Claire Fontaine is sassy, sexy, sophisticated, and rich. Henry Bennett is fat, sloppy, slow, and a bad dresser. He's a private eye, and as far as he's concerned, she's his assistant. As far as she's concerned, he's her partner. Their entire relationship, in fact, is one big difference of opinion, and the results are hilarious.
Dear God, when will this literary obsession with shoes come to an end? It’s driving me to distraction.
Jimmy Choo sandals notwithstanding, this is a fun debut featuring a mismatched duo of detectives. Hard-ass Bennett doesn’t want to hire the snobbish Claire but with her well-placed connections at the mayor’s office, he’s given no choice if he wants to stay in the homicide loop. Claire wants in on the detecting action, but he’s got other ideas for her talents as grade-A snoop…like answering the phones. The high volume squabbling hits a new level when she decides to redecorate. And clean. It’s in her job description, after all.
Being a snoop, she pokes through Bennett’s file folder on the premise of “cleaning,” only to find the gruesome crime scene photos of Beth Valentine. The fun-loving party girl’s body was found in a condemned warehouse with her throat slit, and the case has gone cold. Things turn serious as Claire finds herself just as driven as Bennett to catch this killer before he kills again, and driven to distraction, herself, by her handsome, mysterious neighbor.
As ambitious as this pairing is, there is great potential for sparkle between the two characters, but it’s lacking and uneven in spots. It’s not easy to string together a whimsical attitude with vicious murder and still keep it smart. But it’s not for lack of trying on the author’s part. This is a new series and I have faith that these tidbits will shake themselves out in the next installment. Fortunately for the author, she’s done a fabulous job of putting the shoes to good use, else it would be another pretentious addition to a tiresome and overused fetish.
I’m looking forward to the next adventure of Bennett and Claire.
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Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (June 27, 2006)
ISBN: 0312319606
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