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Esther Diamond #2
Doppelgangster
A struggling actress, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York City from Evil, a skeptical cop—and double the number of wiseguys that there should be….
While working as a singing waitress in Little Italy, struggling actress Esther Diamond witnesses a mob hit. And right before getting whacked out, the victim tells her that he just saw his own doppio—a perfect double and a notorious portent of death.
Before long, more döppelgangers start haunting New York’s mobsters, who are subsequently getting bumped off in mysterious ways. Meanwhile, Esther’s new love-interest, Detective Connor Lopez, gets transferred to the NYPD’s organized crime unit and is assigned to investigate these hits.
Determined to prevent the murder of more of her restaurant customers, which slayings will soon lead to a mob war, Esther tries to uncover the evil genius behind the deadly doppelgangsters. Along with a 350 -year-old sorcerer and an aging hit man, Esther delves deep into the world of wiseguys in pursuit of a ruthlessly mystical murderer
While working as a singing waitress in Little Italy, struggling actress Esther Diamond witnesses a mob hit. And right before getting whacked out, the victim tells her that he just saw his own doppio—a perfect double and a notorious portent of death.
Before long, more döppelgangers start haunting New York’s mobsters, who are subsequently getting bumped off in mysterious ways. Meanwhile, Esther’s new love-interest, Detective Connor Lopez, gets transferred to the NYPD’s organized crime unit and is assigned to investigate these hits.
Determined to prevent the murder of more of her restaurant customers, which slayings will soon lead to a mob war, Esther tries to uncover the evil genius behind the deadly doppelgangsters. Along with a 350 -year-old sorcerer and an aging hit man, Esther delves deep into the world of wiseguys in pursuit of a ruthlessly mystical murderer
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First published December 1, 2006
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About the author
Laura Resnick
109 books272 followersLaura Resnick is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, the daughter of prolific science fiction author Mike Resnick. She was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction for 1993. She also writes romance novels under the pseudonym Laura Leone
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March 14, 2015
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I know what you are thinking: why did I read this when I apprently hated the first in the series?
The short answer: it has been a month of severe reading ADD.
The long answer: I’m enrolled in a class to advance my nursing degree when my employer announces they are merging my nursing unit with a critical care unit in four months. So all of a sudden, I’m also taking classes through work, one of which means trying to recover long-ago knowledge of cardiac rhythms. I had already requested Kraken from the library and had begged NetGalley for Harrison Squared, so I was afraid of Full Brain Syndrome. The Esther Diamond series by Resnick seemed to fit the bill for fluffy downtime reading. Being on the orderly side of the scale, I picked up the first book, Disappearing Nightly, and discovered in Resnick’s introduction that the book has actually gone out of print, had the rights reverted, and was then ‘updated’ and republished. When I reached a particularly clunky world-building chapter (on page 90!), I decided to set it down.
Hoping it was a case of first book syndrome (her first UF book), I thought I’d give the second a quick spin. Reviews seemed to support that decision. Sadly, it was even less interesting than the first, and I wandered off somewhere around page 100. I came back to the first book, decided it was better than I originally thought but found the ending such a whopper of poor taste and decision-making that I gave it negative stars when I wrote the review. Went back to this one–because I feel this weird urge for
Esther the actress continues to be mostly airheaded and dramatic. After witnessing a murder at her waitressing job, she is pulled into the mystery of apparent body doubles among the city’s organized crime families. The cop she is almost-dating from book one is now on the Organized Crime Squad, so when he’s assigned the case, he and Esther keep colliding. Their romantic tension is cute and probably the most well-developed aspect of the story. The band of merry men from Disappearing has been replaced with a sidekick from the crime family, Lucky, and Max’s new familiar, Nelli. Through it all, Esther continues to agonize about acting jobs, the wizard continues to be almost useless, and Esther’s interview skills continue to annoy. There’s numerous small plot inconsistencies to add to the irritation. One example of a bigger plot hole comes from Nelli, who is initially able to identify the duplicates but is unable to identify one at a crucial moment.
The writing is flat-out awkward. For instance, Esther is trying to get a woman to come with her down into the basement/crypt of the church where Esther thinks she left a shawl. I’m not really sure why Esther decides she needs the ancillary character to go with her, but it becomes an excuse for a long, awkward dialogue about the crime family and the woman’s three murdered husbands. Then Esther instead heads into the crypt with the priest and continues to pump him for information about the widow while she looks for the shawl. I still can’t tell if it is a character issue or a writing issue, because Esther is very over-dramatic about insignificant things she shouldn’t care about. Esther ‘gasps’ hearing the story of one husband’s death and puts her hand “up to my own throat” imagining a fight. Shortly after, she offers to help the priest search the lost-and-found for her shawl, is told it is only a cardboard box, and then is “disappointed. Also surprised” that her wrap has been stolen “from a church.” The dialogues seem to be meant to provide the reader with red herrings and to provide information about the shawl and a weeping statue, but they are just awkward, practically screaming CLUE HERE!
It’s great if you enjoy it, but I can’t. It’s like late-series Stephanie Plum (review) books with less logic and dumb magical elements. Besides, I just got a new set of library books in, including by Robert Jackson Bennett (City of Stairs), Dry Storeroom No.1 by Richard Fortey, and Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (We Are All Completely Fine).
And there are always cardiac rhythms to study.
December 10, 2021
Doppelgangster
(Esther Diamond #2)
by Laura Resnick
This was a lot better than book one! This has a bit more supernatural in it. There are doppelgangers and when someone sees their doppelganger, they die by that night! Max, the 350 year old mage, and Esther are trying to find out who are making the creatures. The mob are victims. Max gets a familiar. Esther and his handsome cop are still seeing each other...barely! Lol! It's a zany romp with interesting characters! Never dull!
(Esther Diamond #2)
by Laura Resnick
This was a lot better than book one! This has a bit more supernatural in it. There are doppelgangers and when someone sees their doppelganger, they die by that night! Max, the 350 year old mage, and Esther are trying to find out who are making the creatures. The mob are victims. Max gets a familiar. Esther and his handsome cop are still seeing each other...barely! Lol! It's a zany romp with interesting characters! Never dull!
January 11, 2019
See my full thoughts here: https://youtu.be/5lVj869IJ0E
There's a scene in Doppelgangster where the protagonist beats an evil sorcerer with a dead chicken. That says just about everything, I think.
This book is cheesy and stupid, but it very clearly understands that and is just having fun with it. There are some serious aspects to the plot but most of it is just an excuse for the characters to get into absurd situations, observe things with some snark, or run into other odd characters.
Speaking of characters, they're the thing that really makes this book fun. Esther herself plays a sort of straight man role, but that doesn't mean she isn't funny. She has a few witty observations and one-liners that make her a fun narrator. Then there's her wizard friend, Max, whose lack of understanding of the modern world never seems to get old. And all of the various mobster "Wise Guys" that they meet are such over the top Italian stereotypes that I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head whenever they... did anything really.
Not to mention that the mystery at the heart of the story is legitimately good. The audience is only given information at a slow drip, which means that you figure things out at around the same pace as the characters. It's not immediately obvious who's behind all of the murders and when I found out who it was, I felt genuine sympathy for them.
The one part of the story I couldn't get into was the romance between Esther and Detective Lopez. It's not that they don't have chemistry or that either of them are terrible people, it's just that life gets in the way of their relationship way too often for me to feel like they would ever work as an item.
Doppelgangster is very much a tongue-in-cheek book that's poking fun at the urban fantasy genre. Even as someone who isn't much into that genre, this was a lot of fun to read. I recommend it for anyone looking for a lighthearted comedy or a mystery with a twist.
There's a scene in Doppelgangster where the protagonist beats an evil sorcerer with a dead chicken. That says just about everything, I think.
This book is cheesy and stupid, but it very clearly understands that and is just having fun with it. There are some serious aspects to the plot but most of it is just an excuse for the characters to get into absurd situations, observe things with some snark, or run into other odd characters.
Speaking of characters, they're the thing that really makes this book fun. Esther herself plays a sort of straight man role, but that doesn't mean she isn't funny. She has a few witty observations and one-liners that make her a fun narrator. Then there's her wizard friend, Max, whose lack of understanding of the modern world never seems to get old. And all of the various mobster "Wise Guys" that they meet are such over the top Italian stereotypes that I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head whenever they... did anything really.
Not to mention that the mystery at the heart of the story is legitimately good. The audience is only given information at a slow drip, which means that you figure things out at around the same pace as the characters. It's not immediately obvious who's behind all of the murders and when I found out who it was, I felt genuine sympathy for them.
The one part of the story I couldn't get into was the romance between Esther and Detective Lopez. It's not that they don't have chemistry or that either of them are terrible people, it's just that life gets in the way of their relationship way too often for me to feel like they would ever work as an item.
Doppelgangster is very much a tongue-in-cheek book that's poking fun at the urban fantasy genre. Even as someone who isn't much into that genre, this was a lot of fun to read. I recommend it for anyone looking for a lighthearted comedy or a mystery with a twist.
Read
August 5, 2009I read this story in Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural , and I loved it. It takes a fresh look at Made Men (aka Mafiosos). This time they are the victims of supernatural hits. Each victim appears to his cronies and performs his normal behavior minutes before he dies. Only it's not the victim. It's his doppleganger. This story managed to do something that I did not feel was possible. To feel sorry for mobsters. I am not a fan of mafioso types. But these guys died in awful ways, due to a supernatural curse. I loved the concept and thought it was very unique and interesting. Another plus of this story is how funny it is to see the mafia guys behaviors. The narrator was sympathetic, although he was another Made Man. And I actually found myself hoping that the culprit would be caught before another victim was claimed. You'll never guess who the perpetrator of these murders are. I started getting an inkling towards the end, but the clues come together in a natural procession. This story is unmissable. So grab a copy of the Murder by Magic anthology and read this story, if only to hope that these Made Men don't end up dead men. Or you can wait for the story to be released separately in January 2010.
August 17, 2012
When I first saw the cover of Doppleganster, I was intrigued. I quickly learned I'd be circumnavigating the world Laura Resnick created without the context of book one to walk me through. Preceding Dopplegangster, the first book in the Esther Diamond series, “Disappearing Nightly”’ which at the time was published by Luna, unfortunately disappeared almost overnight, likely because back in 2005 the publisher didn’t know what to do with it, and it was soon out of print.
It appears that DAW recognized the potential and bought the second and third books in the series, released them and is going rescue and reprint “Disappearing Nightly” and finally give it the home it originally deserved. I highly recommend buying Dopplegangster and the new Sympathetic Magic. Hopefully good sales will influence DAW (a Penguin Imprint) to get busy and publish book one.
Evidently, in book one, Esther became friends with Max, a 350+ year old wizard (who looks a youthful 70) and who with her help, defeated a bad wizard and they killed his evil assistant Hieronymus, something that had to be done, but weighs on Esther’s mind and something she can never tell her hopefully soon to be, cop boyfriend Connor.
Esther’s life never goes to plan and she always ends up a mess, looking like a mess, or trying to get .herself out of one. It is almost a Lucille Ball kind of slapstick. She stumbles from one zany, crazy, silly, hilarious, mix-up to another. She’s like a pinball stuck in a game, being bashed around from one side to the other. Esther is just trying to find her way to that acting gig that will break her into the big time, trying to find some romantic time with the guy of her dreams, while being flung from one part of town to another, trying to solve the mystery and stay alive.
What is so fresh and wonderful about the Esther Diamond series is Esther is the ANTITHESIS of what has become the norm in Urban Fantasy. The biggest weapons she carries are her four-inch high heels. She doesn’t know how to fight. There is no mystery about her parentage, other than how does her Mother always know to call when there is bad news. She has no magical skills. That’s right…none. She isn’t going to become some magical Queen; she doesn’t go around bossing everyone around because the whole world depends on her. Nobody seems to depend on her, she’s just trying to survive on her own, and maybe keep her boyfriend alive from the things he doesn’t know about that go bump in the night.
Dopplegangster (again, this is book two) starts with Stella losing her acting gig. The play she was in, “Sorcerer” is canceled. Being a struggling actress in New York is no joke. She is damn glad to be rehired at her old waitressing job, even if it is as a singing server at Bella Stella’s, a known and notorious Mob Hangout.
Unfortunately, her on again off again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli…oops, I mean Connor Lopez, a gorgeous hunk of Cuban and Scotch Irish parentage, doesn’t agree and thinks it is a dangerous place for her to work. He might have a point given the fact that there have been two mob hits there in the last five years and the owner Stella launders money for the Mob.
To make matters worse, Lopez has just been promoted to the OCCB task force (organized Crime Control Bureau,) and his job is to crack down on organized crime. Chubby Charlie, one of her Mafioso regulars, and Esther both see an exact walking, talking double of Chubby Charlie and then he is shot at his table, from an impossible angle. This doesn’t help Lopez’s employment prospects as everyone thinks Esther had to have seen the murderer and is covering. She finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and on the cover of a New York Tabloid publication looking like a mob girlfriend in the middle of a mob war. In a very short period, wise guys begin dropping like flies just after they see their exact double, the cops want Esther brought in for questioning and chaos ensues.
The cops and the mob both think she knows more than she does. The only real people Esther can count on are Max, the Sorcerer with his trusty if slobbery familiar Nelli,, a Wizardly familiar, in the body of a massive hound from another plane of existence, and Lucky, a retired assassin wise guy who knows the truth and surprisingly accepts it quite easily.
The scenes with Lucky are great. He’s the kind of guy where if it was his job, and he had to do it, he’d kill you, but otherwise, if he likes you…he’s gonna keep an eye out and try to help you out. And he likes Esther. Even though his concern is paternal, it is infuriating to Lopez, who cannot understand why Esther is hanging out with a mobster if she is innocent as she claims.
Connor can only protect her so much, he can tell she’s lying, and various factions of the mafia are beginning to think Esther might be better off sleeping with the fishes. Connor also knows Max is hiding something and thinks he is a bad influence on Esther and he is incensed she is hanging out with retired mob enforcer, Lucky.
Esther just wants her agent to return her calls with news of a great acting job, and to have sex with her boyfriend. Given the situations she finds herself in, none of these things seems likely to happen any time soon.
The one-liners are hilarious, the side characters are incredibly nuanced and fleshed out, the heroine is hyper, smart and hilarious, and the hero is beleaguered. The book is much like Esther, an oddball mix. Part urban fantasy, part mystery, part screwball comedy harkening back to Katherine Hepburn and Carey Grant, It is a fun ride from start to finish. I just bought the third book, Sympathetic Magic, and I hope Esther and Lopez sort out their differences and get a HEA or at least get a chance to work off some of that sexual frustration. Given all that they’ve been through together, they deserve it.
It appears that DAW recognized the potential and bought the second and third books in the series, released them and is going rescue and reprint “Disappearing Nightly” and finally give it the home it originally deserved. I highly recommend buying Dopplegangster and the new Sympathetic Magic. Hopefully good sales will influence DAW (a Penguin Imprint) to get busy and publish book one.
Evidently, in book one, Esther became friends with Max, a 350+ year old wizard (who looks a youthful 70) and who with her help, defeated a bad wizard and they killed his evil assistant Hieronymus, something that had to be done, but weighs on Esther’s mind and something she can never tell her hopefully soon to be, cop boyfriend Connor.
Esther’s life never goes to plan and she always ends up a mess, looking like a mess, or trying to get .herself out of one. It is almost a Lucille Ball kind of slapstick. She stumbles from one zany, crazy, silly, hilarious, mix-up to another. She’s like a pinball stuck in a game, being bashed around from one side to the other. Esther is just trying to find her way to that acting gig that will break her into the big time, trying to find some romantic time with the guy of her dreams, while being flung from one part of town to another, trying to solve the mystery and stay alive.
What is so fresh and wonderful about the Esther Diamond series is Esther is the ANTITHESIS of what has become the norm in Urban Fantasy. The biggest weapons she carries are her four-inch high heels. She doesn’t know how to fight. There is no mystery about her parentage, other than how does her Mother always know to call when there is bad news. She has no magical skills. That’s right…none. She isn’t going to become some magical Queen; she doesn’t go around bossing everyone around because the whole world depends on her. Nobody seems to depend on her, she’s just trying to survive on her own, and maybe keep her boyfriend alive from the things he doesn’t know about that go bump in the night.
Dopplegangster (again, this is book two) starts with Stella losing her acting gig. The play she was in, “Sorcerer” is canceled. Being a struggling actress in New York is no joke. She is damn glad to be rehired at her old waitressing job, even if it is as a singing server at Bella Stella’s, a known and notorious Mob Hangout.
Unfortunately, her on again off again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli…oops, I mean Connor Lopez, a gorgeous hunk of Cuban and Scotch Irish parentage, doesn’t agree and thinks it is a dangerous place for her to work. He might have a point given the fact that there have been two mob hits there in the last five years and the owner Stella launders money for the Mob.
To make matters worse, Lopez has just been promoted to the OCCB task force (organized Crime Control Bureau,) and his job is to crack down on organized crime. Chubby Charlie, one of her Mafioso regulars, and Esther both see an exact walking, talking double of Chubby Charlie and then he is shot at his table, from an impossible angle. This doesn’t help Lopez’s employment prospects as everyone thinks Esther had to have seen the murderer and is covering. She finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and on the cover of a New York Tabloid publication looking like a mob girlfriend in the middle of a mob war. In a very short period, wise guys begin dropping like flies just after they see their exact double, the cops want Esther brought in for questioning and chaos ensues.
The cops and the mob both think she knows more than she does. The only real people Esther can count on are Max, the Sorcerer with his trusty if slobbery familiar Nelli,, a Wizardly familiar, in the body of a massive hound from another plane of existence, and Lucky, a retired assassin wise guy who knows the truth and surprisingly accepts it quite easily.
The scenes with Lucky are great. He’s the kind of guy where if it was his job, and he had to do it, he’d kill you, but otherwise, if he likes you…he’s gonna keep an eye out and try to help you out. And he likes Esther. Even though his concern is paternal, it is infuriating to Lopez, who cannot understand why Esther is hanging out with a mobster if she is innocent as she claims.
Connor can only protect her so much, he can tell she’s lying, and various factions of the mafia are beginning to think Esther might be better off sleeping with the fishes. Connor also knows Max is hiding something and thinks he is a bad influence on Esther and he is incensed she is hanging out with retired mob enforcer, Lucky.
Esther just wants her agent to return her calls with news of a great acting job, and to have sex with her boyfriend. Given the situations she finds herself in, none of these things seems likely to happen any time soon.
The one-liners are hilarious, the side characters are incredibly nuanced and fleshed out, the heroine is hyper, smart and hilarious, and the hero is beleaguered. The book is much like Esther, an oddball mix. Part urban fantasy, part mystery, part screwball comedy harkening back to Katherine Hepburn and Carey Grant, It is a fun ride from start to finish. I just bought the third book, Sympathetic Magic, and I hope Esther and Lopez sort out their differences and get a HEA or at least get a chance to work off some of that sexual frustration. Given all that they’ve been through together, they deserve it.
April 16, 2012
3.5 stars. Second novel in the Esther Diamond Series. This one was stronger than the first. Resnick has cleared up some of the annoying ticks that I thought stood out in the first, she's calmed down on the cutesy dialogue, it feels more natural, and I thought that the secondary characters were altogether more interesting and well written in this follow up installment.
In this mystery, Esther has unfortunately found herself without a paying gig when her off broadway show is finally cancelled. She finds herself working at Stella's which is a restaurant that is a popular hangout for some very dangerous wise-guy types. Unfortunately, supernatural happenings are afoot when Esther witnesses a mobster getting killed right before her eyes, with no possible killer in sight.
Esther is an appealing protagonist, capable enough but also not uber powered to the point where she's getting out of situations she really has no business being able to solve. Worth a read if you liked the first book.
In this mystery, Esther has unfortunately found herself without a paying gig when her off broadway show is finally cancelled. She finds herself working at Stella's which is a restaurant that is a popular hangout for some very dangerous wise-guy types. Unfortunately, supernatural happenings are afoot when Esther witnesses a mobster getting killed right before her eyes, with no possible killer in sight.
Esther is an appealing protagonist, capable enough but also not uber powered to the point where she's getting out of situations she really has no business being able to solve. Worth a read if you liked the first book.
May 6, 2025
These aren't serious books, so don't go into them with that mindset and sit back for a good time.
Esther is between acting jobs after the off Broadway play she was in gets cancelled. Now it is back to waiting tables. At least the place she waits tables lets her sing as well. One catch, it is a hang out place for mobsters so Esther's maybe, almost if they can get their act together boyfriend isn't super thrilled, since he is cop.
Weird things are happening and of course Esther just happens to be right in the center of it all again. A few of the gangsters are seeing their perfect doubles and after that they tend to die. Esther likes a few of these guys and wants to help out. Introducing Max to the phenomenon, hanging out with gangsters and trying to figure out who is behind creating these dopplegansters ends up being a fun and wild ride.
I enjoy these books. Sometimes there is a little too much explaining the magic but overall they are really entertaining. Esther is funny and I like how she sometimes gets caught up on the wrong but funny details. I enjoy the will they/won't they heat between her and Lopez. Also the addition of a canine familiar has been enjoyable too. Who doesn't like a good doggie character.
The Graphic Audio of this series just adds to the kick back enjoyment of a silly tale with a lot of fun characters. One of the funniest scenes was Max trying to talk like a gangster. Lopez's voice is sexy and really does it for me as well. Too bad he doesn't get more voice time.
Overall nothing fancy just a kick back, don't think to hard and roll with it kind of story.
Esther is between acting jobs after the off Broadway play she was in gets cancelled. Now it is back to waiting tables. At least the place she waits tables lets her sing as well. One catch, it is a hang out place for mobsters so Esther's maybe, almost if they can get their act together boyfriend isn't super thrilled, since he is cop.
“Stella's?"
"It's a restaurant called Bella Stella in Little Italy."
He frowned. "On Mulberry Street."
"You know it?" That didn't surprise me. It was a pretty famous place.
"Of course I know it, Esther. There've been two mob hits there in the
past five years, and Stella Butera launders money for the Gambello crime
family."
Okay, so it was notorious as well as famous.”
Weird things are happening and of course Esther just happens to be right in the center of it all again. A few of the gangsters are seeing their perfect doubles and after that they tend to die. Esther likes a few of these guys and wants to help out. Introducing Max to the phenomenon, hanging out with gangsters and trying to figure out who is behind creating these dopplegansters ends up being a fun and wild ride.
I enjoy these books. Sometimes there is a little too much explaining the magic but overall they are really entertaining. Esther is funny and I like how she sometimes gets caught up on the wrong but funny details. I enjoy the will they/won't they heat between her and Lopez. Also the addition of a canine familiar has been enjoyable too. Who doesn't like a good doggie character.
The Graphic Audio of this series just adds to the kick back enjoyment of a silly tale with a lot of fun characters. One of the funniest scenes was Max trying to talk like a gangster. Lopez's voice is sexy and really does it for me as well. Too bad he doesn't get more voice time.
Overall nothing fancy just a kick back, don't think to hard and roll with it kind of story.
August 27, 2018
Solid genre book.
World: The world buiding is solid, nothing creative here and pretty much all the pieces here can be found in another book in the urban fantasty genre. That being said, it was still fun, the gangster angle was kinda stereotypical fun of the genre. The expansion of the cast of characters is also fun.
Story: Solid for the genre, pacing was solid and the banter and situations was pleaseing. There is nothing much to say about the book, it’s a mob themed books with supernatural pieces. Esther is a fun character and the rest of the cast makes it a fun read.
Characters: Esther is solid, she’s not entirely original just like all the characters but Resnick is good with dialog and the banter between the characters this time around was sun. There were a lot of Italian stereotypes which made me rll my eyes in a fun way. Solid.
A solid entry, a good junk food book.
Onward to the next book!
World: The world buiding is solid, nothing creative here and pretty much all the pieces here can be found in another book in the urban fantasty genre. That being said, it was still fun, the gangster angle was kinda stereotypical fun of the genre. The expansion of the cast of characters is also fun.
Story: Solid for the genre, pacing was solid and the banter and situations was pleaseing. There is nothing much to say about the book, it’s a mob themed books with supernatural pieces. Esther is a fun character and the rest of the cast makes it a fun read.
Characters: Esther is solid, she’s not entirely original just like all the characters but Resnick is good with dialog and the banter between the characters this time around was sun. There were a lot of Italian stereotypes which made me rll my eyes in a fun way. Solid.
A solid entry, a good junk food book.
Onward to the next book!
February 14, 2021
I didn't enjoy this as much as the first, but it is good fun. Not a serious read, but nice and fun. Esther is forced to work in a singing cafe and finds herself caught up in a murder. Like the last book, one of the winning parts is the character interaction.
You are either going to enjoy this series or hate it. I love it. It is very refreshing to read an Urban Fantasy series that isn't doom, gloom, and angst.
You are either going to enjoy this series or hate it. I love it. It is very refreshing to read an Urban Fantasy series that isn't doom, gloom, and angst.
March 13, 2023
2023 bk 87. Laura Resnick and her Esther Diamond books were the series that got me interested in the paranormal/mystery/urban subgenre. Resnick has a deft hand at combining humor and gritty realism in the same paragraph - and she always writes interesting characters. This was the book that started it for me as I missed the first book in the series (but just found it in ebook format), but missing the first one did not take away from this story as she carefully included clues to the back story that were not disruptive. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the subtle/not so subtle humor of her writing.
October 20, 2024
I genuinely enjoyed listening to this story. The characters are well written, the storyline is interesting, and the narrators for the Graphic Audio version do an excellent job! I'm excited to listen to the next book in the series.
March 7, 2021
Loved the graphic audio on this one. The humor comes across and the actors kept me engaged. Very fun series in full cast audio. Worth the credit.
March 21, 2010
All Esther Diamond wants is a decent acting role that she can be proud of (and her typically Jewish mother can be proud of as well!) she'll do anything to get her to stop nagging. Plus, it would be nice to get a regular paycheck. And finally go on a hot sexy date with her police detective boyfriend. But it looks as if that's not in the cards for Esther. At least not while Mercury is in retrograde and her proverbial job as a singing waitress at Bella Stella's (the mob version of Casablanca) is soon to hit the skids.
When Esther's favorite wiseguy customer Chubby Charlie Chiccante is gunned down in front of her after seeing his mystical doppelganger, she's drawn deeply into a web of magical intrigue and the mobster underworld. Who is creating the magical doppelganger assassins that threaten to start an all out mob war between New York's notorious crime families? And can she stop it before she ends up sleeping with the fishes too?
Doppelgangster is an energetic gangster tale with elements of the paranormal that is both witty and hilarious. At first, I didn't know what to expect when starting it. Was it a paranormal? Was it a mystery? Was it a thriller? Was it a romance? I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was all of these things and more. Diving into Doppelgangster was like getting the best piece of the pie and slowly savoring each bite.
Resnick is in her element with Doppelgangster's dialogue. She's a powerhouse with it. The funny and engaging mobsterisms are rampant, clever, and her character interactions are simply gut busting. In fact the two most important aspects of Resnick's tale are the originality of her idea and the brilliant character interactions. Esther, paired with Lucky, Max, and Nelli at the behest of the Gambello's shy don makes this one of the funniest books I've read this year. I laughed non-stop throughout this book.
There is a small thread of romance between Esther and her slurpalicious detective Lopez. But so far, the mobster shenanigans ensuing have firmly placed the lovers on opposite camps: Lopez on the side of the law and Esther helping the "family". While this tenuous thread between the two of them was smoking hot, I suspect that we'll be seeing more of sexy Detective Lopez in Resnick's next novel. Especially the barest hint that he might not be what he seems, and could be psychically gifted.
If you want to truly be entertained, (and laugh out loud frequently) and enjoy storytelling at its best, give Doppelgangster a whirl! And don’t forget Esther’s first story in “Disappearing Nightly”. Resnick’s next installment is out August 2010 entitled “Unsympathetic Magic”. Yippee!
A Fiendishly Bookish Review
When Esther's favorite wiseguy customer Chubby Charlie Chiccante is gunned down in front of her after seeing his mystical doppelganger, she's drawn deeply into a web of magical intrigue and the mobster underworld. Who is creating the magical doppelganger assassins that threaten to start an all out mob war between New York's notorious crime families? And can she stop it before she ends up sleeping with the fishes too?
Doppelgangster is an energetic gangster tale with elements of the paranormal that is both witty and hilarious. At first, I didn't know what to expect when starting it. Was it a paranormal? Was it a mystery? Was it a thriller? Was it a romance? I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was all of these things and more. Diving into Doppelgangster was like getting the best piece of the pie and slowly savoring each bite.
Resnick is in her element with Doppelgangster's dialogue. She's a powerhouse with it. The funny and engaging mobsterisms are rampant, clever, and her character interactions are simply gut busting. In fact the two most important aspects of Resnick's tale are the originality of her idea and the brilliant character interactions. Esther, paired with Lucky, Max, and Nelli at the behest of the Gambello's shy don makes this one of the funniest books I've read this year. I laughed non-stop throughout this book.
There is a small thread of romance between Esther and her slurpalicious detective Lopez. But so far, the mobster shenanigans ensuing have firmly placed the lovers on opposite camps: Lopez on the side of the law and Esther helping the "family". While this tenuous thread between the two of them was smoking hot, I suspect that we'll be seeing more of sexy Detective Lopez in Resnick's next novel. Especially the barest hint that he might not be what he seems, and could be psychically gifted.
If you want to truly be entertained, (and laugh out loud frequently) and enjoy storytelling at its best, give Doppelgangster a whirl! And don’t forget Esther’s first story in “Disappearing Nightly”. Resnick’s next installment is out August 2010 entitled “Unsympathetic Magic”. Yippee!
A Fiendishly Bookish Review
November 21, 2013
This is the second book in the Esther Diamond series. It's an improvement over the last book, though there are some indications the series might fall into some tropes I dislike.
In the previous book, Esther, a struggling stage actress, found out that magic exists, and stopped a sorcerer who wanted to sacrifice leading ladies to a powerful demon. In this book, her familiarity with magic serves her well, as it's the only explanation for the bizarre deaths taking place at her day job at an Italian restaurant. People with mod connections are seeing perfect doubles of themselves, and then dying within hours. A hit man asks Esther for help finding the killer. Meanwhile, Detective Lopez has been moved to the department that investigates the Mafia, and he'd very much like for Esther to stay out of it before his conflict of interest gets them both in trouble.
The title probably would've been funnier if it hadn't been adopted as the name for what's killing mobsters, and repeated throughout the text. Still, it's apt, and eye-catching enough to make someone want to pick this up, if it's the sort of thing they'd like.
This book never pretends to be anything it isn't. It's silly, fluffy urban fantasy, and Esther well knows how ridiculous it sounds. In case she forgets, other characters are more than willing to laugh or disbelieve. That made me feel this book is more grounded in reality than most urban fantasy, despite its humor trappings.
There were times, though, when it seemed the humor might rely on the absurdity a little too much. I worried future books might start to string together wacky hijinks, for lack of any better ideas. It gave me flashbacks to the Stephanie Plum series, which I've give up on.
For now, though, I do plan to read the next book. We'll see if it lays the above fears to rest, and continues to give me the fun melding of murder mystery and magic that I enjoy in these books. I also hope we see more Detective Lopez. Not because I particularly like him, but I like how Esther plays off him.
In the previous book, Esther, a struggling stage actress, found out that magic exists, and stopped a sorcerer who wanted to sacrifice leading ladies to a powerful demon. In this book, her familiarity with magic serves her well, as it's the only explanation for the bizarre deaths taking place at her day job at an Italian restaurant. People with mod connections are seeing perfect doubles of themselves, and then dying within hours. A hit man asks Esther for help finding the killer. Meanwhile, Detective Lopez has been moved to the department that investigates the Mafia, and he'd very much like for Esther to stay out of it before his conflict of interest gets them both in trouble.
The title probably would've been funnier if it hadn't been adopted as the name for what's killing mobsters, and repeated throughout the text. Still, it's apt, and eye-catching enough to make someone want to pick this up, if it's the sort of thing they'd like.
This book never pretends to be anything it isn't. It's silly, fluffy urban fantasy, and Esther well knows how ridiculous it sounds. In case she forgets, other characters are more than willing to laugh or disbelieve. That made me feel this book is more grounded in reality than most urban fantasy, despite its humor trappings.
There were times, though, when it seemed the humor might rely on the absurdity a little too much. I worried future books might start to string together wacky hijinks, for lack of any better ideas. It gave me flashbacks to the Stephanie Plum series, which I've give up on.
For now, though, I do plan to read the next book. We'll see if it lays the above fears to rest, and continues to give me the fun melding of murder mystery and magic that I enjoy in these books. I also hope we see more Detective Lopez. Not because I particularly like him, but I like how Esther plays off him.
January 6, 2010
Esther Diamond is between acting jobs. To make ends meet, she takes a job waiting tables at Bella Stella. Connor Lopez, the cop who may or may not be Esther's boyfriend, is concerned because Bella Stella is frequented by the Gambello crime family, but hey, a girl's gotta make a living!
Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella's regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She's traumatized by the event, the tabloids are painting her as mob-connected, Lopez doesn't believe her version of events, and she's starting to suspect that Charlie's double was created by magic. When other doubles start popping up, followed by more murders, it's up to Esther to find the killer, with the help of Max, her centuries-old wizard friend; Lucky, an aging wiseguy; and Max's new "familiar," Nelli, who may be a mystical creature but seems more like an ordinary, slobbering Canis familiaris.
What follows is a twisty, well-executed mystery plot laced with plenty of humor. Laura Resnick touches on some serious themes from time to time — these are gangsters, not Boy Scouts, after all — but Doppelgangster never gets too heavy or depressing. In fact, it's laugh-out-loud funny, the kind of book that makes me want to use words like "screwball" and "romp." Esther and her friends make a hilarious team, and I love watching them interact. My favorite scenes include Lucky teaching Max to use gangster lingo, and pretty much any scene involving the dog. (Max would of course correct me. I shouldn't call Nelli a dog. She's a familiar!)
Doppelgangster is a great mix of urban fantasy, humor, mystery, and maybe a dash of chick lit. It had me in stitches. I also recommend Resnick's first Esther Diamond book, Disappearing Nightly. You don't have to read it to follow Doppelgangster's storyline, but it's worth tracking down anyway, just because it's fun!
Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella's regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She's traumatized by the event, the tabloids are painting her as mob-connected, Lopez doesn't believe her version of events, and she's starting to suspect that Charlie's double was created by magic. When other doubles start popping up, followed by more murders, it's up to Esther to find the killer, with the help of Max, her centuries-old wizard friend; Lucky, an aging wiseguy; and Max's new "familiar," Nelli, who may be a mystical creature but seems more like an ordinary, slobbering Canis familiaris.
What follows is a twisty, well-executed mystery plot laced with plenty of humor. Laura Resnick touches on some serious themes from time to time — these are gangsters, not Boy Scouts, after all — but Doppelgangster never gets too heavy or depressing. In fact, it's laugh-out-loud funny, the kind of book that makes me want to use words like "screwball" and "romp." Esther and her friends make a hilarious team, and I love watching them interact. My favorite scenes include Lucky teaching Max to use gangster lingo, and pretty much any scene involving the dog. (Max would of course correct me. I shouldn't call Nelli a dog. She's a familiar!)
Doppelgangster is a great mix of urban fantasy, humor, mystery, and maybe a dash of chick lit. It had me in stitches. I also recommend Resnick's first Esther Diamond book, Disappearing Nightly. You don't have to read it to follow Doppelgangster's storyline, but it's worth tracking down anyway, just because it's fun!
June 7, 2011
Alright, I'll start off by saying I LOVED this book and then continue on by going right into complaining about it. My complaint isn't about the book itself, just a really irritating mishap by I assume, the publisher. This is not the first book in this series! When you open to the list of books in this series, this is the first one listed, followed by two with little *'s to indicate they hadn't been published yet. The whole reason I read this book was I liked the look of book number three in this series (which has in fact, now been published). I was willing to take the time and start from the beginning and they let me down. /rant
I should probably mention, that not reading the first book in no way took away from the story. I loved this book and will continue to love it even though a swap in publishers made for one very annoyed Kellie.
All that being said, this book was hilarious! The title alone should tell you something. It was laugh out loud funny the whole way through. It was clever, witty and very well written. I loved the main character, Esther as well as her mafia "sidekick" Lucky. The older sorcerer Max was a little harder to get to know, but apparently that was what the first book was for. Sorry, I said I'd stop.
I love that the mystery had a mob twist on it. I'm not especially a fan of mob stories, actually I'm not sure I've ever read one but it gave this story some unique flair that I've never seen before. It really helped to build the world that Esther lives in and the people that populate her life. Her cop, would-be boyfriend, even manages to play a roll in how the various crime families interacted with the main character. I cracked a smile every time someone chimed in with "You date a cop!?"
I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series. I will not be going back to read the first though *shakes fist*
I should probably mention, that not reading the first book in no way took away from the story. I loved this book and will continue to love it even though a swap in publishers made for one very annoyed Kellie.
All that being said, this book was hilarious! The title alone should tell you something. It was laugh out loud funny the whole way through. It was clever, witty and very well written. I loved the main character, Esther as well as her mafia "sidekick" Lucky. The older sorcerer Max was a little harder to get to know, but apparently that was what the first book was for. Sorry, I said I'd stop.
I love that the mystery had a mob twist on it. I'm not especially a fan of mob stories, actually I'm not sure I've ever read one but it gave this story some unique flair that I've never seen before. It really helped to build the world that Esther lives in and the people that populate her life. Her cop, would-be boyfriend, even manages to play a roll in how the various crime families interacted with the main character. I cracked a smile every time someone chimed in with "You date a cop!?"
I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series. I will not be going back to read the first though *shakes fist*
December 24, 2015
I picked this up at my book club white elephant in the unwanted pile and felt with a title like dopplegangster it was the sort of book I might enjoy.
Esther Diamond is an out of work actress and to make ends meet while she is "resting" she takes a job at a notorious mob restaurant. Wise guys tip well. When one of her customers comes in terrified having seen his. "perfect double" and is then shot in front of her by a bullet that somehow went round a corner she realizes something supernatural is going on. Soon more of these dopplegangsters are showing up heralding the deaths of more wise guys threatening to spark a gang war. the police are baffled the mob is worried so Esther teams up with her sorcerer friend Max, his dog Nellie, and retired mob hitman lucky to find out who is duplicating these gangsters and put a stop to it.
This is the second book in the series and I'd not read the previous one but that didn't seem to matter too much. This was a funny fairly clever urban fantasy type of story with a enjoyable protagonist and a cast of somewhat interesting characters. It's very silly but fun with it and doesn't take itself to seriously.
Esther Diamond is an out of work actress and to make ends meet while she is "resting" she takes a job at a notorious mob restaurant. Wise guys tip well. When one of her customers comes in terrified having seen his. "perfect double" and is then shot in front of her by a bullet that somehow went round a corner she realizes something supernatural is going on. Soon more of these dopplegangsters are showing up heralding the deaths of more wise guys threatening to spark a gang war. the police are baffled the mob is worried so Esther teams up with her sorcerer friend Max, his dog Nellie, and retired mob hitman lucky to find out who is duplicating these gangsters and put a stop to it.
This is the second book in the series and I'd not read the previous one but that didn't seem to matter too much. This was a funny fairly clever urban fantasy type of story with a enjoyable protagonist and a cast of somewhat interesting characters. It's very silly but fun with it and doesn't take itself to seriously.
January 31, 2013
Took rather too long to get there. The beginning of the book has about nine chapters in a row of planning to have conversations, traveling to conversations, talking about previous conversations, and so on. Just freaking have the conversation. As a result, the book drags. For a second book, one would think it's faster paced than the first one, so heaven help you if you start reading book one.
July 14, 2022
Entertaining paranormal mystery with a fabulous GraphicAudio, multicast performance
This story picks up shortly after the events at the end of the first book. When the Off-Broadway musical she was part of closes, Esther Diamond, a 27-year-old struggling actress in New York City, needs to make money to pay her rent and put food on the table. A reliable option is working as a singing waitress at a restaurant in Little Italy. The main advantage of this job is that the actor-friendly owner is happy to allow Esther to come and go, when acting jobs periodically open up for her. The biggest downside of this job is that the owner is the former mistress of a dead mafioso, and this notorious restaurant is a favorite hangout of the mob. By coincidence, at the same time Esther returns to this job, a huge event happens in the life of the man she hopes will soon officially become her boyfriend, gorgeous, 31-year-old police detective, Connor Lopez. He has been promoted to the NYPD organized crime unit. Naturally enough, Connor strongly cautions Esther against working at a restaurant where she might become collateral damage in a mob hit. But Esther refuses to take his advice, not only because of the flexibility the job offers, but because the gangsters love her singing, tip very well, and no one makes a pass at her after she tells them she is dating a cop. Unfortunately, within days of Connor’s warning about a mob hit, one actually happens, right in front of Esther’s eyes. This bloody event is traumatic in and of itself, but it is also on the weird side. Moments before his death, the victim tells her that he just saw his own doppio—a perfect double, which looks, moves and talks just like him. According to legend, viewing one’s doppelganger puts the victim under a magical curse, leading to imminent and unavoidable death.
When Connor becomes the chief investigator on this gangland murder case due to his new position, he is extremely worried that Esther, as a material witness, is in mortal danger from whoever did the hit. He wants to take her into protective custody, but Esther refuses. She insists that she did not see the killer, and because the murder seems to have some mystical elements to it, she is determined to seek the assistance of her friend Max, a 350-year-old wizard named Dr. Maximillian Zadok. Connor thinks Max is a dangerous crackpot, and he feels even greater dread for Esther because of this decision.
Typically, I am not a big fan of mysteries unless they are enhanced with either humor, magic, or romance. Fortunately, every book in this series offers all three. The humor is provided by a quirky cast of characters and offbeat situations. The paranormal portion exists via the magical nature of the crimes committed and the long-lived wizard, Max. Romance occurs in the form of a continuing, will-they-won’t-they connection between Esther and Connor.
This novel was originally published in 2007, and there are inevitably a few dated references in it, but overall, it has aged well. In 2017, this novel became available in audio format for the first time, as a multicast production performed by the extremely talented actors of GraphicAudio, which is how I experienced this story. Typically, given that GA creates a script that the actors work from, similar to what happens when a novel is made into a movie (their motto is, “a movie in your mind”), a GA production is only about 60-70% as long as an audiobook version of a novel would be if a narrator had read the entire book straight through. Thus, this audio production is only 7.7 hours long, rather than the approximately 11-12 hours long that a regular audiobook reading of this novel would have been. Since I tend to get bored with all the clue-sleuthing involved in the mystery genre, this script abridgment is all to the good, as far as I’m concerned. The tedious parts have been reduced, and the entertainment value expanded enormously by the realistic, background sound effects and the terrific performances of the extremely talented cast of actors.
Below is a list of the complete ED series with the dates they were initially published. GraphicAudio released a dramatized version of each of them in 2017.
1 Disappearing Nightly 2005
2 Doppelgangster 2007
3 Unsympathetic Magic 2010
4 Vamparazzi 2011
5 Polterheist 2012
6 Misfortune Cookie 2013
7 Abracadaver 2014
I rate this audio-drama as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Romantic Interest: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Mystery Plot: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 3 stars
Paranormal Elements: 4 stars
Humor: 4 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
GraphicAudio Performances: 5 stars
Overall: 4 stars
This story picks up shortly after the events at the end of the first book. When the Off-Broadway musical she was part of closes, Esther Diamond, a 27-year-old struggling actress in New York City, needs to make money to pay her rent and put food on the table. A reliable option is working as a singing waitress at a restaurant in Little Italy. The main advantage of this job is that the actor-friendly owner is happy to allow Esther to come and go, when acting jobs periodically open up for her. The biggest downside of this job is that the owner is the former mistress of a dead mafioso, and this notorious restaurant is a favorite hangout of the mob. By coincidence, at the same time Esther returns to this job, a huge event happens in the life of the man she hopes will soon officially become her boyfriend, gorgeous, 31-year-old police detective, Connor Lopez. He has been promoted to the NYPD organized crime unit. Naturally enough, Connor strongly cautions Esther against working at a restaurant where she might become collateral damage in a mob hit. But Esther refuses to take his advice, not only because of the flexibility the job offers, but because the gangsters love her singing, tip very well, and no one makes a pass at her after she tells them she is dating a cop. Unfortunately, within days of Connor’s warning about a mob hit, one actually happens, right in front of Esther’s eyes. This bloody event is traumatic in and of itself, but it is also on the weird side. Moments before his death, the victim tells her that he just saw his own doppio—a perfect double, which looks, moves and talks just like him. According to legend, viewing one’s doppelganger puts the victim under a magical curse, leading to imminent and unavoidable death.
When Connor becomes the chief investigator on this gangland murder case due to his new position, he is extremely worried that Esther, as a material witness, is in mortal danger from whoever did the hit. He wants to take her into protective custody, but Esther refuses. She insists that she did not see the killer, and because the murder seems to have some mystical elements to it, she is determined to seek the assistance of her friend Max, a 350-year-old wizard named Dr. Maximillian Zadok. Connor thinks Max is a dangerous crackpot, and he feels even greater dread for Esther because of this decision.
Typically, I am not a big fan of mysteries unless they are enhanced with either humor, magic, or romance. Fortunately, every book in this series offers all three. The humor is provided by a quirky cast of characters and offbeat situations. The paranormal portion exists via the magical nature of the crimes committed and the long-lived wizard, Max. Romance occurs in the form of a continuing, will-they-won’t-they connection between Esther and Connor.
This novel was originally published in 2007, and there are inevitably a few dated references in it, but overall, it has aged well. In 2017, this novel became available in audio format for the first time, as a multicast production performed by the extremely talented actors of GraphicAudio, which is how I experienced this story. Typically, given that GA creates a script that the actors work from, similar to what happens when a novel is made into a movie (their motto is, “a movie in your mind”), a GA production is only about 60-70% as long as an audiobook version of a novel would be if a narrator had read the entire book straight through. Thus, this audio production is only 7.7 hours long, rather than the approximately 11-12 hours long that a regular audiobook reading of this novel would have been. Since I tend to get bored with all the clue-sleuthing involved in the mystery genre, this script abridgment is all to the good, as far as I’m concerned. The tedious parts have been reduced, and the entertainment value expanded enormously by the realistic, background sound effects and the terrific performances of the extremely talented cast of actors.
Below is a list of the complete ED series with the dates they were initially published. GraphicAudio released a dramatized version of each of them in 2017.
1 Disappearing Nightly 2005
2 Doppelgangster 2007
3 Unsympathetic Magic 2010
4 Vamparazzi 2011
5 Polterheist 2012
6 Misfortune Cookie 2013
7 Abracadaver 2014
I rate this audio-drama as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Romantic Interest: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Mystery Plot: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 3 stars
Paranormal Elements: 4 stars
Humor: 4 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
GraphicAudio Performances: 5 stars
Overall: 4 stars
March 13, 2018
Doppelgangster: Esther Diamond 2
Read in chronological order
2.5 🌟
In A Nutshell:Esther Diamond is an actress when she gets work. So, the out of work actress is waitressing at Bella Stella, the mob's preferred eatery. The tips are good; the atmosphere relaxed until Chubby Charlie Chiccante - Esther's favourite mobster customer - is 'whacked' in front of her. Not only do the ballistics not add up but before his death, Chubby Charlie swears he saw his doppio—a perfect double and a notorious omen of death. A lovely 'lively' romp into the world of the mob, the supernatural and Esther. But the expletives 🤬 are overbearing and reduced my enjoyment of the story.
The Plot:Doppelgänger are taking the mob out, but not everybody believes in supernatural hits. And that could start a mob war unless Esther and crew can stop the Doppelgangster.
The Protagonist:Esther Diamond is our protagonist, and she is the antithesis of the urban fantasy hero. Esther does not do great deeds nor obviously save the world. So she tackles evil on the down low. Esther is able, sure and steady, loyal, has a beautiful sense of humour and a winning personality. You just have to love this crazy lady with average looks and a loving heart.
There is so much that I enjoyed about this book. The concept is novel, remember Esther holds the story together but has no magic. The plot is smart and intelligent. Esther makes the headlines for being in with the mob, but her beau is a cop! And the play on words 'Doppelgangster'. I forgive the book most things like the awkward narrative style, and the animosity in relationships was not convincing but not the excessive use bad language. It spoilt what was otherwise a pleasant experience.
Esther's supporting cast is developing. I had a better feel for Max, 350-year-old Sorcerer looking a youthful 70. I love Nelli, his familiar. She is a big as a pony but looks like a slobbering dog. And Lucky, a semi-retired wiseguy with a big heart. But it's Esther's relationship with her mum (they are Jewish) and her beau's Detective Connor Lopez with his mum that ace's the book.
Book two is an improvement on book one, and recommend the series so far. I am off to read number three
Connect with me on Twitter and FB
See all my reviews
Check out my blog on imjussayin
Book Rating
Sexual Content: 15
Language: 18
Violent: 12
Would I read the next oneor reread ?: Yes
My rating system (* = star)
0* Could not finish this book (waste of time)
1* Finished the book but didn't like it.
2* Finished the book it was okay.
3* A good read worth your time.
4* An excellent read often with a novel concept or unusual plot.
5* A magnificent read. A prominent example of the genre.
Read in chronological order
2.5 🌟
In A Nutshell:Esther Diamond is an actress when she gets work. So, the out of work actress is waitressing at Bella Stella, the mob's preferred eatery. The tips are good; the atmosphere relaxed until Chubby Charlie Chiccante - Esther's favourite mobster customer - is 'whacked' in front of her. Not only do the ballistics not add up but before his death, Chubby Charlie swears he saw his doppio—a perfect double and a notorious omen of death. A lovely 'lively' romp into the world of the mob, the supernatural and Esther. But the expletives 🤬 are overbearing and reduced my enjoyment of the story.
The Plot:Doppelgänger are taking the mob out, but not everybody believes in supernatural hits. And that could start a mob war unless Esther and crew can stop the Doppelgangster.
The Protagonist:Esther Diamond is our protagonist, and she is the antithesis of the urban fantasy hero. Esther does not do great deeds nor obviously save the world. So she tackles evil on the down low. Esther is able, sure and steady, loyal, has a beautiful sense of humour and a winning personality. You just have to love this crazy lady with average looks and a loving heart.
There is so much that I enjoyed about this book. The concept is novel, remember Esther holds the story together but has no magic. The plot is smart and intelligent. Esther makes the headlines for being in with the mob, but her beau is a cop! And the play on words 'Doppelgangster'. I forgive the book most things like the awkward narrative style, and the animosity in relationships was not convincing but not the excessive use bad language. It spoilt what was otherwise a pleasant experience.
Esther's supporting cast is developing. I had a better feel for Max, 350-year-old Sorcerer looking a youthful 70. I love Nelli, his familiar. She is a big as a pony but looks like a slobbering dog. And Lucky, a semi-retired wiseguy with a big heart. But it's Esther's relationship with her mum (they are Jewish) and her beau's Detective Connor Lopez with his mum that ace's the book.
Book two is an improvement on book one, and recommend the series so far. I am off to read number three
Connect with me on Twitter and FB
See all my reviews
Check out my blog on imjussayin
Book Rating
Sexual Content: 15
Language: 18
Violent: 12
Would I read the next one
My rating system (* = star)
0* Could not finish this book (waste of time)
1* Finished the book but didn't like it.
2* Finished the book it was okay.
3* A good read worth your time.
4* An excellent read often with a novel concept or unusual plot.
5* A magnificent read. A prominent example of the genre.
July 21, 2022
It's been a while since I reviewed the first in the series,
Disappearing Nightly
, despite owning the series thus far, but to explain that I'm going to get my first and only criticism out of the way right now. The books are wonderful but they read like cozy mysteries. So what's the problem (I hear you ask)? A cozy mystery is generally just under 300 pages, and you might not notice as you're reading it but your brain comes to expect this length after a while, especially if you read a lot of them like I do. The Esther Diamond books are uniformly just under 400 pages, and after you pass over into those last hundred pages your brain starts to tell you that this book is taking too damn long. You'll find yourself paying as much attention to the page numbers as you do to the plot. You might not think an extra hundred pages would be a big deal, but think of it like how your brain starts to react when a longer-than-average movie creeps past the two hour mark. So yeah, I didn't want to review these books because it was so draining to drag myself through them the first time.
Also because my spellcheck absolutely despises the titles, which is insane because they're all awesome, but which is also understandable because I haven't spelt Doppelgangster right on the first try once during the entire first draft of this review.
"His doppelgänger?" I repeated. "I've heard the word, but..." I shrugged to indicate that my familiarity with it stopped there.
"Understandable," said Max. "It's a very rare phenomenon, and the study of German mythology doesn't seem to have deeply absorbed your generation in the New World."
"Kids these days," Lucky said, shaking his head. "If it ain't on MTV, it don't exist."
"Indeed," said Max. "Plus 'doppelgänger' is hard to spell."
(Laura Resnick, Doppelgangster, p.82-83)
But aside from that minor misgiving the book is a shot of pure entertainment. The author barely gives you any time to breathe before launching you into the next crazy scenario, and the characters are all memorable and distinct.
Two new recurring characters are introduced in Max’s new familiar, a Great Dane mix named Nellie, and mob hitman Lucky, who takes the mystical aspects of this case so well that he more or less has Esther on speed dial from this point forward anytime something weird comes up (since Esther’s beau is on the organized crime beat, several future stories have connections to the mafia to guarantee plenty of personal conflicts). Nellie may just be a clever dog, but Max swears up and down that she’s an entity of great intelligence so you’ll find yourself second guessing her now and again. She’s a great addition to the comedy of the series as adding a rambunctious Great Dane can turn any occasion on its head. (I promise that the main group doesn’t expand to the point where they start resembling Mystery Inc.).
Another pleasing point was that this is one of the few books that set my head spinning by letting me think I’ve figured out the culprit, and boy was that rug pulled out from under me. The plot was ingenious and the characters fun and the whole book was an entertaining ride. Doppelgangster is probably one of the best books in the Esther Diamond series. The humour was hitting all the marks and not once did I find the plot getting boring.
CHARACTERS:
Detective Lopez was a well-cast straight man, Esther had just the right amount of bad choices and exasperation, and I’m thrilled that Lucky’s part of the semi-regular cast from here on. I still can’t figure out how Max is so far behind the times, though. Did he sleep through the last several decades? It would certainly explain all the problems he has in this book with the IRS.
SETTING/WORLD BUILDING:
The amount of research that must have gone into this book is impressive, and the facts are woven into the puzzle of the doppelgängers beautifully. The world building is still a little hard to swallow since I have a hard time believing a man so far behind the times has been protecting New York from Evil yet has managed to learn so little about the current century. Either he’s been doing a very impressive job at keeping things under wraps, or nothing has ever happened until Esther came on the scene. And I’m not quite sure what to think of the world building in this novel specifically. It revolves around wise guys and two of the major crime families of New York, yet everyone talks and looks like they’ve stepped off the set of an old shoot-‘em-up gangster movie. It’s very entertaining, but now I want to know how much of that mafia golden age style has carried on in the Families of today.
"So what I'm wondering is, did this doppelgangster whack Charlie?" Lucky said.
"Whack?"
"Hit," Lucky clarified.
"You think the creature struck him?" Max asked.
I said, "Lucky's asking if the doppelgangster killed Charlie."
"Interesting!" Max said to Lucky, "Your dialect fascinates me. May I ask where did you learned it?"
Lucky shrugged. "I'm from Brooklyn."
(Laura Resnick, Doppelgangster, p.83-84)
(As you can tell from the above quote, the series is not shy about title-dropping. It’s pretty adorable.).
PLOT/SOLUTION:
You’ll think you’ve figured it out just in time for the bottom to drop out of your theory. A fantastic puzzle and a clever culprit, with a big climax and a special surprise for poor beleaguered Detective Lopez.
OTHER ASPECTS: +
I may as well put the extra star here for the whole series. Excluding the first book, all the cover art in this series is done pin-up-style and I absolutely adore it. It was the cover of The Misfortune Cookie that got me to pick up the series in the first place. But I’m removing a half star for Esther still expecting us to think setting a virgin-raping demon on the foe of the last book as a delaying tactic is funny. She only mentions it again once at the very beginning, but it still rubs me the wrong way. Especially since she spends the book battling her conscience over having eventually ‘killed’ the bad guy, but is still nonchalant over the rape. Also, how did that even work? What interest would a demon have in virgins since virginity is a manmade concept that means different things to different cultures? What definition was it using? How would their sexual organs even be compatible? Why did it have sex organs? I’m probably over thinking this but it’s really been bugging me and it’s damned offensive that it’s not bugging Esther.
THE VERDICT?
And now I want to pick up the next one while I still have library books to read, dang it!
Also because my spellcheck absolutely despises the titles, which is insane because they're all awesome, but which is also understandable because I haven't spelt Doppelgangster right on the first try once during the entire first draft of this review.
"His doppelgänger?" I repeated. "I've heard the word, but..." I shrugged to indicate that my familiarity with it stopped there.
"Understandable," said Max. "It's a very rare phenomenon, and the study of German mythology doesn't seem to have deeply absorbed your generation in the New World."
"Kids these days," Lucky said, shaking his head. "If it ain't on MTV, it don't exist."
"Indeed," said Max. "Plus 'doppelgänger' is hard to spell."
(Laura Resnick, Doppelgangster, p.82-83)
But aside from that minor misgiving the book is a shot of pure entertainment. The author barely gives you any time to breathe before launching you into the next crazy scenario, and the characters are all memorable and distinct.
Two new recurring characters are introduced in Max’s new familiar, a Great Dane mix named Nellie, and mob hitman Lucky, who takes the mystical aspects of this case so well that he more or less has Esther on speed dial from this point forward anytime something weird comes up (since Esther’s beau is on the organized crime beat, several future stories have connections to the mafia to guarantee plenty of personal conflicts). Nellie may just be a clever dog, but Max swears up and down that she’s an entity of great intelligence so you’ll find yourself second guessing her now and again. She’s a great addition to the comedy of the series as adding a rambunctious Great Dane can turn any occasion on its head. (I promise that the main group doesn’t expand to the point where they start resembling Mystery Inc.).
Another pleasing point was that this is one of the few books that set my head spinning by letting me think I’ve figured out the culprit, and boy was that rug pulled out from under me. The plot was ingenious and the characters fun and the whole book was an entertaining ride. Doppelgangster is probably one of the best books in the Esther Diamond series. The humour was hitting all the marks and not once did I find the plot getting boring.
CHARACTERS:
Detective Lopez was a well-cast straight man, Esther had just the right amount of bad choices and exasperation, and I’m thrilled that Lucky’s part of the semi-regular cast from here on. I still can’t figure out how Max is so far behind the times, though. Did he sleep through the last several decades? It would certainly explain all the problems he has in this book with the IRS.
SETTING/WORLD BUILDING:
The amount of research that must have gone into this book is impressive, and the facts are woven into the puzzle of the doppelgängers beautifully. The world building is still a little hard to swallow since I have a hard time believing a man so far behind the times has been protecting New York from Evil yet has managed to learn so little about the current century. Either he’s been doing a very impressive job at keeping things under wraps, or nothing has ever happened until Esther came on the scene. And I’m not quite sure what to think of the world building in this novel specifically. It revolves around wise guys and two of the major crime families of New York, yet everyone talks and looks like they’ve stepped off the set of an old shoot-‘em-up gangster movie. It’s very entertaining, but now I want to know how much of that mafia golden age style has carried on in the Families of today.
"So what I'm wondering is, did this doppelgangster whack Charlie?" Lucky said.
"Whack?"
"Hit," Lucky clarified.
"You think the creature struck him?" Max asked.
I said, "Lucky's asking if the doppelgangster killed Charlie."
"Interesting!" Max said to Lucky, "Your dialect fascinates me. May I ask where did you learned it?"
Lucky shrugged. "I'm from Brooklyn."
(Laura Resnick, Doppelgangster, p.83-84)
(As you can tell from the above quote, the series is not shy about title-dropping. It’s pretty adorable.).
PLOT/SOLUTION:
You’ll think you’ve figured it out just in time for the bottom to drop out of your theory. A fantastic puzzle and a clever culprit, with a big climax and a special surprise for poor beleaguered Detective Lopez.
OTHER ASPECTS:
+I may as well put the extra star here for the whole series. Excluding the first book, all the cover art in this series is done pin-up-style and I absolutely adore it. It was the cover of The Misfortune Cookie that got me to pick up the series in the first place. But I’m removing a half star for Esther still expecting us to think setting a virgin-raping demon on the foe of the last book as a delaying tactic is funny. She only mentions it again once at the very beginning, but it still rubs me the wrong way. Especially since she spends the book battling her conscience over having eventually ‘killed’ the bad guy, but is still nonchalant over the rape. Also, how did that even work? What interest would a demon have in virgins since virginity is a manmade concept that means different things to different cultures? What definition was it using? How would their sexual organs even be compatible? Why did it have sex organs? I’m probably over thinking this but it’s really been bugging me and it’s damned offensive that it’s not bugging Esther.
THE VERDICT?
And now I want to pick up the next one while I still have library books to read, dang it!
March 8, 2021
A few weeks ago I read Disappearing Nightly and enjoyed Esther Diamond's first book so much I had to read the next one, pronto!
When Esther finds herself out of work because the play she was in is cancelled, she returns to her old job as a singing waitress in Little Italy. The tips are good, the work is honest and it's a way to pay the rent. But when she witnesses a mob hit, she finds herself in the middle of another weird murder investigation, and her cop boyfriend has been assigned to investigate what might just turn out to be another mystical situation...
Wow. I really enjoyed this! Like the first book, I was into this as soon as I started reading. It was SO much fun and it didn't take long for me to get lost in Esther's crazy world.
I'm not a huge gangster fan, but enjoyed how this angle was tackled in this story because her interactions with these mob guys at Bella Stella cracked me up. These aging mobsters might be dangerous and have huge body counts attached to their names, but their banter is hilarious and they're more bumbling fools with big appetites and even bigger egos, than smart killers.
Except for Lucky. I liked him.
Plus, the mystery is fascinating. The doppelgänger concept has always interested me, and the unique way it was treated here turned out to be very cool. It was a LOT of fun to follow the clues and crimes in search of the answer.
Also, I love Esther. She's such a great character and seems to be a total trouble magnet. And so funny. Plus she's already showing growth and this is only the second book. The only problem is that, although she's making new friends and contacts along the way, it's not great on her love life. 😣
But the title, Doppelgangster, is so cool.
I'm loving this series. It's so awesome that I can't wait to read the rest.
When Esther finds herself out of work because the play she was in is cancelled, she returns to her old job as a singing waitress in Little Italy. The tips are good, the work is honest and it's a way to pay the rent. But when she witnesses a mob hit, she finds herself in the middle of another weird murder investigation, and her cop boyfriend has been assigned to investigate what might just turn out to be another mystical situation...
Wow. I really enjoyed this! Like the first book, I was into this as soon as I started reading. It was SO much fun and it didn't take long for me to get lost in Esther's crazy world.
I'm not a huge gangster fan, but enjoyed how this angle was tackled in this story because her interactions with these mob guys at Bella Stella cracked me up. These aging mobsters might be dangerous and have huge body counts attached to their names, but their banter is hilarious and they're more bumbling fools with big appetites and even bigger egos, than smart killers.
Except for Lucky. I liked him.
Plus, the mystery is fascinating. The doppelgänger concept has always interested me, and the unique way it was treated here turned out to be very cool. It was a LOT of fun to follow the clues and crimes in search of the answer.
Also, I love Esther. She's such a great character and seems to be a total trouble magnet. And so funny. Plus she's already showing growth and this is only the second book. The only problem is that, although she's making new friends and contacts along the way, it's not great on her love life. 😣
But the title, Doppelgangster, is so cool.
I'm loving this series. It's so awesome that I can't wait to read the rest.
March 28, 2018
Esther's play closed so she goes back to being a singing waitress at a mob restaurant at the same time that her cop boyfriend is promoted to the Organized Crime Bureau. Then she sees Chubby Charlie twice (although the second time he seems confused) doing the same things and next he is killed in front of her.
Lucky wants her help to retaliate and mentions doppelgangers so she brings in Max (the wizard who saved her last time). He and his new familiar, Nelli help find the cause, but it is Esther who figures out why and eventually who.
This is an interesting series. I like Esther and enjoyed getting to know Lucky and hope he might be around in future books. I don't understand her relationship as she never called her boyfriend by his first name (not even sure what it is) and that seems weird. I like that she doesn't have any powers, just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lucky wants her help to retaliate and mentions doppelgangers so she brings in Max (the wizard who saved her last time). He and his new familiar, Nelli help find the cause, but it is Esther who figures out why and eventually who.
This is an interesting series. I like Esther and enjoyed getting to know Lucky and hope he might be around in future books. I don't understand her relationship as she never called her boyfriend by his first name (not even sure what it is) and that seems weird. I like that she doesn't have any powers, just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
October 8, 2010
Even though this is technically the second book in the series, the first is out of print and this was written with the expectation that readers would not have had a chance to read it. There's a 4 page prologue recapping what backstory is relevant to the characters and most other history is explained when it becomes relevant.
Esther Diamond is a struggling actress who pays the bills by waiting tables at a mob-owned restaurant (wiseguys tip well). While most people "know" that magic is the domain of fairy tales and lunatics, Esther has crossed paths with it before. So when a mobster claims to have seen his perfect double and then is shot by an invisible killer, she believes. She soon learns that someone is making doppelgangers - exact copies that foretell doom - of the city's prominent Mafiosi. With the help of her sorcerer friend Max and a semi-retired mobster Lucky, and with the hindrance of her almost-boyfriend Detective Lopez, Esther races to find the killer before a war breaks out between the crime families.
First, let's be honest about why I picked it up. The cover. A sexy woman in a little black dress, utterly self-confident while decapitating her enemies? I'm all over that. And really, did we expect anything less from Dan Dos Santos? When I reached the part of the book where Esther is smeared with blue goop, I flipped back to the cover and gave a little fangirl squeal. The title's pretty clever too. You know right away it's about evil twins and criminals.
The book gets off to a slow start. The first two chapters establish background information on Esther: her play gets canceled, she goes back to work at the Mafia restaurant, her almost-boyfriend gets promoted to the organized crime department. It's boring and I found myself wondering when the story would get good. The answer is, at the end of chapter 2. A panicking mobster tells Esther that he has seen his own perfect double and is marked for death, then is shot in front of her. The police, including Detective Lopez, think she's lying about not seeing the killer to protect herself from the mob. From then on, the action escalates.
One of the things that makes this novel different, that makes it stand out in a rack of urban fantasies, is that Esther is not magic herself. As accustomed as I am to kickass chicks who fling fireballs or grow claws and fangs, finding one who is entirely mundane is a novel experience. This means Esther's kickassitude has to come from her personality. She's not exceptionally smart; she's not stupid either, but about average intelligence. What makes her good at this is her take-charge attitude. She's competent; she gets things done. She takes longer to notice clues than I thought she should, but when she does notice the discrepancies she goes after them right away.
Esther's characterization is shown well, especially her ethnicity. She's Jewish, but this point isn't made heavy-handedly or preachily. It's an aspect of her character, like being an actress or being attracted to men. When it comes up, it's always natural. She avoids telling her mother her date isn't a nice Jewish boy and when she needs an excuse to be in a Christian church she chokes on the lie that she's thinking of converting.
The relationship between Esther and Lopez is comfortable and one of the better romantic relationships I've seen in a non-romance book. While there's plenty of heat between them, it's not the heat of a one-night-stand or animals in rut. It's the passion between two people who know each other well enough and want to know each other Biblically. And I got the impression that Lopez was hot for Esther and not just hot in general (and vice versa Esther for Lopez) which is a plus. Lopez isn't pushy or sulky, either. He thinks working in mob territory is dangerous and isn't happy when Esther takes a job there, but once he's given his advice he backs off and lets Esther make up her own mind. And when she has to turn down or cancel his plans, he's mature about it and reschedules instead of demanding that she put him first.
Max and Lucky are Esther's sidekicks for most of the book. Max is a highly educated and long-lived sorcerer dedicated to protecting the city from Evil. He also serves as the magical expert during Esther's investigation. Lucky is an aging gentleman who has semi-retired from a long career as a hitter for the mob. He is, obviously, Esther's mafia expert. The three of them and Max's dog familiar make an excellent team.
The narrative is awkward in places. At one point Esther says, "Little did I know how wrong I was" which jerked me out of the story. The bulk of the novel is told in normal past tense, as if she were relating the story immediately after it had happened. But "little did I know" means the narrator has knowledge that Esther doesn't, which doesn't match the rest of the book. Later Esther says, "I thought I knew who I had seen" and dances around talking about "the person I thought I had seen". The verbal gymnastics make it glaringly obvious she's hiding something. Since the mystery is revealed three pages later, it's also pointless.
As far as the ending goes...let's just say that when the next book arrives I'll be moving it to the top of my TBR pile, because I need to know what happens next. Although I will add that the ending brought the book up half a letter grade.
The next book in the Esther Diamond series is Unsympathetic Magic, available now.
While this was an exciting read once it got going and I'm rushing online to purchase the next book, the slow start and the awkward narrative prevent it from an A. I give Doppelgangster a B.
Esther Diamond is a struggling actress who pays the bills by waiting tables at a mob-owned restaurant (wiseguys tip well). While most people "know" that magic is the domain of fairy tales and lunatics, Esther has crossed paths with it before. So when a mobster claims to have seen his perfect double and then is shot by an invisible killer, she believes. She soon learns that someone is making doppelgangers - exact copies that foretell doom - of the city's prominent Mafiosi. With the help of her sorcerer friend Max and a semi-retired mobster Lucky, and with the hindrance of her almost-boyfriend Detective Lopez, Esther races to find the killer before a war breaks out between the crime families.
First, let's be honest about why I picked it up. The cover. A sexy woman in a little black dress, utterly self-confident while decapitating her enemies? I'm all over that. And really, did we expect anything less from Dan Dos Santos? When I reached the part of the book where Esther is smeared with blue goop, I flipped back to the cover and gave a little fangirl squeal. The title's pretty clever too. You know right away it's about evil twins and criminals.
The book gets off to a slow start. The first two chapters establish background information on Esther: her play gets canceled, she goes back to work at the Mafia restaurant, her almost-boyfriend gets promoted to the organized crime department. It's boring and I found myself wondering when the story would get good. The answer is, at the end of chapter 2. A panicking mobster tells Esther that he has seen his own perfect double and is marked for death, then is shot in front of her. The police, including Detective Lopez, think she's lying about not seeing the killer to protect herself from the mob. From then on, the action escalates.
One of the things that makes this novel different, that makes it stand out in a rack of urban fantasies, is that Esther is not magic herself. As accustomed as I am to kickass chicks who fling fireballs or grow claws and fangs, finding one who is entirely mundane is a novel experience. This means Esther's kickassitude has to come from her personality. She's not exceptionally smart; she's not stupid either, but about average intelligence. What makes her good at this is her take-charge attitude. She's competent; she gets things done. She takes longer to notice clues than I thought she should, but when she does notice the discrepancies she goes after them right away.
Esther's characterization is shown well, especially her ethnicity. She's Jewish, but this point isn't made heavy-handedly or preachily. It's an aspect of her character, like being an actress or being attracted to men. When it comes up, it's always natural. She avoids telling her mother her date isn't a nice Jewish boy and when she needs an excuse to be in a Christian church she chokes on the lie that she's thinking of converting.
The relationship between Esther and Lopez is comfortable and one of the better romantic relationships I've seen in a non-romance book. While there's plenty of heat between them, it's not the heat of a one-night-stand or animals in rut. It's the passion between two people who know each other well enough and want to know each other Biblically. And I got the impression that Lopez was hot for Esther and not just hot in general (and vice versa Esther for Lopez) which is a plus. Lopez isn't pushy or sulky, either. He thinks working in mob territory is dangerous and isn't happy when Esther takes a job there, but once he's given his advice he backs off and lets Esther make up her own mind. And when she has to turn down or cancel his plans, he's mature about it and reschedules instead of demanding that she put him first.
Max and Lucky are Esther's sidekicks for most of the book. Max is a highly educated and long-lived sorcerer dedicated to protecting the city from Evil. He also serves as the magical expert during Esther's investigation. Lucky is an aging gentleman who has semi-retired from a long career as a hitter for the mob. He is, obviously, Esther's mafia expert. The three of them and Max's dog familiar make an excellent team.
The narrative is awkward in places. At one point Esther says, "Little did I know how wrong I was" which jerked me out of the story. The bulk of the novel is told in normal past tense, as if she were relating the story immediately after it had happened. But "little did I know" means the narrator has knowledge that Esther doesn't, which doesn't match the rest of the book. Later Esther says, "I thought I knew who I had seen" and dances around talking about "the person I thought I had seen". The verbal gymnastics make it glaringly obvious she's hiding something. Since the mystery is revealed three pages later, it's also pointless.
As far as the ending goes...let's just say that when the next book arrives I'll be moving it to the top of my TBR pile, because I need to know what happens next. Although I will add that the ending brought the book up half a letter grade.
The next book in the Esther Diamond series is Unsympathetic Magic, available now.
While this was an exciting read once it got going and I'm rushing online to purchase the next book, the slow start and the awkward narrative prevent it from an A. I give Doppelgangster a B.
September 30, 2017
The book was entertaining; its plot was original and intricate but not too complicated to follow, and all the pieces were drawn together nicely by the end. Most of the action and characters rang true, as much as applies to a fantasy novel. There were some particularly amusing dialogues involving a mafia gangster and an antiquarian bookseller (where "antiquarian" describes the seller as much as the books). Somehow, though, the conflicts between people who like each other don't quite ring true in their dialogue.
November 18, 2022
GraphicAudio did a great job, 5 stars for them!
Although the humor was very good, the plot was very disappointing. I was actually disappointed by how Esther was acting through a lot of it in this novel compared to how much I liked her in the first book, and the bad-guy plot sucked a lot. Seriously, I'm enjoying the characters and I'm hoping that the overall story telling on the plot improves with the series.
Although the humor was very good, the plot was very disappointing. I was actually disappointed by how Esther was acting through a lot of it in this novel compared to how much I liked her in the first book, and the bad-guy plot sucked a lot. Seriously, I'm enjoying the characters and I'm hoping that the overall story telling on the plot improves with the series.
March 3, 2018
I figured out the who what and how of this book ridiculously early. I don't like the relationship the main character has with her cop "boyfriend" - he's so condescending and possessive, I get really frustrated reading about it. Still, I like the premise of the series and I'll probably read the next one.
June 4, 2018
I enjoyed reading this fun book by Laura Resnick. A fun twist on doppelgangers and mobsters. Esther Diamond's character was very entertaining. Max the magician, Lucky the gangster and Nelli the large dog (Max's familiar) were keeping me in suspense and laughing. I can't believe I have to go back and read the first in this series. I always enjoy a book with supernatural.
February 1, 2020
I liked this one better than the first. I think the additions of Lucky and Nelli were just perfect. I had a lot of fun with the silly situations and the fun character interactions. I did think it dragged a touch in the middle, and I eventually guessed the bad guy before the heroes, but that didn't detract too much from my enjoyment.
February 17, 2023
While Esther is waitressing, a powerful underworld leader is killed. She is caught up in the investigation. Somehow some people are showing up in two different places at the same time. Who is creating these Doppelganger? Esther and her friends have to figure it out before a full out gang war breaks out. It was fun. The ending bothers me a bit, but it works.
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