As I had mentioned in an earlier post, once I actually thought about it, it was quite noticeable that one of the main conflicts didn’t come around to be presented until about 60% into the book--the reason why Lacey has suddenly been targeted for murder as well as the significance of her grandfather’s paintings. Of course, there was a very glaringly obvious reason (greed for her Granddad’s unsigned paintings), but there was, of course, a very deliberate, underlying conspiracy to the entire ordeal.Of course there was. Because greed would be too easy of a motive, especially since we learn that the aim of the game was to burn Grandpa Rainbow’s paintings rather than acquire them for money. But just from the summary on the book jacket alone, we are already told that the paintings are much more significant than being priceless works of art. Heck, even the Prologue hints at the paintings being more significant.It just felt kind of insulting that we didn’t get straight to the point and had to poke around in the dark like the reader didn’t already know what was going down and would be surprised by the reveal.However, for the first half of the book, we simply follow a series of “unfortunate crimes” all aimed at the paintings Lacey has brought into the light with nothing else to go on. As far as crime thrillers are concerned, there was quite a bit of meandering before we’re even told that there’s something darker stirring among the characters introduced in this book than we’re being lead to believe.If I had thought that there were too many characters and situations to keep up with in the previous book, Running Scared, this book probably has it beat simply because there were simply too many names, relationships and fuzzy histories in the Savoy family to keep track of. And all of those incidents had to do with people who were already dead and only got a mention in passing.The story in this book was ridiculously scattered, unlike the previous few books I have read, written by Elizabeth Lowell. There’s enough direction in this book and we all knew where the story was headed; however, the events surrounding the telling meandered so much that it could have been monotonous and boring if not for the fact that I’ve grown a fondness for Ms. Lowell’s work.So, none of the negatives seemed to keep me from enjoying the book. Lacey Quinn and Ian Lapstrake are an excellent pair together with the right amount of witty fun and heated romance to make me happy enough to continue reading the book. I thoroughly enjoyed them as a couple and an individuals with their own unique personalities of brutal honesty and blunt, straightforward, no-nonsense approaches to all situations.And the inclusion of Susa Donovan was also a welcome presence. (Finally, a character from the previous series appeared in this series and was actually more significant to the book rather than being filler material.) The rest of the characters were decidedly flat and unextraordinary in any way. Just as well, whatever mystery there was supposed to be was also quite predictable and a little on the “Why do I care?” side.To be honest, while the tone of the book felt distinctly romantic suspense, and the telling was on par with the rest of Elizabeth Lowell’s romantic suspenses, the subject matter was consistently contemporary romance until the first attempt on Lacey Quinn’s life about halfway into the book. Then the events remembered that this was supposed to be a crime thriller and so acted accordingly and things started getting a little more exciting.And for some reason, I can’t find it in myself to be bothered by it.I guess that’s what it means to have a soft spot for certain authors.
The first hundred or so pages of this book nearly put me into a coma from boredom. I was so tempted to give up on the book completely and find something more interesting to read. Thankfully, it gets better...but not a whole lot. And like a lot of others have said, the ending left a lot to be desired.For a lot of the book, it reads like a bunch of random scenes slapped together with no flow or cohesiveness. The early chapters are rather short and every single one jumps to a different focus character - of which there are many. Your reading about the hero, then the heroine, then a famous artist lady, then an old rich dude, then the old dude's son, then the old dude's daughter, and then the old dude's ex-son-in-law/right-hand-man/crooked-sheriff. Every time my interest would start to pick up, the chapter would end and the next one would jump to something completely different. Usually something about the rich guy and his family, who I really couldn't have cared less about. All the jumping around left me feeling like I hardly knew anybody until halfway through the book. Plus it was just way too many focus characters. And add to that all the dead characters that played a role, and I couldn't keep them straight. You needed a family tree to remember who all the members of the rich guy's family were.The romance and the characters were okay. I did like Lacey and Ian, and their romance was okay, but the development was superficial. I never felt like I really knew the characters all that well. Lowell didn't give them much depth, only gave small tid bits of their histories without ever really giving them a full background. I just wanted to know more about these characters who were the focus of the book.The suspense was so-so. The book really wasn't all that suspenseful. I knew who the bad guy was going to be from very early on and I knew what the story was going to be on the mystery artist fairly early too. I thought all the characters were rather dumb for not figuring it out until the very end.And the end of the book? Ugh. It was like the author was tired of the story and just slapped the ending together with as little explanation as possible. I finished the book and wasn't quite sure what exactly had gone on and not everything felt resolved. It left me unsatisfied.My favorite part of the book was the dialogue. Not in the sense that it was very eloquent or anything like that. It was just very real and down-to-earth. The characters said things that you could honestly expect them to say. Nothing was prettied up to be P.C. I really enjoyed that. And even though I'm not an art fan, Lowell did a pretty good job presenting the art side of the book.Overall, the book wasn't as bad as I thought it would be in the beginning, but it was too scattered and superficial. And about 100 pages or so too long (it was 518 pages). I never particularly felt like I had a vested interest in the characters or the plot. I kinda just kept reading because I'd started the book and I hate not finishing something.
Do You like book Die In Plain Sight (2003)?
I was caught up in the Rarities Unlimited saga from #1 and while I was disappointed with the second one, this one revived my interest. As usual, I have to say, there is more 'romance' than I prefer, but the draw of rare goods and mystery and, now, characters I recognize, reel me in even more.I enjoy figuring out the mystery as it goes along, discovering whether or not I am right at the end, and even while nay-saying the perfect bodies, I enjoy that dream world just a bit as well. ;) It's escape from reality, right?I read in the comments below that their is a "Donovan" series by Ms. Lowell as well. I immediately wanted to go out and get the first of those books! Even while at the same time wondering if, as another poster pondered, I might tire of this same type of writing by reading one too many back to back...
—Christina George
I picked this book from a list of Mystery Audiobooks based on what the library had to say about it. I must have totally glossed over the romance part of their summary. I'm FAR from a prude, but I like my mysteries with a tad less of an in-depth description of the main characters bedroom activities. If you're not expecting it, it can make for a few awkward moments in the car or at work. Other than that, the story was pretty good. I liked the main character well enough, as well as her boyfriend and the woman he was guarding. The rich family was a stereotypical rich family - they cared about what they wanted and that was that. I'd recommend it to friends looking for an interesting mystery...but I'd be sure they knew about the sexual content. It doesn't make up a great part of the book, but it wasn't honestly necessary to include.
—Suzi Andrade
The first 19 pages which encompass about 3 chapters and a prologue do not seem all that promising. None of the characters are all that interesting in their initial doings, but rather simple minded in their outlooks. I could be wrong without having read the two previous books in the series, but I'm usually right in my impressions. The main idea is an auction for charity and the main character wants to get a criticism on 3 canvases of her dead grandfather's paintings that she has inherited in full from him, but for a few missing canvases that were known to exist at one time but were probably destroyed by the artist for his own unknown reasons, from a famous celebrity type artist who is headlining the bill at the auction. Some of the grandfather's paintings comprise a Death Suite, and the granddaughter has been warned by her father to let sleeping dogs lie, but she is obviously ignoring the advice to better understand her family's past. Does this sound interesting? Not to me. But it could get better in the next 300 plus pages. I don't know if I'm up to the chore at hand. It has got to get more interesting quick to keep my attention level up. My shelves have too many other worthy books crying out to be read to waste time on one that doesn't cut the mustard, figuratively speaking!If you like detective novels involving art, try Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. A much better read, but it is also a bit flawed. It keeps your interest going to the bitter end, even if the ending is a bit disappointing as I recall. Bluebeard by Vonnegut was a good art book also, but more of a love story rather than a detective novel.
—Don
