Overview
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...
Synopsis
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...
Publishers Weekly
Death and chocolate in Beverly Hills sounds like a delicious way to die, but it's an unfortunate combo for Lupe Ortiz, a Latina cleaning lady, in Smiley's appealing fourth Tucker Sinclair sleuthfest (after 2007's Short Change). Tucker, a marketing expert, finds Lupe's body in the bathroom of Nectar, a new gourmet chocolate shop owned by a client of Tucker's. A quetzal feather left by the corpse, a signature of the MayaBoyz, points to Lupe's son Roberto, who belongs to the East L.A. gang, as the prime suspect. Doubtful of Roberto's guilt, Tucker asks her PI friend, Charley Tate, to investigate. Her overeager assistant, Eugene Barstok, also gets involved, but causes dismay when he disappears while undercover. Smiley fills this chocolate-enriched puzzler with touristy L.A. intel, while Tucker's no-nonsense first-person narration keeps the pages turning despite a predictable ending. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Death and chocolate in Beverly Hills sounds like a delicious way to die, but it's an unfortunate combo for Lupe Ortiz, a Latina cleaning lady, in Smiley's appealing fourth Tucker Sinclair sleuthfest (after 2007's Short Change). Tucker, a marketing expert, finds Lupe's body in the bathroom of Nectar, a new gourmet chocolate shop owned by a client of Tucker's. A quetzal feather left by the corpse, a signature of the MayaBoyz, points to Lupe's son Roberto, who belongs to the East L.A. gang, as the prime suspect. Doubtful of Roberto's guilt, Tucker asks her PI friend, Charley Tate, to investigate. Her overeager assistant, Eugene Barstok, also gets involved, but causes dismay when he disappears while undercover. Smiley fills this chocolate-enriched puzzler with touristy L.A. intel, while Tucker's no-nonsense first-person narration keeps the pages turning despite a predictable ending. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.VOYA -
Tucker Sinclair, who works as a financial consultant, shares an office space with a private investigator. She met him while previously being involved in solving murders. One night, she drives by her current employer's chocolate shop and spies the front door ajar. She instinctively knows something is drastically wrong. Sure enough, she stumbles over the body of the cleaning woman. Tucker, her PI friend, and their assistant Eugene dig deep into the murder, but they, especially Eugene, stick their noses in a little too far. In Tucker Sinclair's fourth adventure, readers find a well-rounded character-loyal friend, tough worker, feisty, and a good moral compass. The secondary characters are also fully fleshed and include a quirky mother with a new husband, a hardheaded best friend with a weakness for chocolate, and a next-door neighbor who loves dog sitting. Although readers will be able to grasp the plot fairly easily, it is best to read the series to fully appreciate the character and the framework. Smiley writes an engaging mystery with a dash of romance. Readers of light, fast-paced murder mysteries will enjoy reading about Tucker's business dealings, often involving murder. Reviewer: Jennifer RummelLibrary Journal
Los Angeles business consultant Tucker Sinclair (Cover Your Assets), while trying to find ways to make a chocolate shop more solvent, finds that murder leads to danger. She must also solve the business problems of her ex-boyfriend's sister. A nice alternative for patrons waiting for the next Janet Evanovich mystery.
—Jo Ann Vicarel