcement. His experience includes dealing with violent felony offenders, making sentencing recommendations to the courts, running a jail, and developing innovative programs to keep our streets safe.
His law enforcement experience was in Southern California, not too far from the famous Sunset Strip, and includes run-ins with some of America’s craziest criminals, not to mention a few wannabe actors, and even an Oscar award winner!
Kelly is the author of four novels in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers, with more to come. You can visit him at: mzkelly.com
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 16, 2014
409 people are currently reading
727 people want to read
About the author
M.Z. Kelly
38 books89 followersM.Z. "Mack" Kelly, spent over thirty years in the field of law enforcement. He often draws on his experience working with gangs, violent offenders, and the court system in writing his books. He currently lives in Southern California, not too far from the streets of Hollywood that he writes about!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
December 20, 2017
Fourth in the Hollywood Alphabet thriller series and revolving around LAPD Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner, Bernie.
My Take
Yes. Hollywood Dirty is funny, in a slapstick style that hammers you over the head with a cast of characters that goes way beyond normal. I liked the Douche Brothers until I got further into the story, and then it simply got lame. Although, her roommates turned me off long before the two detectives did.
It drove me nuts that the core cast was so out-of-control with a wimpy Kate. A Kate who keeps “oopsing” with facts she shouldn’t be telling her roommates, and then getting ticked that they blab. Well. Hullo.
Kelly grabs your attention and hangs on, come what may and uses first-person protagonist point-of-view. I also think he’s channeling Darynda Jones, as Nana has named her breasts and Kate named her car.
The first conflict came with Ralston’s dying statement about Jezzie and was followed by a ton of red herrings, which definitely contributed to that sneaky plot twist at the end.
I dunno, maybe I’ve been watching too much CSI and similar shows, but wouldn’t an autopsy have shown up Jezzie’s earlier issues? As for Bernie whining at a crime scene, wasn’t he trained as a police dog?
Kelly includes a number of side plots with a series arc that encompasses the murder of Kate’s father and Jessica’s animosity. Kelly did a nice job of slipping this in. This, along with Jack showing up at the end, could be enough to pull you in, but it’s disjointed and abrupt with the most horrible roommates thrown in just to make it colorful. I’d pass if I were you. It certainly doesn’t help Kelly’s story that he’s got typos all over the place.
The Story
Her Vegas vacation gets cut short when Kate is ordered to Bakersfield. And is ferried there by her volatile — and interfering — roommates.
The murder there is a nasty twist in a case already screwed up by the previous team, and the chief only makes it worse when he assigns a reporter to the team.
Kate needs to find the real culprit, get a love life, meet her birth mother for the first time, and survive her assorted roommates.
The Characters
Detective Kate Sexton rose up from the canine corps with her canine partner, Bernie, to Robbery Homicide. She calls her car Olive. After being wiped out in her divorce from Doug Witherspoon, an assistant DA, Kate has some, different, roommates: Natalie Bump is British and too hot for words, and Mo Simpson is a former pimp (female). Mo and Natalie have started a private detective business, Sistah Snoop. Tex is Natalie’s nerdy, brainy boyfriend. Chica Loca is Tex’s concoction and has brought Nana “back to life”.
Robin is Kate’s brother who works at a hair salon owned by Barry Sinclair. Maya is a new stylist there. Kate's father, a cop who was gunned down in a park when Kate was a toddler, married her adoptive mother, Miss Daisy, a free spirit, part-time psychic, new-age guru, and artist. Shumi Duvall claims to be a spiritualist.
Kate’s landlady, Nana Hannah, is a very free-spirited eighty-three-year-old who is sexually obsessed. Prissy, her great-grandson, is a transvestite who owns a sex paraphernalia shop, Voodoo Mama. The clinically depressed Hubert legally changed his name to Elvis. Alice is a friend of Nana’s.
The LAPD
The red-mustached Detective Charlie Winkler is Kate’s partner. Detectives Kyle Gooch and Eric Glade are partnered up and referred to as the “Douche Brothers”. Detectives Jessica Barlow (Kate’s enemy) and Barry Liebowitz botched it. Lieutenant Henry “Henrietta” Edna is their immediate boss. Captain Decker is in command of their stationhouse. Brie Henner is in the coroner’s office and is a friend of Kate’s. Chief Bradley East, a.k.a., “Beast”, is new and eager to suck up to the press. Retired Detective Pearl Kramer works cases part-time for the LAPD. John Duncan works in Cold Case. Muriel Shafter is in Media Relations (MRS). Rob Nelson is in command at MRS. Chewie Smith is in Vice.
Detective Jack Bautista dated Kate until he took a job with Homeland Security. Wilma is Charlie’s “cheating” girlfriend. Irma is Charlie’s sixteen-year-old daughter. Cleo is Irma’s boyfriend going to The Ink Palace, a tattoo school. Joe is Brie’s firefighter husband, and they have a six-year-old daughter, Lily. Barbara is the Kramers' autistic daughter who became a success. Herb Benson is Jessica’s lawyer.
Jezzie “Black Lightning” Rose was an Olympic gold medalist. Al and Flo Rose are Jezzie’s parents. Bix is Jezzie’s younger brother. Barry Ralston had been Jezzie’s boyfriend. Terry Gibson is a model and had lived with Jezzie. Sandra Weimer had been Jezzie’s best friend on the squad. A former football player, Chucky “Hannibal” Wilson was her sports agent; he’s got some odd kinks. Ray Dunbar, a professional ball player, had been one of Wilson’s clients.
Westbridge University was…
…founded by Ben Rawlings and famous for its athletes of whom Jezzie was one. Walter Stanwich is the president. Marissa is a student guide. Shane Mumford had been the trainer and personal coach assigned to Jezzie. Tom Baylor is the athletic director.
Natalie and Mo will be teaching a class called “Sex and Relationships”. Some of their speakers will include Kate and the Russian Dr. Ludmilla Pushkin, who is a founder of Cerebral Humanoid Autonomic Orgasmic Stimulation (CHAOS) theory. Mr. Johnson is a sex doll.
Haley Tristan is a reporter for the Herald Press and a local LA TV station. Dominick Salvatore is city editor of the Herald Press. Ross Atkinson owns the paper.
Mack McKenzie is a private investigator and former Navy SEAL who primarily works high-profile kidnappings. Thelma is Mack’s black Lab who just had Bernie’s puppies, Betty and Bubba. His wife had been the victim of a drunk driver. Piper is Mack’s housekeeper.
Joanie Hutchins is a secretary at Northridge Studios. John Felton did makeup there. Spanx is a receptionist.
Las Vegas
Ace is an old boyfriend of Nana’s who lives in Las Vegas. Judie Crawford, a one-time actress, has turned out to be Kate’s birth mother who had never married her father. Ryan Cooper had been Judie’s boyfriend who later married her. Peggy works at St. Clair’s Convalescent Hospital. Janet Larsen is the administrator.
Bakersfield
Detective Good caught the murder case. Bruce Badenov is a clerk at the Snow White Motel in Bakersfield as well as the mayor of Oildale. Bruce’s aunt and uncle, Gladys and Earl, built the motel. Tyson Gray was thought to be Ralston’s dealer. Latisha Hill had been seeing Barry and Gray.
Phyllis the Squealer is/was Doug’s secretary. Earl Conners was a muscle-bound steroid user from a previous case. Xandiva, a drug to enhance sexual desire in post-menopausal women, is part of a drug study. Judge Loretta “Catherine” Johnson, the presiding judge of the superior court, has some odd kinks. Brian Hamlin is a yoga instructor. Dr. Carly Nichols is Brian’s half-sister and works at NADA. Cindy Burch used to be an assistant at Brian’s yoga classes.
Newt Babich is a victim at Club Z. Juanita Ramirez had been in food service with Moonlight Delights. Lydia Sanchez was Juanita ’s mother. Jeremy Shulman has a record and was acting as Wilson’s enforcer. Ray Broome is a foreman at Taylor Sheet Metal. Monroe’s Gym is managed by Avery Chilton where Andy Ceil is a trainer; Madison also works there. Angie Johnson and Gladys are from the Hook-Up-Happy dating service. Monoythroprotein (MTP) is a performance enhancing drug. Porsha is the star of Dirty Girls from Mars. SkyWyre is a dark web site where Que hooks up with potential clients.
The Cover and Title
The cover is split between a closeup of a woman’s chin, her red lipsticked lips pursed with a red-polished finger held up to insure your silence in the top above the title in a horizontal, lightly gradated yellow sans serif and serif. Below the title is the yellows, browns, and blacks of Hollywood with its palm trees and searchlights scanning the sky. The author’s name is at the bottom in a more gradated yellow sans serif beneath which is a listing of the three previous titles in white.
The title provides the geographical location of the story as well as its position in the series, for it’s Hollywood Dirty secrets about to be revealed.
My Take
Yes. Hollywood Dirty is funny, in a slapstick style that hammers you over the head with a cast of characters that goes way beyond normal. I liked the Douche Brothers until I got further into the story, and then it simply got lame. Although, her roommates turned me off long before the two detectives did.
It drove me nuts that the core cast was so out-of-control with a wimpy Kate. A Kate who keeps “oopsing” with facts she shouldn’t be telling her roommates, and then getting ticked that they blab. Well. Hullo.
Kelly grabs your attention and hangs on, come what may and uses first-person protagonist point-of-view. I also think he’s channeling Darynda Jones, as Nana has named her breasts and Kate named her car.
The first conflict came with Ralston’s dying statement about Jezzie and was followed by a ton of red herrings, which definitely contributed to that sneaky plot twist at the end.
I dunno, maybe I’ve been watching too much CSI and similar shows, but wouldn’t an autopsy have shown up Jezzie’s earlier issues? As for Bernie whining at a crime scene, wasn’t he trained as a police dog?
Kelly includes a number of side plots with a series arc that encompasses the murder of Kate’s father and Jessica’s animosity. Kelly did a nice job of slipping this in. This, along with Jack showing up at the end, could be enough to pull you in, but it’s disjointed and abrupt with the most horrible roommates thrown in just to make it colorful. I’d pass if I were you. It certainly doesn’t help Kelly’s story that he’s got typos all over the place.
The Story
Her Vegas vacation gets cut short when Kate is ordered to Bakersfield. And is ferried there by her volatile — and interfering — roommates.
The murder there is a nasty twist in a case already screwed up by the previous team, and the chief only makes it worse when he assigns a reporter to the team.
Kate needs to find the real culprit, get a love life, meet her birth mother for the first time, and survive her assorted roommates.
The Characters
Detective Kate Sexton rose up from the canine corps with her canine partner, Bernie, to Robbery Homicide. She calls her car Olive. After being wiped out in her divorce from Doug Witherspoon, an assistant DA, Kate has some, different, roommates: Natalie Bump is British and too hot for words, and Mo Simpson is a former pimp (female). Mo and Natalie have started a private detective business, Sistah Snoop. Tex is Natalie’s nerdy, brainy boyfriend. Chica Loca is Tex’s concoction and has brought Nana “back to life”.
Robin is Kate’s brother who works at a hair salon owned by Barry Sinclair. Maya is a new stylist there. Kate's father, a cop who was gunned down in a park when Kate was a toddler, married her adoptive mother, Miss Daisy, a free spirit, part-time psychic, new-age guru, and artist. Shumi Duvall claims to be a spiritualist.
Kate’s landlady, Nana Hannah, is a very free-spirited eighty-three-year-old who is sexually obsessed. Prissy, her great-grandson, is a transvestite who owns a sex paraphernalia shop, Voodoo Mama. The clinically depressed Hubert legally changed his name to Elvis. Alice is a friend of Nana’s.
The LAPD
The red-mustached Detective Charlie Winkler is Kate’s partner. Detectives Kyle Gooch and Eric Glade are partnered up and referred to as the “Douche Brothers”. Detectives Jessica Barlow (Kate’s enemy) and Barry Liebowitz botched it. Lieutenant Henry “Henrietta” Edna is their immediate boss. Captain Decker is in command of their stationhouse. Brie Henner is in the coroner’s office and is a friend of Kate’s. Chief Bradley East, a.k.a., “Beast”, is new and eager to suck up to the press. Retired Detective Pearl Kramer works cases part-time for the LAPD. John Duncan works in Cold Case. Muriel Shafter is in Media Relations (MRS). Rob Nelson is in command at MRS. Chewie Smith is in Vice.
Detective Jack Bautista dated Kate until he took a job with Homeland Security. Wilma is Charlie’s “cheating” girlfriend. Irma is Charlie’s sixteen-year-old daughter. Cleo is Irma’s boyfriend going to The Ink Palace, a tattoo school. Joe is Brie’s firefighter husband, and they have a six-year-old daughter, Lily. Barbara is the Kramers' autistic daughter who became a success. Herb Benson is Jessica’s lawyer.
Jezzie “Black Lightning” Rose was an Olympic gold medalist. Al and Flo Rose are Jezzie’s parents. Bix is Jezzie’s younger brother. Barry Ralston had been Jezzie’s boyfriend. Terry Gibson is a model and had lived with Jezzie. Sandra Weimer had been Jezzie’s best friend on the squad. A former football player, Chucky “Hannibal” Wilson was her sports agent; he’s got some odd kinks. Ray Dunbar, a professional ball player, had been one of Wilson’s clients.
Westbridge University was…
…founded by Ben Rawlings and famous for its athletes of whom Jezzie was one. Walter Stanwich is the president. Marissa is a student guide. Shane Mumford had been the trainer and personal coach assigned to Jezzie. Tom Baylor is the athletic director.
Natalie and Mo will be teaching a class called “Sex and Relationships”. Some of their speakers will include Kate and the Russian Dr. Ludmilla Pushkin, who is a founder of Cerebral Humanoid Autonomic Orgasmic Stimulation (CHAOS) theory. Mr. Johnson is a sex doll.
Haley Tristan is a reporter for the Herald Press and a local LA TV station. Dominick Salvatore is city editor of the Herald Press. Ross Atkinson owns the paper.
Mack McKenzie is a private investigator and former Navy SEAL who primarily works high-profile kidnappings. Thelma is Mack’s black Lab who just had Bernie’s puppies, Betty and Bubba. His wife had been the victim of a drunk driver. Piper is Mack’s housekeeper.
Joanie Hutchins is a secretary at Northridge Studios. John Felton did makeup there. Spanx is a receptionist.
Las Vegas
Ace is an old boyfriend of Nana’s who lives in Las Vegas. Judie Crawford, a one-time actress, has turned out to be Kate’s birth mother who had never married her father. Ryan Cooper had been Judie’s boyfriend who later married her. Peggy works at St. Clair’s Convalescent Hospital. Janet Larsen is the administrator.
Bakersfield
Detective Good caught the murder case. Bruce Badenov is a clerk at the Snow White Motel in Bakersfield as well as the mayor of Oildale. Bruce’s aunt and uncle, Gladys and Earl, built the motel. Tyson Gray was thought to be Ralston’s dealer. Latisha Hill had been seeing Barry and Gray.
Phyllis the Squealer is/was Doug’s secretary. Earl Conners was a muscle-bound steroid user from a previous case. Xandiva, a drug to enhance sexual desire in post-menopausal women, is part of a drug study. Judge Loretta “Catherine” Johnson, the presiding judge of the superior court, has some odd kinks. Brian Hamlin is a yoga instructor. Dr. Carly Nichols is Brian’s half-sister and works at NADA. Cindy Burch used to be an assistant at Brian’s yoga classes.
Newt Babich is a victim at Club Z. Juanita Ramirez had been in food service with Moonlight Delights. Lydia Sanchez was Juanita ’s mother. Jeremy Shulman has a record and was acting as Wilson’s enforcer. Ray Broome is a foreman at Taylor Sheet Metal. Monroe’s Gym is managed by Avery Chilton where Andy Ceil is a trainer; Madison also works there. Angie Johnson and Gladys are from the Hook-Up-Happy dating service. Monoythroprotein (MTP) is a performance enhancing drug. Porsha is the star of Dirty Girls from Mars. SkyWyre is a dark web site where Que hooks up with potential clients.
The Cover and Title
The cover is split between a closeup of a woman’s chin, her red lipsticked lips pursed with a red-polished finger held up to insure your silence in the top above the title in a horizontal, lightly gradated yellow sans serif and serif. Below the title is the yellows, browns, and blacks of Hollywood with its palm trees and searchlights scanning the sky. The author’s name is at the bottom in a more gradated yellow sans serif beneath which is a listing of the three previous titles in white.
The title provides the geographical location of the story as well as its position in the series, for it’s Hollywood Dirty secrets about to be revealed.
October 20, 2019
"Quirky"
Sometimes quirky is good, especially if there's one oddball in a group. When every character and situation is taken to the max the joke wears a bit thin. This writer is better than this based on the quality of the writing. If the whole series is like this I won't be a fan.
Sometimes quirky is good, especially if there's one oddball in a group. When every character and situation is taken to the max the joke wears a bit thin. This writer is better than this based on the quality of the writing. If the whole series is like this I won't be a fan.
Want to read
September 1, 2019🎁 FREE on Amazon today (9/1/2019)! 🎁
August 6, 2014
Hollywood Dirty is another Amazing novel by MZ Kelly!!! If you’ve read any of the other novels in the Alphabet Series, you will enjoy this one. The overall theme of the novel is what price a person is willing to pay for Money & Fame. As is with what we see on the news, the young girl paid with her life. Kate is still dealing with issues from her past and can’t seem to hold onto a man.
MZ added some new detective to the lineup in Good & Glade, they orbit their own planet and add a good amount of humor to the storyline. In real life, I think the duo would drive anyone nuts, like they did in the novel. Prissy is a character that seems to stay in the back ground, but hopefully in future novels, he has more time in the limelight.
I enjoy reading the Alphabet Series, the novels are full of plots & turns that keep me guessing and I never know what will happen next. As in life, humor makes the day brighter. MZ has the right dose of humor that just adds to the overall story line. With all the characters and storylines, I would recommend starting with the first novel of the series and keep on going.
MZ added some new detective to the lineup in Good & Glade, they orbit their own planet and add a good amount of humor to the storyline. In real life, I think the duo would drive anyone nuts, like they did in the novel. Prissy is a character that seems to stay in the back ground, but hopefully in future novels, he has more time in the limelight.
I enjoy reading the Alphabet Series, the novels are full of plots & turns that keep me guessing and I never know what will happen next. As in life, humor makes the day brighter. MZ has the right dose of humor that just adds to the overall story line. With all the characters and storylines, I would recommend starting with the first novel of the series and keep on going.
October 24, 2014
I love this series. 'Hollywood Dirty' is another great book in the 'Hollywood Alphabet Series'. The storyline was well written. Kate as always has her hands full with murders and her roommates that are quite a handful. I love the personalities. Nana cracks me up the most. I love the characters. The way this book unfolded was very thrilling and I was not prepared for the outcome. Great suspense. I love M.Z. Kelly's writing style. I will definitely read the next book. A great add to your tbr list. Recommended read.
October 16, 2014
Another winner
Love the "Hollywood Alphabet Series" books. Fantastic story line, captures the reader immediately. Characters are "whacked" and wonderful and fun. A few moments of Laugh out loud ! And single woman can relate to Kate's troubled love life. Diving into the next book, now.
Love the "Hollywood Alphabet Series" books. Fantastic story line, captures the reader immediately. Characters are "whacked" and wonderful and fun. A few moments of Laugh out loud ! And single woman can relate to Kate's troubled love life. Diving into the next book, now.
December 25, 2014
As always, funny, funny, and a great story.
Kate and her crew keep me in stitches with the raunchy repartee and improbable logic leading to the tie-in with a couple of current and a 20 year old murders.
Kate and her crew keep me in stitches with the raunchy repartee and improbable logic leading to the tie-in with a couple of current and a 20 year old murders.
December 8, 2014
This series of books fits perfectly when I'm looking for something fast paced, light, and a little goofy.
October 23, 2015
Bored
The writer's voice didn't interest me. Didn't seem like much thought put into the characters and the dialogue wasn't interesting
The writer's voice didn't interest me. Didn't seem like much thought put into the characters and the dialogue wasn't interesting
October 2, 2016
Terrible. Could not go beyond 30 pages
January 23, 2018
This book was so much better than book 1 in the series. I have yet to read books 2 and 3 in the Hollywood Alphabet series but will have to read them ASAP. I will have to order the E books from Amazon today. I received books 1 and 4 for free but these books are well worth the cost whatever that cost may be. Ever since I read the first book in this series I have been trying to remember what other series of books that this one reminds me of and it suddenly came to me as I started to write this review, it's the Sue Grafton series where each book title starts with a letter of the alphabet, starting with the very first book, "A is for Alibi." Although M.Z. is a guy, his style of writing, everything from plot development, characterization, and dialogue reminds me of Sue Grafton. If you are a fan of Sue Grafon, you will really love M. Z. Kelly and his Hollywood Alphabet Series.
August 7, 2019
A Great Series!
Another great thriller read by the author M.Z.Kelly. Detective Kate Sexton is on the hunt for a killer of a young female sorts star. Kate's personal life is in turmoil aa she discovers that her mother is not her biological mother. Kate is also trying to find her late father's killer. Lots of twists and turns with some laugh out loud moments, especially when Kate's barmy house mates are on the scene!
Another great thriller read by the author M.Z.Kelly. Detective Kate Sexton is on the hunt for a killer of a young female sorts star. Kate's personal life is in turmoil aa she discovers that her mother is not her biological mother. Kate is also trying to find her late father's killer. Lots of twists and turns with some laugh out loud moments, especially when Kate's barmy house mates are on the scene!
August 31, 2018
Well, the series won't win the Pulitzer Prize, but it is fun! Kate's hidden past is catching up to her and her roommates are getting crazier. I wouldn't want to be her, but it sure is entertaining to read about this character and her life in Hollywood as a detective.
June 29, 2022
Kate and Bernie are off to find the killer of an Olympic runner. When the man who the police thought was the killer is shot by the police she hears from the guy just before he died that he didn't do it. This gets Kate off to find the killer and also the man who killed her father
May 8, 2017
Love this book series
MZ Kelly does it again with a gripping storyline around Det. Kate and her faithful sidekick Bernie. I love the different characters and the plot line.
MZ Kelly does it again with a gripping storyline around Det. Kate and her faithful sidekick Bernie. I love the different characters and the plot line.
June 17, 2017
Another fun read
December 17, 2017
Fantastic book. A murder story with unexpected twists. Also hilarious. I laughed out loud several times. Hope they all are this good.
March 20, 2018
Funny thriller.
Kate was working a murder case a gold medal athlete. Her crazy roommates were interfering while trying to help. Naturally, the media were also interfering.
Kate was working a murder case a gold medal athlete. Her crazy roommates were interfering while trying to help. Naturally, the media were also interfering.
June 2, 2018
A good series so far. Recommend consideration. Own this book.
October 13, 2018
Enjoyable and entertaining police procedural/crime to be solved story that will please many readers.
3.5 star recommended read.
3.5 star recommended read.
August 17, 2020
Another mystery in a great series. The female cop has to deal with murders, her angst about the past, and her crazy roommates. A great cast of characters!
December 31, 2020
Goofy but entertaining
February 3, 2017
I tried, I really tried to like this series, but I just can't. This is the second book in this series that I have read, it is also the last. After the fist book I thought that maybe I just wasn't familiar enough with the characters, so I gave it another try, but that just wasn't the problem. The characters are all totally unrealistic. The situations are unrealistic. And the criminal's motives are unrealistic. Character traits that I assume are supposed to be funny are just juvenile and silly. Picture an overweight police officer that constantly eats doughnuts, attractive young officers that are constantly chasing women, grandma with gas, obnoxious reporter, etc. And I actually began to cringe every time the main character made a "witty" response and then followed it with "but I didn't really say that, instead I said..."
If you are looking for a good police detective series, this isn't it. If you are looking for an amateur detective series, this isn't it. Cosy mystery? No. Funny mystery? Again, no. Romantic mystery? Nope. The author seems to try to create all of these things by having a female police officer whose close friends are private investigators that always interfere in her cases. She messes up all of her romantic relationships. Her family (and her hair) is a mess. There are constant conflicts with coworkers. Her coworkers have messed up romantic lives. Even her police dog, who is otherwise a great hero, has a fling that results in puppies. Yet somehow, none of the characters are endearing, not even the dog. There are just too many other books out there for me to spend any more time with these.
If you are looking for a good police detective series, this isn't it. If you are looking for an amateur detective series, this isn't it. Cosy mystery? No. Funny mystery? Again, no. Romantic mystery? Nope. The author seems to try to create all of these things by having a female police officer whose close friends are private investigators that always interfere in her cases. She messes up all of her romantic relationships. Her family (and her hair) is a mess. There are constant conflicts with coworkers. Her coworkers have messed up romantic lives. Even her police dog, who is otherwise a great hero, has a fling that results in puppies. Yet somehow, none of the characters are endearing, not even the dog. There are just too many other books out there for me to spend any more time with these.
November 12, 2015
LAPD Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner, Bernie, are assigned to investigate the murder of Olympic gold medalist Jezzie Rose, a case that had been mishandled by the detectives previously assigned to it. Things become complicated when Kate learns things that lead her to believe the prime suspect, the dead girl’s boyfriend, might not be the killer, and then the chief of police allows the media to become involved in her investigation.
Hollywood Dirty, book four in the Hollywood Alphabet series, by M.Z. Kelly, is a rip-roaring funny story of a woman whose love life is in tatters, and who is also obsessed with finding the man who killed her father, while at the same time having to cope with a houseful of roommates who come across like escapees from a looney bin. At the same time, it has all the elements of a top-flight mystery; clues aplenty, more suspects than you could comfortably fit into a lineup, and action scenes that will satisfy readers who like a little blood in their mystery stories.
Kelly nailed the Hollywood scene square on the head, and has set the bar high for others in the genre.
Hollywood Dirty, book four in the Hollywood Alphabet series, by M.Z. Kelly, is a rip-roaring funny story of a woman whose love life is in tatters, and who is also obsessed with finding the man who killed her father, while at the same time having to cope with a houseful of roommates who come across like escapees from a looney bin. At the same time, it has all the elements of a top-flight mystery; clues aplenty, more suspects than you could comfortably fit into a lineup, and action scenes that will satisfy readers who like a little blood in their mystery stories.
Kelly nailed the Hollywood scene square on the head, and has set the bar high for others in the genre.
October 28, 2015
I haven't read the other books in the series, Dirty being my first. I guess I am missing out on quite a lot like why Kate is still friends with an annoying bunch like Nana, Mo & Natalie who seem to do make Kate's life worse, while providing comic relief.
Kate is too kind too them while they are not very diplomatic or sensitive
The mystery seemed average... It did not make me feel involved. Flashbacks about kate's dad every now and then didn't help.
Loved the Douche brothers though... I gave an extra star for them.
Kate is too kind too them while they are not very diplomatic or sensitive
The mystery seemed average... It did not make me feel involved. Flashbacks about kate's dad every now and then didn't help.
Loved the Douche brothers though... I gave an extra star for them.
December 7, 2015
This is my third book in the series to have read. I enjoy the main character, Kate Sexton. She's a Hollywood detective with her dog, Bernie. Kate has a complex life with co-workers, her "crazy" room mates and family.Her love life also has complexities. I enjoy the fact that the characters from other books are in this one too. The books are an easy read, with excitement, and of course murder!
Kate finds her birth mother and finds more information on the murder of her policeman dad. I can't wait to start the next book.
Kate finds her birth mother and finds more information on the murder of her policeman dad. I can't wait to start the next book.
October 5, 2015
This book was pretty good. I generally liked the characters but I unfortunately kept comparing it to the 1,2,3... series by Janet Evanovich. This may be an unfair assessment but the characters were a little off just like the other series. I am not sure if the author intended the books to be a little zany or more serious but since they weren't as funny as the Stephanie Plum characters I was a bit disappointed. Still I liked the story enough to go back and start with "A".
December 6, 2014
Fit for a 12 year old valley girl wannabe
All the talk about hair, plastic surgery, and the like is so distracting to the story plot that it takes the book from light comedy to juvenile Hollywood. If you are looking for a light comedy thriller pass on this one. Even for free, it is a waste of your time.
All the talk about hair, plastic surgery, and the like is so distracting to the story plot that it takes the book from light comedy to juvenile Hollywood. If you are looking for a light comedy thriller pass on this one. Even for free, it is a waste of your time.
April 30, 2015
Kelly brings us another of the series about Hollywood, and it is a book that is enjoyable. Some may not like some of the characters, but that is normal for any book that is part of a series--some characters grow and some go, for whatever reason. I enjoyed it.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom IT May Concern"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom IT May Concern"
July 12, 2015
THIS STARTED OUT CUTE & FUNNY BUT WENT ON TILL IT WASN’T SO CUTE OR FUNNY. I KNOW THE CAST OF CHARACTERS (maybe too many of them) ARE PRETTY ZANY BUT THEY JUST TOOK OVER AND THE STORY LINE GOT SORTA LOST WITH ALL THE SILLY S*IT GOING ON. IN SPITE OF ALL THE CHAOS I DID FIGURE OUT THE CASE BEFORE THE END. IT WAS PRETTY OBVIOUS, I HOPED MAYBE I GOT IT WRONG BUT I DIDN’T. ;]
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