Entrepreneur Tucker Sinclair is adding "chocolatier" to her résumé. Surrounded by sugar, her dream job turns into a nightmare when the cleaning woman is found dead in the fridge of her chocolate shop. Is there a homicidal chocoholic on the loose? Tucker is on the case and looking for sweet revenge...
Patricia Smiley is the author of four novels, featuring amateur sleuth Tucker Sinclair. PACIFIC HOMICIDE is the first in a new series about Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Davie Richards and is based on her 15-year stint as a volunteer for the LAPD. The second book in the series OUTSIDE THE WIRE will debut on November 8, 2017.
Patty's short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Two of the Deadliest, an anthology edited by Elizabeth George. She has taught writing classes at various conferences in the U.S. and Canada and served as the vice president of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America and as president of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles. Patty lives in Los Angeles where she is working on the third book in the Pacific Homicide series.
This is an extremely fast read, with a plot line that was easy to follow. It was fun to learn about the long green feather and other interesting topics the author explored within the framework of the story.
I did experience some difficulty with character names when first and last names were freely interchanged. Possibly because this is my first Tucker Sinclair read in the series, the familiarity wasn't there for me.
But maybe I'm just eager to read another book on my shelf, Pacific Homicide by the same author, that I picked up at Left Coast Crime 2017, and raced through this one too quickly.
Tucker Sinclair is a business consultant, helping businesses with their marketing and finances as she helps them be successful. One of her current customers, a chocolatier, has her business and home broken into. At her upscale business, her Guatamalan cleaning lady is killed. The drug abusing son is accused and then killed before things can be proven otherwise.
Meanwhile, Tucker's assistant, Eugene disappears as he investigates.
This is an okay book, not as good as the other ones in the series. Tucker is "on screen" nearly 100% of the time in a solo capacity. She needs the quirky, funny supporting roles of her mother, her dog, Eugene and her PI partner. Lots of good elements -- chocolate, a rare exotic bird, a love triangle, jilted love, and a funny almost sub-plot. These things were not used to their fullest or even at all.
Alls well that ends well, though there's a kind of cliff hanger. If you cared enough to care. Disappointing compared to her other books and the promise of this one.
Crossing fingers for a 5th book? It was another story that engrossed me to a point where reading at work might have been a thing, but not the best idea --some of us need cash to pay bills, etc. I digress: I want to know if she and Deegan finally get together, but in the recesses of my mind where these characters reside, they will always be together. But the doctor/pilot/do gooder...hmmm
The titles of this series don't make sense to me. But I like the writing. I like the tension of Tucker's relationship with Joe Deegan (but he's got some 'splaining to do, which I hope takes place in the next book).
Very Good; Continuing character: Tucker Sinclair; after a murder of a Guatamalen cleaning lady at a chocolate store she was working to assist, Sinclair and her friends work to solve the mystery
Just wasn't the best book. To much idle chat and and running around with other characters. This read was too confusing and just lost the plot. A real struggle to finish.