Reconstructing Brigid

by Lee Nichols

When the daughter of a politically connected CEO is found dead in her car off the Maine coast, her father wants the best investigation money can buy.

He demands that Brigid Ashbury determine the cause of death: was it a simple car crash or did someone force his daughter off the road? For the country's premiere accident reconstructionist, it should be an open and shut case.

Except for one minor problem: Brigid is afraid of cars.

While struggling to overcome her motorphobia, the result of her own recent collision, Brigid is trying to determine whether this really was an accident. A wealthy family, a possible kidnapping and questions of inheritance muddy the waters. The prime suspect, Aaron White, is the boyfriend of the dead girl's sister. He even admits to sleeping with the victim…twice…but insists he didn't kill her.

Determined to keep her suspect close, Brigid enlists Aaron as her chauffeur. And although he may be trying to seduce Brigid (and everyone else in his path) they do make a good team. But if they're going to crack this case, Brigid must first get herself back on the road to recovery.

Genres: Chick Lit, Mystery, Fiction, Romance

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Lee Nichols is the author of five novels for adults, including the bestselling TALES OF A DRAMA QUEEN. She'll be making her YA debut in 2010 with DECEPTION: A Haunting Emma Novel. Follow her on Twitter at LeeXNichols or Friend her on Facebook at Lee Nichols. http://www.leenicholsbooks.com/

Reviews

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a big surprise. I was a fan of Lee Nichols after reading the frothy and delightful "Hand me down". Given the house, Red Dress Ink a part of Harlequin that specializes in sophisticated modern romance, like Sex and the City only on paper, I expected to find more of the same, especially with the lighthearted cover which fits in so well with all the other Red Dress Ink titles. I was taken quite by surprise when I found a dark, curt cop-speak murder mystery full of danger, shoot-outs, suspects, victims and an unlikely partnering of investigators and nary a romance in sight. It was undoubtedly signed by Harlequin, despite it's total lack of romance, something I thought was the only real no-no there, due to the book's exceptional writing, plot, characters, action and its stay-up-all-night-reading-itness.

I can't believe this is the same woman who wrote those funny books that made me laugh. They were so full of humor, romance and wacky characters. This heroine is a mess. A barely functioning PTSD sufferer since an horrific car crash who also happens to be a traffic accident reconstructionist. Sounds light-hearted on paper. What I think happened is they got this great cop murder mystery and the editors wanted to run with it but it didn't fit the house. So voila, she mentions Jimmy Choo's and Armani and tiny sized women with eating disorders a couple of times and they call it Red Dress Ink. It isn't. It's mainstream fiction. I am kind of cheezed that they call it "chick lit" because it isn't, all Jimmy Choo references aside. It's damn good fiction, that just happens to have a woman character in the lead. But isn't that what chick lit is? Or is supposed to be?

Want an absorbing murder mystery, well written and refreshingly different, pick this one up.

[Donnae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brigid is in an unfortunate situation. She is an excellent accident reconstructionist that now struggles with a fear of driving or riding in a car. Her landlady just raised the rent on her trailer and she can barely steel herself to walk to the mailbox. So when she receives a demand to investigate the death of the daughter of a well connected prison entrepreneur, Brigid is forced to confront her motor-phobia and investigate the accident.

Of course everything is not as it seems and before the mysterious death is solved Brigid will be forced to confront more than fear with the help of Aaron White, a drifting womanizer who was one of the last people to see the dead woman.

I don't think this is one of Lee Nichols strongest offerings. Although Brigid's phobia is portrayed in a realistic manner, I found myself growing less and less sympathetic to her. The mystery about the accident had some nice twists, but relied too much on little introduced and not fleshed out characters including the shadowy "Principal's Daughter." The flashes revealing the origins of Brigid's fear did not resolve satisfactorily and left me confused as to where the fear originated. Was it the accident she was in? The one she witnessed? Something of both?

I did enjoy the details about how accident investigators operate and the challenges of understanding vehicular homicide.

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going through my books on my shelves and have decided to go over the books that were there that are unfamiliar to me whether I read them or not. I picked up this book. It looked like a typical chick lit cover. It's not. Even the plot seems contrived in the summary. It's brilliant. It's a mystery. Barely a romance and the romantic parts are wonderfully dysfunctional. There are some phrases and sentences that were so beautiful, I had to read them again in their simplicity. Well written. I can't believe how well written this book was. I think that it is marketed wrong. I want to know more about this character. This should have been a series.

Brigid is a auto accident reconstructionist. She is out of the scene and working as a high ranking consultant because of an accident she has had. She is called to find out what happened to the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. There are plot twists and characters. Everyone is to be suspected; of this crime. There is motive everywhere. And then there is Brigid who has trouble even getting into a car. She is the best around and she won't stop until she gets it done. Then she meets Aaron White. He is the boyfriend of the victim's sister. There is something about him and they fall in together to solve this crime and maybe, just maybe, fall in love.

[Courtney Chappell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book. Bridgid is an accident reconstructionist. However, she was involved in an accident and has panic attacks whenever she gets in a car, goes near a road, etc. But this case gets her back working. To be honest, the case wasn’t even that exciting. Towards the middle and the end, it felt like more and more characters had motive and weird things kept happening. This kind of felt like a lifetime movie in which plot twists kept happening before every commercial break.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

What caught my eye was the main character having a phobia of cars and being an accident reconstructionist. I was really was not sure what to expect from the story line itself but I was pleasantly surprised. I found the main character to be likable if not well fleshed out but considering it kept with the overall storyline I did not find fault with it. I was a little on the fence with some other characters but nothing that made the story fall flat just irritating in spots. My main gripe was the fact that the "bad guy" or girl in this case was referred to as the principal's daughter any time she had was mentioned. While I understand not giving away her identity, if just became irritating in its use. I did breathe a sigh of relief at the end because the author used an ending that did not turn the book into a "romance" just to end it. The ending not ho-hum nor was it overly romantic but a "real world" ending so to speak. Overall a good quick chick lit mystery.

[mandyfujita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brigid Ashbury was one of the best accident reconstructionist in the country. In less than a years time, she has been downgraded to being a wreck just sitting in a car let alone drive the car. She had a bad experience with the car itself and hasn't gone back to work since. Her boss has been asked to have Brigid work on a case where a powerful CEO daughter has been killed in an accident.

The fee would help pay for Brigid's mounting credit card bills. Now if she could only get there. I found myself cheering for any little accomplishment that Brigid completed. Even if she was sweating and experienced nausea while doing her job. She stuck with it and we hope in the end she gets better. The case itself has a bunch of rich neurotic characters that the reader and Brigid have to figure out. Great read.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh... so boring.

So much of this book is describing every technicality of Brigid looking at each piece of evidence. That plus the fact that I kept getting different characters mixed up with what specific law enforcement agency they worked for and trying to remember all of the acronyms that went with each agency. There was not much character development either, so I felt no connection to anyone in this book.... I had no empathy for the main character and her "motorphobia". I found her phobia annoying because she is an accident reconstructionist. So she investigates car accidents, but is so afraid of cars that she walks everywhere.... She should have gone to treatment before taking a case or found a different career.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I thought this book had a good story line the plot was great, there was even a little romance. All great, however I felt like sometimes it was hard to follow, hard to distinguish who was talking and what was going on. The other problem I have is there is a lot of un-needed swearing. I'm one who would prefer no swearing, but I know that many great books have a little. This book used the F word like it was punctutaion for every other sentence. I almost quit reading several times, but I wanted to know who-dunnit. I probably would not recommend this book. I guess this is why it was on the 3.00 shelf at Wal-mart.

[Jennifer Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh. I was totally expecting light and fluffy. I've read Hand Me Down years ago, and figured I'd get more of the same. Read this in one go, wasn't particularly impressed. I don't mind gritty crime/mystery books, but I didn't think this one was particularly well done. Jumping around from 1st the 3rd person POV, the "mystery" bad guy who I picked out the first time she walked into a scene, plot twist after plot twist... half of which seemed like they were there for no good reason. Eh. Also - I fell kind of cheated by the people who slapped this silly cover on a pretty dark book to fool us all into thinking romantic comedy. Boo, Red Dress Ink. Boo.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was incredibly slow moving. I felt like the characters never developed--they were extremely 1 dimensional. There were plenty of useless characters smattered throughout the book that had no discernible purpose. The one good point is that the book wasn't predictable, but that is the ONLY good point. It wasn't terrible--I did read the entire thing, and in less than a day--but, the only reason I kept reading was because I kept waiting for it to pick up. Read this book if you have nothing better to do...otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. I've never seen a mystery/cop book series where the main character was an accident reconstrctionist. The first part was kind of confusing because it talked a lot about cars and how they work, but once we got into the investigation part, man there was so much surprise. You think you know who the murderer is like 10 different times. In the end, the answers were not what I was expecting at all. It kind of leaves it open ended at the end so I'd be interested to see if there is a series made from it. I would read it!

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this witty romance. I have yet to be disappointed by a Red Dress Ink book. I found this one to be quite good. There were a few things I could live without, but overall very good.

There really isn't that much romance other than the talk of romance. It is funny in places when Aaron is around, but for the most part it deals with a death and how that person died. How an agent can look at the surroundings and the car and discover what has happened to make the crash happen.

I am giving this 4 out of 5 and would read more by this author.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. When an well connected CEO's daughter is found dead in her car her father wants only the best investigator on the case. The call in Brigid to determine what the cause was, was it suicide or did someone force her off the road. Brigid doesn't want to do it....she is dealing with her own issues. She is afraid of cars now after her awful car crash of her own. This is the kind of book once you pick it up you have to read it from start to finish to see who was responsible. I found myself rooting for Brigid and hoping she could do the job.

[Sherri Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book as I've enjoyed all of this author's previous chick lit offerings. I'm feeling like I'm missing something...the same feeling you get when you start watching a movie in the middle.

The subject matter of accident reconstruction doesn't hold any interest for me either. I must be one of the readers who was expecting a light and fluffy chick lit story.

[Mina Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up the book because of the cover and expecting a funny, snarky chicklit story (Harlequin's Red Dress Ink line focused on those type of stories & this is a RDI book). It's not. The main character is dark, complex, broken yet so very strong...I loved her. So I enjoyed the read, but the packaging definitely doesn't fit the story.

[Yolibear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was really surprised by this book. I was expecting a really lame chick lit cookie cutter tale but I was really surprised during some parts and loved how I felt like a fly on the wall in certain scenes with her very descriptive storytelling.

[Terrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the idea of a book about an accident reconstructionist recovering from her own accident, but that was the only thing worthwhile in this book. It was very disjointed, with constant switching of perspective and a convoluted "mystery".

[KCM73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty decent installment in the chick lit category. The main character is interesting and flawed and her profession -- accident reconstruction, provides a very interesting backdrop to this story. I have enjoyed other books by Lee Nichols more, but this one was worth reading.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a bit disappointed by the ending. Was expected, I suppose, but didn't end how I'd wanted to that entire time. I feel like some parts of the story were put in to make things "juicier" at the time, but ended up not mattering in the grand scheme of things.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book as I've enjoyed all of this author's previous chick lit offerings. I'm feeling like I'm missing something...the same feeling you get when you start watching a movie in the middle.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was most definitely not a good book to read during a long drive. Although the mystery was interesting, it felt unfinished.

[Lois]

Fun read. That's all I read in the summer!

[Aparna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, a new style of writing which i quite liked. The flow of the story is great and loved the sarci outlook of the heroine, a strong n independent lead character.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun mystery.

[Carmen Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great, either. Just sort of meh.

[Cynthiaj · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my latest popcorn book. Be ready for it to take awhile...It took awhile, Interesting end and definitely worth the 50 cents I spend on books to read while my lunch is popping.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Refreshing with its technical jargon and indefinite ending. Not a typical entry into the chick lit genre & that was a nice change.

[Amyem]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7...

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it was okay. Couldn't really get into it.

[Liesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked that there were a lot of loose ends that did wrap up. I felt a few things were left pretty opened but over all it kept me guess and very intrigued. Would definitely pick up this author again.