Details:
Pages: 372
Edition: Kindle
Publisher/Date: NeedtoRead Books (November 7, 2011)
Price: $2.99 on Amazon (free for Amazon Prime members)
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
From the window of her herb shop, Penny Francisco heartbreakingly watches painters slather on coats of Pepto Bismal Pink paint to the old Victorian home she had put her blood, sweat and tears into restoring. It was no longer her home – not since her cheating lying ex, Deke, got it in the divorce. Now, his young blonde floozy of a girlfriend lived there. And clearly, she had about as good taste in decorating as she does in men.
As much as she hated Deke for what he’d put her through, she didn’t want him dead. But when he’s found murdered in his office, the police peg her as the number one (and only) suspect. Since the police don’t seem interested in pursuing other suspects, it’s up to Penny to investigate, find Deke’s killer, and clear her name.
I was torn on how to review In Deep Voodoo. So, here's some bullets!
As chick lit: I enjoyed it.
- Penny was a fantastic lead. She was fun and totally relatable – which says a lot since I don’t even have an evil ex-husband. As much as she’d been through (and was continuing to be put through), she never felt sorry for herself.
- Mojo, Louisiana was a kooky little town full of superstition, made even more superstitious since the story takes place during the annual Voodoo Festival.
- The “love interest” part was, for the most part, played down (which I consider a good thing).
- The plot had enough twists and turns that it kept me reading later than I should’ve been. I especially loved how it seemed everyone was out to peg Penny has Deke’s murderer. So many moments I found myself thinking “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? REALLY!?” and I had no idea how she was going to dig herself out of this mess.
As a mystery novel: Meh. I don’t want to talk negatively about a book I genuinely liked, but it didn’t really have the makings of a good murder mystery.
- There were too many plots to adequately pursue all of them. Penny’s search for Deke’s killer occupied much of the time (which I liked), but the mystery of the missing girls and the “WTF is wrong with Deke’s mayor mother, Mona” plots were kind of shrugged off until the end. They were both interesting enough that they could’ve warranted their own sequels.
- This clearly wasn’t written by someone with knowledge of proper police procedure. Anyone who has watched at least one modern-day crime scene investigator show would find it laughable. For example, the frequent references to taking a lie detector test to prove one’s innocence, yeah, I think most people realize that lie detector tests are not really all that accurate and aren’t even admissible in court.
As I said, I really had a great time reading this book, there were just a few holes in the plot and readers who like more realistic crime novels might find themselves disappointed.
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