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Rating: 
Summary: An authors author.
Review: Ayres' crime fiction is hard-hitting and visceral, and has nothing in common with Milquetoast mystery style, and should not be reviewed as such. Ms. Ayres has received glowing accolades from professional reviewers for years now, but if your tastes run to MY DOG SPOT look elsewhere. Some of us like a realistic depiction of crime detection such as on the television series NYPD Blue and some of us like tea-room cozies like Murder She Wrote. The two should not be confused. Ayres writes hardboiled fiction without apology. Her characters are so richly developed we may be spooked by their presence, unnerved in the recognition that such people do exist in the world. Her main sleuth, Smokey Brandon, is a crime-lab worker who once worked as a Las Vegas stripper (hm-m, seems the TV show CSI thought that was a good invention, since their main investigator has a similar background). Smokey is smart though low-key, serious yet with a high dose of bittersweet humor. Her take on the world may be seen as the female version of the world-weary, old-time P.I., but her compassion leads to the offering helping hands to the poor while still proffering violent ends to miscreants. What's so wrong with that?
If you can get your hands on any of Ayres' books, count yourself lucky. She hasn't been seen in the bookstores lately, but I hope that will change, and soon.R.G. Roy Fleming
Rating:
Summary: An authors author.
Review: Ayres' crime fiction is hard-hitting and visceral, and has nothing in common with Milquetoast mystery style, and should not be reviewed as such. Ms. Ayres has received glowing accolades from professional reviewers for years now, but if your tastes run to MY DOG SPOT look elsewhere. Some of us like a realistic depiction of crime detection such as on the television series NYPD Blue and some of us like tea-room cozies like Murder She Wrote. The two should not be confused. Ayres writes hardboiled fiction without apology. Her characters are so richly developed we may be spooked by their presence, unnerved in the recognition that such people do exist in the world. Her main sleuth, Smokey Brandon, is a crime-lab worker who once worked as a Las Vegas stripper (hm-m, seems the TV show CSI thought that was a good invention, since their main investigator has a similar background). Smokey is smart though low-key, serious yet with a high dose of bittersweet humor. Her take on the world may be seen as the female version of the world-weary, old-time P.I., but her compassion leads to the offering helping hands to the poor while still proffering violent ends to miscreants. What's so wrong with that?
If you can get your hands on any of Ayres' books, count yourself lucky. She hasn't been seen in the bookstores lately, but I hope that will change, and soon. R.G. Roy Fleming
Rating:
Summary: An Authors Author
Review: Ayres' crime fiction is hard-hitting and visceral. It has nothing to do with Agatha Christie style, which another reviewer here on this page seems to be comparing it to. Ms. Ayres has received glowing accolades from professional reviewers for years now, but if your tastes run to MY DOG SPOT look elsewhere. Some of us like a realistic depiction of crime detection such as on the television series NYPD Blue and some of us like tea-room cozies like Murder She Wrote. The two should not be confused. Ayres writes hardboiled fiction without apology. Her characters are so richly developed we may be spooked by their presence, unnerved in the recognition that such people do exist in the world. Her main sleuth, Smokey Brandon, is a crime-lab worker who once worked as a Las Vegas stripper (hm-m, seems the TV show CSI thought that was a good invention, since their main investigator has a similar background). Smokey is smart though low-key, serious yet with a high dose of bittersweet humor. Her take on the world may be seen as the female version of the world-weary, old-time P.I., but her compassion leads to the offering helping hands to the poor while still proffering violent ends to miscreants. What's so wrong with that?
If you can get your hands on any of Ayres' books, count yourself lucky. She hasn't been seen in the bookstores lately, but I hope that's about to change. R.G. Roy Fleming
Rating:
Summary: An Authors Author
Review: Ayres' crime fiction is hard-hitting and visceral. It has nothing to do with Agatha Christie style, which another reviewer here on this page seems to be comparing it to. Ms. Ayres has received glowing accolades from professional reviewers for years now, but if your tastes run to MY DOG SPOT look elsewhere. Some of us like a realistic depiction of crime detection such as on the television series NYPD Blue and some of us like tea-room cozies like Murder She Wrote. The two should not be confused. Ayres writes hardboiled fiction without apology. Her characters are so richly developed we may be spooked by their presence, unnerved in the recognition that such people do exist in the world. Her main sleuth, Smokey Brandon, is a crime-lab worker who once worked as a Las Vegas stripper (hm-m, seems the TV show CSI thought that was a good invention, since their main investigator has a similar background). Smokey is smart though low-key, serious yet with a high dose of bittersweet humor. Her take on the world may be seen as the female version of the world-weary, old-time P.I., but her compassion leads to the offering helping hands to the poor while still proffering violent ends to miscreants. What's so wrong with that?
If you can get your hands on any of Ayres' books, count yourself lucky. She hasn't been seen in the bookstores lately, but I hope that's about to change. R.G. Roy Fleming
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and appalling
Review: I had great expectations for this novel, but unfortunately, the quote from which the title is taken is the best part. In the beginning, it's a fully competent mystery with a heroine in the Kinsey Milhone vein. Toward the end of the book, the "heroine" and other characters begin making choices that I would prefer to find implausible, since otherwise they are so utterly amoral and mind-boggling foolish. If you think that murdering the convenience store clerk can be written off as a little personal foible, then this might be just the book for you. I will certainly never read another book by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and appalling
Review: I had great expectations for this novel, but unfortunately, the quote from which the title is taken is the best part. In the beginning, it's a fully competent mystery with a heroine in the Kinsey Milhone vein. Toward the end of the book, the "heroine" and other characters begin making choices that I would prefer to find implausible, since otherwise they are so utterly amoral and mind-boggling foolish. If you think that murdering the convenience store clerk can be written off as a little personal foible, then this might be just the book for you. I will certainly never read another book by this author.
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