"Kitty Kitty", by Michele Jaffe, is a really mixed bag. On one hand, it's really funny in places, generally fun, light-hearted and fast-paced. It's also incredibly well-paced, in that there are genuine twists and turns at the each of every chapter and there is lots of genuine imagination and creativity. However, the imagination and creativity manifests in a way that is sorta over-quirky, in that practically all the characters talk the same kind of witty, OTT way. For instance, there is constant footnotes, references to characters in quirky ways like "Dadzilla", "Sherri", "Tyger's Eye*" (the star is silent) and "Sapphyre" (not Sapphire, which Jaffe obviously thought funny enough to repeat every five pages. Jasmine is a good heroine, though she's somewhat undermined by the fact that every one of her friends are quirks with legs, which also makes her feel like a quirk with long legs while reading, and not even a particularly unique one. However, she is funny, self-depracating and refreshingly short on the whininess.
I felt conflicted about what is obviously the overarching plot in these "Kitty" books, which is the Mysterious Death of Jas's mother when she was very young. This is very intriguing, but only shows up veeeeery sporadically in the novel and, even when it appeared, it wasn't remotely developed. Jas gets a few mysterious e-mails and her dad promises to tell her 'something' about her mother's death when they return to L.A. - which Jaffe all leaves for the third book, despite the fact that this third book has not materialised yet and it says on her website that "IT IS NOT SCHEDULED YET." So, great. Even though both "Kitty" books came out in quick succession of one another, this appears like an ongoing series which has just been...dropped? Gahhh. I feel really irritated by this because the mystery of Jas's mother's death is the only part of the novel that got me really, really invested, because I loved how Jas dealt with her more emotional moments for such a quirky character.
I even quite liked the 'romance' between Jack and Jas, though it pretty much takes a backseat for her weird dalliance with the sleazy/sexy Italian, Max, mainly due to Jas's interesting voice and treatment of it. But, overall, this book suffered from serious CHARACTER SOUP. We appear to have our heroine's sidekicks introduced in the first thirtyish pages - her cousin and her cousin's best friend, both of whom she dislikes so much, she calls them the Evil Hench-Twins - but then her three best friends pop up from L.A. and it just becomes a little overcrowded. Okay, really overcrowded. We now have five sidekicks even though it's blatantly obvious that Jas only needs two. And, honestly, if I hadn't read "Bad Kitty" (about a thousand years ago so I can't really compare the two), I would think that Jaffe created this mad plot and then these totally implausible characters to go along with it. Tom is apparently a mastaaaah (Jas's voice) of all things lock-picky and stuff, which is very convenient for Jas's detective work, but so is Roxy, Tom's twin sister, so Tom gets totally pushed to the back and is pretty much the third wheel throughout. Polly's quirk is the only one that gets real plot grounding - her fashion talent - but it's so overheated (like a lot of "Kitty Kitty", in all honesty), it gave me a bit of a headache.
"Kitty Kitty" is very implausible. This is not, in itself, a problem. I didn't read this book for a gritty, realistic picture of Venice. I read this for entertainment and giggles (both of which it provided consistently and well). And, so, even though I could accept the ridiculous way that Jas talks her way into Prada, and into a dead millionaire's home without comment, when it finally came time for the mystery to be revealed, I was left totally confused and feeling very stupid. I'm not quite sure how much of this I missed but, in the end, it turns out that Suspect #1 and Suspect #2 are NOT the killers, but Not Suspect #3 is. How did Jas know that Not Suspect was M.? I'm not sure. Also, if #1 and #2 were not the killers, why did they react so goddamn violently? #1 is not the killer and apparently was totally set up by #3 but still decides to kick Jas in the face when she discovers his next 'victim' (who has in fact staged this and set themselves up as the victim)? And apparently he's a total nice guy at the end and not remotely a creep or a violent asshole? Also, #2 is not the killer, but COMES AT JAS WIELDING A KNIFE with no motivation, until Thshe is 'saved' by #3. #3 is not planning to kill #2 until #3 makes it look like #2 and Jas were having an affair and then #3 can kill #2 six months later and stage it like a suicide. And at no point in the next six months will #2 happen to mention the fact that he and Jas were not having an affair? And what did The House That Kills article have to do with anything? There's a difference between a wild, implausible plot and a just plain stupid one. This difference was plain to see here. The ending becomes very rushed to the point where it is almost incoherent. I was really glad that it didn't turn out to be a certain somebody, which it almost was, and when the twist showed up, I was glad, yeah, but the solution was just so clichéd and rushed that I don't know how Jas figured out half of the things she supposedly did.
This book is also not for nitpickers. It is for anyone who can suspend their belief - preferably from the ceiling - but also their worry about cultural stereotypes. Every stereotype about Venice is present here. Jas's sort-of love interest, who is called Max (stereotypical Italian name!) uses no Italian except whatever it is for 'beautiful girl/woman' (he literally says it on every page). Jas's grasp of the Italian language fluctuates wildly. She goes from not sure how to answer a simple question to understanding a very complex sentence spoken by two native Italins while hiding in a cupboard. I get it, suspend disbelief, blah blah blah, but this was just so plain stupid. More stupid behaviour involves genre conventions: one minute, Jas is as savvy as they come about being in a mystery novel. The next minute, she lets her friends decide that it's a great idea for them all to SPLIT UP and search for the murderer. Except of course, for some reason, this overstuffed crowd of five does not split into three and two. Jas doesn't even get the majority group. In fact, for some moronic reason that isn't even mentioned in the text, Jas winds up alone. Yep. So forget the fact that she's the killer's target and the killer CAME TO SPEAK TO HER less than five minutes previously. Apparently it's a great idea for them all to split up and leave on her own to pursue him! The friends' super skills get to the point where they are no longer quirks and more like insane plot devices. For example, Alyson, Jas's arch-enemy, turns out to be great with computers despite appearing to be a traditional valley girl. This could be quite a neat twist if not for the fact that it comes up at the very moment that Jas needs a hacker. I'm not quite sure when else it was supposed to come up, but it really does reach ridiculous levels. Her friends have crazy skills (not a bad thing in themselves, given that this book is very much Not To Be Taken Serioiusly), but they have an abundance of crazy skills that always turn out to be a) totally logically impossible and b) exactly what is required to get them out of the latest impossible situation.
Still, if you want fun and funniness, you could do worse than "Kitty Kitty", if you're willing to ignore a pretty crap denouement.