Bubbles Ablaze
by Sarah Strohmeyer | Mystery & Thrillers | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0525947388 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0525947388 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
From Publishers Weekly:
"Agatha winner Strohmeyer provides lots of madcap fun in her third book (after 2002's Bubbles in Trouble) to feature budding reporter/detective/hairdresser Bubbles Yablonsky. Lured into an unused Pennsylvania coal mine, Bubbles and her "Mel Gibson dead ringer" photographer boyfriend, Steve Stiletto, narrowly escape harm in a cave-in right after they stumble on car-sales magnate Bud Price with "a six-inch bloody hole blown into the middle of his chest." They also find the abandoned car of Bubbles's cousin-in-law, Carl "Stinky" Koolball, the cartographer for McMullen Coal, the company that owns the mine. And now Stinky's missing. The plot thickens like a vat of kapusta as more and more ingredients are added-perhaps too many. On top of her crime-solving, Bubbles must deal with her rebellious teenage daughter, her biker-chick mother's vendetta over some stolen Polish recipes, and a clean-cut stud named Zeke who keeps following her. Some lines are laugh-out-loud funny. Asked if she knows who John Gotti was, Bubbles is "almost positive [he] ran a pizza parlor in Allentown." The dumb-blonde schtick works well with the whole loony business, and Strohmeyer's sharp eye for styles and regional details (Tastykakes, scrapple) adds to the realism and the charm."
"Agatha winner Strohmeyer provides lots of madcap fun in her third book (after 2002's Bubbles in Trouble) to feature budding reporter/detective/hairdresser Bubbles Yablonsky. Lured into an unused Pennsylvania coal mine, Bubbles and her "Mel Gibson dead ringer" photographer boyfriend, Steve Stiletto, narrowly escape harm in a cave-in right after they stumble on car-sales magnate Bud Price with "a six-inch bloody hole blown into the middle of his chest." They also find the abandoned car of Bubbles's cousin-in-law, Carl "Stinky" Koolball, the cartographer for McMullen Coal, the company that owns the mine. And now Stinky's missing. The plot thickens like a vat of kapusta as more and more ingredients are added-perhaps too many. On top of her crime-solving, Bubbles must deal with her rebellious teenage daughter, her biker-chick mother's vendetta over some stolen Polish recipes, and a clean-cut stud named Zeke who keeps following her. Some lines are laugh-out-loud funny. Asked if she knows who John Gotti was, Bubbles is "almost positive [he] ran a pizza parlor in Allentown." The dumb-blonde schtick works well with the whole loony business, and Strohmeyer's sharp eye for styles and regional details (Tastykakes, scrapple) adds to the realism and the charm."
I'm a heel. This arrived on Monday and has been sitting on my desk, waiting to be journaled.
I'm sorry DoC! I'm sure you've been wondering if it arrived or not -- it did!
I'm sorry DoC! I'm sure you've been wondering if it arrived or not -- it did!
I FINALLY read this -- the author and I have a mutual friend and... I wish I'd liked this better. I do. But I had lots of problems with it, the least of which were the forced references to Pittsburgh, when the book is set in Northeastern Central PA. But I also didn't like Bubbles. Who is she? There's nothing wrong with being named Bubbles or being a hairdresser, and yet both of those parts of her life are things she's trying so hard to reject. It was sad.
Also, it's pretty clear the author doesn't understand how being low income or even in poverty works. I wish she'd taken the time to get that part right, too.
Also, it's pretty clear the author doesn't understand how being low income or even in poverty works. I wish she'd taken the time to get that part right, too.
