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Rating: 
Summary: MYSTERY SPICED WITH GOSSIP
Review: Following the popular This Pen For Hire television comedy writer Laura Levine is back with her fourth Jaime Austen mystery. Levine's pen is as witty, winsome, and wicked as ever - perhaps more so as Jaime gets up close to the swells in Beverly Hills. Jaime is offered a job as a ghostwriter for one of the ritziest and richest, socialite SueEllen Kingsley who want to put out a book of social tips. Jaime isn't too excited about this task but the pay is great, and she does have to keep body and soul together. The body is often kept together with Ben & Jerry's, but that's another story. Married to a plastic surgeon, SueEllen does her dictating from a mountain of bubbles in her exquisite tub, and has little time for her reticent, chubby stepdaughter, Heidi. She's not a woman Jaime would choose for a gal pal, but the opportunity is there to learn all about the amorous exploits of the wealthy. There's a great deal more going on in L.A. than the Times reports, and Jaime is privy to it. True, SueEllen spends a lot of time in the tub but it's usually sitting up, not face down. She's found unbreathing among the bubble, apparently electrocuted by her blow dryer. Who would have done this to such a charming, convivial lady? Heidi is, of course a suspect. But, she's not alone. There is also a bevy of blondes with motives as obvious as their dye jobs: a masseuse who offered services other than massage, a green-eyed with envy nurse, a once-upon-a-time game show hostess, and one more surprising blonde person. Jaime turns to her detective roots to find the real killer and exonerate Heidi. Mystery mixed with gossip - what fun reading! - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: MYSTERY SPICED WITH GOSSIP
Review: Following the popular This Pen For Hire television comedy writer Laura Levine is back with her fourth Jaime Austen mystery. Levine's pen is as witty, winsome, and wicked as ever - perhaps more so as Jaime gets up close to the swells in Beverly Hills. Jaime is offered a job as a ghostwriter for one of the ritziest and richest, socialite SueEllen Kingsley who want to put out a book of social tips. Jaime isn't too excited about this task but the pay is great, and she does have to keep body and soul together. The body is often kept together with Ben & Jerry's, but that's another story. Married to a plastic surgeon, SueEllen does her dictating from a mountain of bubbles in her exquisite tub, and has little time for her reticent, chubby stepdaughter, Heidi. She's not a woman Jaime would choose for a gal pal, but the opportunity is there to learn all about the amorous exploits of the wealthy. There's a great deal more going on in L.A. than the Times reports, and Jaime is privy to it. True, SueEllen spends a lot of time in the tub but it's usually sitting up, not face down. She's found unbreathing among the bubble, apparently electrocuted by her blow dryer. Who would have done this to such a charming, convivial lady? Heidi is, of course a suspect. But, she's not alone. There is also a bevy of blondes with motives as obvious as their dye jobs: a masseuse who offered services other than massage, a green-eyed with envy nurse, a once-upon-a-time game show hostess, and one more surprising blonde person. Jaime turns to her detective roots to find the real killer and exonerate Heidi. Mystery mixed with gossip - what fun reading! - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: I cant wait for her next book!
Review: I have read and enjoyed all 3 of her Jaine Austin mysteries and I can't wait for her next book. Laura Levine is hilarious.
I read this book in a single afternoon because I had to know who done it! The only problem I have with Levine is waiting for the arrival of her next book, because they are so fun.
Rating:
Summary: Better and better
Review: I LOVED Killer Blonde! I read it straight through because I couldn't wait for the next laugh and because I was dying to know who did it! There are so many laughs I don't know how Laura Levine does it. Each book gets better and better. I highly recommend her latest.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: The popular new literary trend of the "funny murder mystery" is a trickier genre than it seems. All too often, such novels are either not comedic enough to be funny or not mystifying enough to be mysterious. Or both. Laura Levine is one of the few authors in this field who has a skillful grasp of both elements of her story. "Killer Blonde," like her previous novels, delivers not only a sharp, breezy wit, but an involving "whodunit" as well. SueEllen Kingsley, the successful gold-digger with "flotation devices" for a chest, a heart of lead, and a brain to match, is a scarily, hilariously memorable character, and there is not a boring line to be found in heroine Jaine Austen's efforts to find her killer. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: amusing amateur sleuth
Review: Though she would prefer to say no to Beverly Hills socialite SueEllen Kingsley, THIS PEN FOR HIRE writer Jaine Austen needs the money so that she and Prozac the cat can eat in the style that Ben & Jerry recommend. She knows if offered she will accept the ghostwriting of an insipid mess. Before meeting SueEllen, Jaine meets her client's stepdaughter fifteen years old overweight Heidi, who warns her that within a week she will quit because no one survives the queen of mean. The interviews starts out strange as SueEllen resides in a giant bathtub and Jaine cannot get her eyes off of the perfect boobs that apparently was a present from her plastic surgeon husband.
Jaine sits on the toilet while SueEllen dictates her memoir At Home with SueEllen. Quickly she considers quitting and giving up 3K a week instead of trying to fix a book that has recipes that start with the maid and the cook doing the work. Someone else gives her assignment its LAST WRITES as SueEllen is electrocuted in her tub by her hairdryer. The police believe Heide killed her stepmother, but the teen insists she saw a blond run from their home. Jaine likes Heide and begins an investigation hoping to find the KILLER BLONDE.
The third Austen amateur sleuth tale is an amusing story as Jaine provides a stand up comic's running soliloquy. The story line is fun and contains a few surprising but reasonable twists. The SueEllen-Heide relationship sounds some what like "Mommy Dearest" so the teen makes a perfect suspect. Fans will laugh at Jaine's observations as Laura Levine furbishes a jocular who-done-it.
Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Laughs and Mystery Aplenty
Review: When Jaine gets the phone call, she thinks she's hit the mother lode. SueEllen Kingsley wants a ghost writer for her party planning and recipe book and is willing to pay three thousand dollars a week. Jaine soon finds that working for SueEllen is hardly worth the effort. The woman is mean to all around her, especially her step-daughter. After a few days, Jaine is ready to quit. But when she arrives to resign, she finds her employer dead. With the police focusing on the step-daughter, Jaine steps in to find the real killer. Meanwhile, her parents are having another crisis. Seems her father has bought a used toupee that looks horrid and insists on wearing it at all times. Can Jaine help her mother from three thousand miles away?
Having read the previous two books, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I was once again rewarded with a hilarious book with a great mystery. The plot left me plenty confused; I never would have guessed the killer. Laura Levine is the queen of the one-liner. I was laughing the entire way through the story. The sub-plot with Jaine's parents just adds to the fun. Jaine is charming and sympathetic heroine, and you can't help but root for her to solve the latest puzzle.
If you have never met Jaine Austen before, you are in for a treat. This is a wonderfully charming cozy series. Once you get started, you'll want to read them all.
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