Hasta la Vista, Lola!

Lola Cruz Mystery #2

by Melissa Bourbon

When Lola comes home to her parents’ house to find a horde of relatives mourning her death, no one is more surprised than she is. The news had reported that one Lola Cruz, PI was found murdered in an alley, causing great alarm in the Cruz family. Before Lola can say “boo,” a cop comes to the house. It turns out the dead woman had a driver’s license with Lola’s information.

Between avoiding an unsavory ex-boyfriend, sorting out mixed signals from the very interested but not yet committed Jack Callaghan, and filling in as a waitress at her parents’ Mexican restaurant, Lola tries to find out who the woman was and why she stole her identity. Was the woman hiding from someone who meant her harm, or is there someone out there who wants Lola dead?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Humor, Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

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Melissa Bourbon is the national bestselling author of more than forty novels and nonfiction writing resource books. All of her books feature strong female and family relationships, bits of history, and lots of fun.

Melissa used to teach middle school English/Language Arts, but now she teaches creative writing to adults. She founded WriterSpark Academy, an online school for aspiring and new writers seeking to hone their craft.

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Reviews

[Erin L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun mystery. If I were to compare this to anything, it'd be early Stephanie Plum. I wish there were more than 3 books in the series.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

A weak mystery whose solution you will figure out in about 20 pages, but the super sleuth and her group of helpers require several days and lots of pages.

The setting, Sacramento, CA is nice for a change from the usual California haunts where murders occur. I would have liked more local information, such as its use as a deep water port almost 80 miles from San Francisco.

A cute twist Ms. Ramirez, who is an Anglo married to a Mexican man, uses is to salt the dialogue with lots of Spanish 101 words and phrases. It makes for a more colorful read.

An annoying twist are her middle school concerns about whether the guy she has a crush on likes her or not. Will they kiss, or ? Please spare us the angst and save about 100 pages of distracting text.

This is apparently the second Lola Cruze mystery. I am not sorry I missed the first one. She could have done so much more with the setting and characters.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dolores Cruz has just finished up a divorce case in her PI business and is ready to be assigned to the next when she finds out that she is dead. Or rather a woman who was killed in an alleyway in Sacramento has stolen her identity. Lola investigates why and how her identity was stolen, in the middle of being romanced (or not) by the sexy childhood crush Jack Calahan and working her family's Mexican restaurant.

Mystery is good, the characters are great. The sexual tension between her and Jack is held annoyingly at bay by Lola's expectation that all sex needs to be accompanied by declarations of undying love; an expectation at odds with her general sexiness and active hunk detectors. Good story though not as good as the first book. I am eager to read more.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hasta la Vista, Lola! could have been called My Big Fat Mexican Mystery—because it has the same mix of culture, family drama, and romance as Nia Vardalos’s charming Greek chick flick (with plenty of mystery and suspense thrown in for extra flavor).

Read the full review at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...

[Dolores · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of like a Stephanie Plum, only Latina family. Good mystery, but the romance was too much like Plum. I may read another one--light reading.

[Tamye Whitener · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing tale of stolen identity.

This book kept my attention from beginning to end with a lot of different layers woven together with humor and mystery. Lola finds out who stole her identity because the woman was killed but was identified as Lola. Her family was devastated. Lola wasn't thrilled herself. Being Lola she decides to figure out who the lady was and how she got the information to steal her identity. There are lots of twists and turns that take us in some very surprising directions. As well as solving the mystery, Lola and Jack's relationship hits a few bumps they must deal with. And of course, there is also some family drama.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to listening to the next one in the series. The narrator did an excellent job.

[Cathy P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good followup

I enjoyed this followup. Lots of pieces that came together, because Lola brought her curiosity and skills out to play. I don't care for what's happening at her work or in her personal life. I don't like love triangles, even of inadvertent. Nothing about Lola's office is remotely professional. Everyone is keeping secrets, being rude, chastising for no reason etc. I don't like Manny. Kinda wish she'd get a job somewhere else.Reilly is an immature, emotional, boy crazy idiot.
Told from FMC POV. Each story has resolved mystery.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was another good lola book. she didnt work on a case for pay, she was trying to find out about the dead woman who stole her id. turned out the woman stole a baby as well. she solved the case and got the baby back to the real mom

still on going with jack, his x girlfriend is in town, it ended with lola going over there to meet her

[KDinSC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellente!

I am really enjoying this cozy mystery series with a klicka$$(literally) Latina main character! Lola is a detective despite her close and always in her business family. Mystery, humor, strong female characters, romance!

[Penny Abdalla · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ✨ rounded up.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who killed Rosie and why??? A child??? I enjoyed this story and recommended the book.

[Patty Stamper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I like this series. The characters are intriguing and keep me interested in what is going to happen next. I look forward to seeing Manny's story play out. Fun read.

[Deborah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Lola

I laugh with every Lola story.. the plot and characters are all well developed with plenty of surprises thrown in

[Cecilia Conneely · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series has a quick pace & you never know how it’s going to end! I really enjoy reading how Lola solves the mystery!!

[Melliane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mon avis en Français

My English review

Ah this book… I read the first one a while ago. I bought the second once I finished it in fact and it’s true that I decided it was a good thing to start it now that I have some time.

We thus find Lola, our beloved heroine who is still struggling to manage her relationship with Jack and who does not really know how to deal with everything that is happening. I must say that the more they try to create something, the more problems arise, raising doubts in Dolores. I must say they are damn annoying and we can understand the choice of the woman about the man she loved since childhood. But this story is only a small part of the novel because we also have a really intriguing investigation! A woman who stole the Lola’s identity is found dead in an alley and our detective is determined to understand what is happening. Who was really involved? Is Lola in danger? Was Rosie fleeing something? Many issues, and I was impatient to know the answers.

I still enjoy following Lola in all her stories, especially when we can learn a little more about her and her past. And while events are revealed to us, we will also have the opportunity to learn more about Jack’s secrets. I must say that he is not the kind of talkative guy, and I was curious to see what he was hiding, just like Lola. And I must say that this is one of the reasons why I’m curious to read volume 3 and to see how well the young woman will get to manage this new event that occurred. I was also really looking forward to discovering the truth about Rosie, to understand what had been happening for her to come to this point and I admit that I was surprised. All the characters are linked together without I could realize it and I found that the ideas were well found. We also have in the novel many dialogues in Spanish and it’s true that it’s been a while since I abandoned the language and even if it is sometimes a bit tricky to understand what the characters are saying, I found it quite nice to get back in this language.

Finally, you’ll understand, I had again a good time with Lola and I am curious to discover the third book to find out what the characters will do.

[Ashley Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I have to start off by saying that I LOVED the first book in this series (Living La Vida Lola). I enjoyed Hasta La Vista Lola but it definitely wasn't as good as the first book. I thought the mystery for this book was really well done and I had no idea who the killer was until Lola figured it out. It was also nice to see how involved Lola was with her family and how much they all cared about each other. I especially liked how concerned Lola was about her cousin Zac's marriage and her willingness to help them resolve some issues in the marriage.

The things that I didn't care for: 1. the angle that the Jack/Lola romance took. I absolutely hated the major stumbling block that the author included for their relationship moving forward (I don't want to say anything more then that because I don't want to spoil anything). I hope this stumbling block will be resolved in the next book and not be something that lingers. 2. I hated the way Antonio was portrayed in this book. I really liked his character in book #1 but I thought he came off as a womanizing douche bag in this book. He redeemed himself a bit at the end of the book so maybe there's hope for him.

I do still really enjoy the characters in this series. I thought that the author did a good job of developing the characters more in this book but I didn't care for the direction that some of those characters went. I am still excited to read the next book and see what's next for Lola and company.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Identity theft has Dolores Cruz, aka Lola, stepping away from her paying job at Camacho & Associates PI agency while she sorts out who a dead woman identified as Dolores Cruz PI really is. Is she dead because she is Dolores Cruz or because she is Rosie Gonzales?

Plenty of plot twists as the investigation continues. Mixed with some romantic encounters between Lola & Jack, and other family & workmates, that fill out this well-written cozy.

The only drawback for me are the Spanish words & phrases used throughout the book as I have no knowledge of Spanish and know I am missing some interesting descriptions. This is not a reason to not love Lola though! It is who she is - an American of Mexican descent.

[Carole Pickett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lola Cruz is a fun, feisty heroine with a very close family. She is shocked when she comes home to find them mourning her death! Thankfully, it’s a case of mistaken or, more accurately, stolen identity. A woman in possession of her driver’s license has been found murdered in an alley. How she got Lola’s license and why she was murdered becomes clear in a surprising ending. Lola’s sexual tension with her handsome childhood crush runs rampant through the story. Both are jealous of each other’s exes, which makes this reader want to bang their heads together and tell them to wise up! They’re not in high school any more!
Overall, this is a very entertaining well written story with lots of surprises. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

[Ashley Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series, though a little heavy on the relationship side, the plots move quickly and are engaging. I don't have a strong love for Lola, though I think she might be developed more, she was so focused on her sexual frustrations it was no wonder she was rubbish at solving her case. I'd like to see a little more intelligence and forethought in her actions because it really seemed she hadn't grown out of the stalker phase and into true detective work much at all so I had a difficult time connecting to her as a protagonist.

[Pamsholley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lola is funny. A PI who learns someone has stolen her identity and been killed, but her family thinks their Lola is the dead one. She sets out to investigate, aided [?:] by Jack Callaghan, a newspaper reporter who she'd love to jump in bed with, but who has a bipolar ex-girlfriend. Book ends with Lola solving identity problem, but she prepares to meet Sarah, the bipolar ex. Talk about a cliff hanger ending!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dolores (Lola) Cruz is back, working for handsome but forbidding private investigator Manny Camacho, and trying to resolve her attraction to newspaperman Jack Callaghan. She wants to concentrate on office gossip, but the death of a woman gives her something very personal to investigate. Jack is willing to help her, but he won't come clean about romantic entanglements in his past. Meanwhile, Lola's grandfather wants her to find out what's wrong in her cousin's marriage.

[Jessica F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. But the heroine Lola is annoyingly insecure, and too much time is devoted to her fears that her love-interest Jack is interested in someone, anyone else. Get over it!
It was a huge distraction to the book, to the point where I don't even want to finish it.

[Franny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun book to read. Lola is hardworking, inquisitive and sexy!
She is a latina who is feisty and loves her family. A lot like me, I thought it was very humorous and would read it again.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You need to have seen the first one to follow, but luckily I did. But what's going to happen with J?

[Phyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

i would give this a 4.5/5 .... enjoying this series!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is clever, witty, and fun. A pleasure read.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, fast read. Helps you learn a little practical spanish!

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it was ok. Could have been better because I figured out a quarter of the way through. I like Robert B. Parker better.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining, fast paced, well written audiobook. Excellent narrator is well matched to story.

[Carol Filipow Pigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the first in the series. I enjoyed watching this get solved.