Rating: 
Summary: wonderful first book in projected series
Review: This is definitely the book for summer vac reading! Laura Levine's lightly ironic, tongue-in-cheek and witty prose style had me chuckling put loud and completely riveted to the pages. I am definitely keeping this book!When insurance adjuster, Howard Murdoch, turns up at Jaine Austen's doorstep, hoping to hire her to write a love letter to his aerobics instructor for him, Jaine little expects to find her self entangled in a murder investigation as a result of her letter writing skills! Thirty-something, ex-advertising writer and once married (currently happily divorced) Jaine Austen makes a living writing personal ads and resumes freelance. Her home based business enterprise is actually called THIS PEN FOR HIRE. With some misgivings (but she does have bills to pay after all) Jaine writes Howard's letter for him. She doesn't expect her letter to garner any success, so she's quite surprised when Howard excitedly leaves her a message that the aerobics instructor has agreed to go out with him. Unfortunately everything goes downhill form then on: Howard turns up for his date and finds the woman dead. The police arrest Howard for the crime. But Jaine doesn't believe that Howard killed her. And feeling guilty for the part she played in this mess, Jaine starts digging around, hoping to find evidence of Howard's innocence, and clues as to the real murderer's identity. Unexpectedly, Jaine discovers that she is actually having the time of her life playing detective -- that is until someone begins to find her sleuthing not at all to his/her liking and starts taking steps to discourage her from carrying on with her quest to free Howard... I liked "This Pen for Hire" for so many reasons, not least of which was that Jaine's (the detecting heroine of this book) cat, Prozac, bore a starling resemblance to both my cats in its ability to inhale food all the time. But I suppose what I liked best about this novel, aside from it's totally engaging and amusing prose style, was Laura Levine's realistic take at how an amateur sleuth might go about trying to uncover the truth. It's not easy being a detective, and the authour shows this. The mystery novel unfolded at a brisk, easy and smooth pace, making this a truly fun and enjoyable read. I enjoyed her descriptions of L.A. and the breezy manner with which she gently poked fun at the lifestyles that some people in L.A. lead. As for the series heroine, Jaine Austen, I found her to be a completely appealing and charming character. Take my word for it: "This Pen for Hire" is the first book in a series that promises to be amusing and interesting. Either buy or borrow this book from you local library at once. You won't regret it. (One caveat though: for some reason the cover jacket portrays Jaine as a svelte young woman. With this picture in mind, I was rather thrown when I came across a description of Jaine somewhere in chapter 7. She's not large, but she's not a dress size 2 either. And I wondered why the dustjacket portrayed her as such? Perhaps it was artistic license or some kind of art style that makes everyone look like stick figures. But I would have preferred it if the Jaine described in the book had been portrayed on the dustjacket instead.)
Rating:
Summary: Kind of book that keeps you smiling as you read
Review: This is the kind of book I love. Not only did it keep me laughing and interested throughout - but I had something to look forward to every time I had a free minute! Hope there will be more in the series.
Rating:
Summary: A can't put down book!
Review: This was the first Jaine Austin book that I read and I'm hooked! I enjoyed reading it and fell in love with Prozac the cat! I highly recommend all Jaine's adventures!
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