Rating: 
Summary: Impossible to Not Put Down
Review: Well, sadly I bought the hardcover. It seemed interestng and at first I eagerly read on. She's a wacky novelist who smokes and devours M&Ms, and then her hero comes alive. And if things got any more interesting from that point on, a funeral would have broken out.Saint Just is BORING and his talk is so, well, everybody else has said it and I'll say it too. CONTRIVED! I hear rumors that a plot developes, where? I quit reading because I couldn't find a pulse in the darn thing. And now I hear there's a sequel? Dear God, nooo! Don't even bother with it, lest of course your morbid curiosity demands it. In that case, check it out from the library or read it at the bookstore, just don't buy it. It's terrible. I got about 150+ pages into it without hopes of a plot, and as one reviewer said the contrivence of the will is so outlandish it hurt to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Kasey Michaels moves into light-hearted mysteries
Review: With Maggie Needs an Alibi, Kasey Michaels leaves the true or formula romance for a light-hearted romp with elements of mystery, romance, and a dash of fantasy. The titular Maggie is Maggie Kelly, a mystery writer working her way to the big time with her historical mysteries starring Regency detective Alexandre Drake, Viscount St. Just. St Just embodies all the characteristics Maggie wishes she had - charming, intelligent, and sure of himself. The only problem is that he appears to be embodying them all too literally in Maggie's apartment, living and breathing and arguing with Maggie, along with his sidekick, Sterling. Not a week into struggling to deal with St Just (a man who believes he is rich and privileged and who has no scruples about using Maggie's charge cards) Maggie allows herself to be persuaded into hosting an intimate dinner with her ex-lover. Her troubles really start when Kirk, her ex-lover, has to be rushed off to the hospital, sporting a black eye and showing all the signs of fatal mushroom poisoning. At this point, Maggie needs an alibi. This book is full of interesting characters - Maggie's editor Bernie, Kirk's ex-wife; Trigg, Kirk's aggressive second-in-command; Clarice, Kirk's worshipful secretary; Snake, Killer, and Mare, two enterprising muggers and an ID-forger; Steve Wendell, a detective who seems to think he's Colombo; and Socks, a flamboyant doorman who wants to break into theatre, to mention a few. The scenes where St Just, Wendell, and sometimes Maggie try to out-sleuth one another are a hoot. And the mystery ends up with a respectable, if amusing, solution. It hardly matters that the romance - with which man? - is a mere wisp, subordinated to Maggie's development as a person and the solution of the mystery. I would not be surprised to see a sequel to this, another mystery featuring Maggie, St Just, and Lt Wendell. I'll reserve judgment until then on whether I am happy to see Ms. Michaels spend her time on lighter works. For now, Maggie is doing OK.
| 
