Murder Can Ruin Your Looks (Desiree Shapiro Mysteries (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: murder can ruin your looks
Review: as in all of selma eichler's stories about Desiree Shapiro...the ample detective... this a light reading ....an entertaining story... only someone who cannot appreciate the genre would be disappointed... these are meant for mental r&r... not to challenge the mind, but to entertain... Desiree's comments on her size challenges and some of its complications... her appreciation of various foods... her sense of humour about life situations ... and its ironies... are meant to simply entertain... I find them delightful... and only wish there were more.... all too many people consider themselves "literary critics" without being at all aware of the type of "literature" they are reviewing... some things are just meant to entertain... each of her books have made me smile at some points...or made me smile about some life experience... I believe that to be a great gift... the more we can see our lives thru a sense of humour, the happier our lives become.. laughter being the best medicine... so choose this series to enjoy a light snack...

Rating:
Summary: There is only one word to describe this book: tedious.
Review: I made the mistake of buying several of the books in this series because the main character sounded interesting: an overweight, middle-aged PI, (i.e not your run of the mill detective). Unfortunately, the books turned out to be uniformly tedious! The entire book consists of an endless succession of "witness interviews" interspersed with minute descriptions of every meal this "full bodied" woman eats. (And she eats constantly!) When the main character tries to act "cute," making what is intended to be humorous observations, she only comes off as irritating. I would definitely NOT recommend this series, unless you suffer from insomnia.