Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: funny novels

  • An Editorial Review of “Rules of Lying” by Stephie Smith

    An Editorial Review of “Rules of Lying” by Stephie Smith

    Bridget Jones fans can quit waiting for a sequel. Readers who enjoy humorous stories about single women now have a new heroine: Jane Dough, a bestselling romance author whose boyfriend dumped her—make that a former bestselling author.  It seems his carousing ways have given Jane a load of writer’s block. Instead of penning romance novels about rich dukes “hung like stallions,” Jane castrates her male characters. Her agent is not pleased, and Jane worries she will never sell a book again.

    In Stephie Smith’s fun to read mystery novel, Rules of Lying, Jane is tired of the deceptive ways of her mother and five sisters. However, that doesn’t stop Jane from posting a ‘Husband Wanted’ sign on her Florida property, even though the young woman has no intention of marrying. Jane just wants some of the muscles that come with a man–the kind of muscles that will clear her property to please the Home Owners’ Association. But somehow, despite her best efforts, her eyes are continuously drawn to the area around the thigh muscles of the more worthy applicants for the position. Even so, she is determined not to get distracted.

    Sue, Jane’s best friend, finally convinces her to keep an open mind and that “new doesn’t necessarily mean wrong.” And this is when the fun begins—with a rash in the- you-know-where.

    Enter a handsome doctor, a good looking cowboy, some newspaper articles that suggest that Jane has a racy past, a few obnoxious neighbors, a threatening banker, a hurricane,  a tomcat who adopts her, and then mix in Jane’s misguided good intentions and her family’s —well, you’ve got a laugh-out-loud story that will keep you entertained to the very end.

    While some romantic heroines tangle in a love triangle, Jane’s predicament grows into a polygon. Not only is Dr. Rossi a candidate for her heart, with his mansion and vintage Jaguar, the handsome neighbor Hank Tyler also offers Jane money to fix up her property along with his property clearing muscles. Even though Jane’s at risk of losing her home and swampy land, accepting money from others is not in her game plan.

    Gale force winds descend while she tries to discover the culprit  who is sabotaging her best laid plans to keep her home. Meanwhile, as Jane tries her best to keep her pants on, her friend Sue reminds her of the different kinds of sex she is missing out on: Sweet sex, fun sex, gorilla sex, make up sex…  Jane thinks the whole sex thing isn’t going to be that easy when she continuously finds herself looking goofy, once even sporting a muddy foot “complete with its own grass-sprouting wart” when the handsome and rich doctor came a calling.

    Readers who enjoy fun and randy mysteries about being caught in the bumbling world of love will greatly enjoy Stephie Smith’s Rules of Lying. Jane Dough is a charmer. I was surprised with the ending and am looking forward to reading more about Jane’s adventures and her new lease on love.

    Rules of Lying by Stephie Smith was awarded 1st place in the Mystery & Mayhem Awards, Humor Category; a division of Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

  • An Editorial Review of “Trudy, Madly, Deeply” by Wendy Delaney

    An Editorial Review of “Trudy, Madly, Deeply” by Wendy Delaney

    Witty, fresh, and full of surprises, Trudy, Madly, Deeply, delivers. Wendy Delaney’s debut novel in her Working Stiffs mystery series is a fun and immensely entertaining read with its odd assortment of lovable characters, clever writing, and twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages.

    When Charmaine Digby is cut loose as “excess baggage” from her ex-husband whom she met at culinary school in California, she heads back home to the small town of Port Merritt, a retirement mecca on the waterfront of Washington state.  She finds herself living with her Gram, slinging cheeseburgers at her great-aunt Alice’s diner, and living across the street from a guy who used to pull her pigtails when they were in grade school together.

     Charmaine Digby is also living up to her school moniker of “Chow Mein;” she has been eating her way through her divorce. She is out of work, out of money, and out of shape.

    This wonderfully humorous cozy mystery will have you cracking up at the trouble that “Char” manages to get into when she finally lands a “real job” as a deputy coroner to the Chimacam  County Prosecutor’s office—if she can make it past Day One of her 30-day-trial period.

    She was hired not for her crime fighting abilities (unless that includes her handiness with a rolling pin), but for her special ability – Charmaine is a human lie detector. Apparently only .25 percent of the population has this uncanny ability—these few people are known as “truth wizards.” Really.  And Charmaine, bless her heart, is one, which doesn’t help to make her life any easier. And it is about to get tougher.

    A handsome doctor at the local hospital reports a suspicious death of a patient, Trudy Bergenson, who was a  dear friend of Char’s Aunt Alice. Trudy was supposed to be released to come home on Charmaine’s first day of work–not end up at the county morgue.

    With Aunt Alice’s diner at the eye of the gossip hurricane of Port Merritt, it isn’t long until Char is in hot pursuit of clues to discover if Trudy’s unexpected demise is the most recent in a chain of suspicious deaths at the county hospital.  It seems that childhood neighbor, now all grown-up and sexy, Detective Steve Sixkiller, is not appreciative of Charmaine ‘playing detective.’ Sparks fly—in more ways than one.

    If you enjoyed reading Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, you will love Delaney’s Trudy, Madly, Deeply. I had no idea whodunit until the very end (and I have read hundreds of mysteries). Well done, Ms. Delaney, well done!

    I cannot wait to read the next novel in Delaney’s Working Stiffs mystery series so I can learn more about the goings-on of Chimacam County, its cast of lovable (if not, peculiar) characters, and any new mysterious treats that Ms. Delaney decides to dish out to her awaiting fans, yours truly included.

    Trudy, Madly, Deeply by Wendy Delaney is a Finalist in the M&M Awards 2013 for Mystery & Mayhem Novels, a division of Chanticleer Book Reviews writing competitions.