Friday, May 27, 2011

Murder is a Family Business by Heather Haven

In Murder is a Family Business, Liana "Lee" Alvarez is a 34-year-old half-Latina and half-WASP private investigator. When the man she was following turns up dead, she sets out to find his killer while trying to convince the police that she had nothing to do with the crime. She's not alone in her tasks. There's also her mother, Lila, who's the CEO of Discretionary Inquiries Inc. and as feisty as they come and her slightly geeky and eccentric brother, Richard, who's employed by the company as the technical guy to help her out. Lee's lovable uncle Tio, an adorable kitten named Tugger and a handful of police officers round out the cast of characters.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read with lots of humorous scenes. The mystery was pretty good and the characters were memorable. Haven does a lot of scene setting in this book as it's the first in a new series. She also spends lots of time introducing the characters and their relationships allowing the reader to get to know the characters really well. As far as the mystery goes, she kept me guessing right until the very end as to who the murder was.

As I said above the characters in the book are memorable. Liana/Lee is such a great character. She's not your typical PI either. She does her job while remaining glamorous in her high-priced wardrobe. For me, Tio and Tugger stole every scene they were in. Tio showed great compassion for both Liana and Tugger. I'd love to have him as my uncle. I also enjoyed reading about Lila, Liana's mother. She was feisty and fun to read about.

The only thing that bothered me about the book was the format in which I read it. The PDF format didn't enlarge well on my Sony Reader. The misaligned format threw off my reading rhythm. The book is quite short (183 pages), however it still took be awhile to read it because of this.

Recommended. I'd love to read the next book in the series.

For more information about this book or to purchase it, please visit the MuseItUp website. The book can also be purchased from Amazon.com.

For more information about the author and her book, please visit Heather's website or her her blog.

For more information about the virtual book tour, please visit the Pump Up Your Book website.

I'd like to thank Cheryl at Pump Up Your Book for this review copy.

Murder is a Family Business by Heather Haven, MuseItUp Publishing, ©2011. ISBN 9780986587597(eBook), 183p.
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6 comments:

  1. Heather HavenMay 27, 2011 at 9:11 PM

    Hi, Marie! Thanks for the nice things you said about my little family and my book. One thing, I, too, have a Sony ereader, two of them actually, but haven't had the problem you mentioned with the download of pdf files. Too bad and I'm sorry it in any way hampered your reading experience. Maybe the next time an epub file might be the way to go. I'll look into that. With thanks!

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  2. Lenasledgeblog.comMay 27, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    Interesting theme for the book. I don't quite get how it ties to the book cover with the kitty. Maybe I missed something, but it seems congested. But I enjoyed your honest review.

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  3. CherylMay 27, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    Thanks for the lovely review of Heather's book. So glad you enjoyed it.

    I'm sorry you had issues with the PDF.

    Cheryl

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  4. UnknownMay 28, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    I shall be reading this one ... thanks :-)

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  5. HeatherJune 1, 2011 at 7:00 PM

    The kitten is adorable, do we get him with the book?

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  6. MarieJune 2, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    Thanks for the comments. I quite like the cover. IMO, the elements are all relevant to the story: the kitten is Tugger, Lee's new kitten; the heels/legs represent Lee's expensive wardrobe; the gun for her job. Perhaps I missed some of these in my review, but they all fit with the story.

    I agree that the kitten is adorable.

    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've been getting lots of spam comments, so I'm turning on word verification to help keep spammers away. I know it's a pain; I don't like it either. Hopefully, in time I'll be able to turn it off again. Thank you!

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