Dead in Boca

Dirty Harriet #3

by Miriam Auerbach

Boca Raton. South Florida’s wealthy enclave of sand, surf, martinis, and murder . . . From high society “Boca Babe” to Harley-riding private eye, Harriet Horowitz has established her rep as a kick-ass P.I. with an insider’s connection to both the high life and the low life of Florida’s Palm Beach coast. Like “Junior” Castellano, a big-time land developer who hires Harriet to find the silver-haired gigolo who broke Mama Castellano’s heart, Harriet is practical when it comes to solving problems. Simple enough, until the Boca police find Junior bulldozed at one of his construction sites. Was Junior killed by his mother’s con man? Or by a bitter ex-wife or spurned ex-girlfriend? Maybe by his estranged sons? And what about the bartender at Hog Heaven, who was about to lose her home in a trailer park because of Junior’s latest land development deal? Harriet will do whatever it takes to protect others. Even if Junior Castellano’s enemy list is longer than the reservations at a Boca cocktail bar, and the scheme he was hatching was big enough to destroy the whole city. A hurricane is heading toward Boca. It should be named Harriet.

Genres: Mystery Thriller

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2014

About the author

Miriam was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The first of many changes in her life occurred at age six, when she witnessed tanks rolling past her family’s home during the Soviet occupation of the country. Shortly thereafter, her family fled to the United States, taking her with them. She grew up in Denver, where she spent her high school and early college years studying diligently to become a particle physicist. However, during a brief stint at Los Alamos National Lab, she began to suspect that building nuclear weapons just might not be the best way to spend her life. Thus, at age twenty she rebelled and spent the next decade living on the fringes of the Harley biker world.

In her thirties she returned to semi-conventional life, earning a Ph.D. in social work and becoming a university professor, publishing academic treatises under her real name of Miriam Potocky. She has found this to be a rewarding career, with the minor exception that one fine day she crashed headfirst into the glass ceiling of the ivory tower. Falling into a funk, she took to her bed to eat chocolates and watch old Dirty Harry movies. She didn’t get Harry’s appeal until she suddenly had a vision of him as a woman, and then it all made sense. Thus her debut novel, DIRTY HARRIET, was born. It won the 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First Series Romance. Miriam can only guess that this is because the heroine kills her husband on page one.

DIRTY HARRIET and its sequel, DIRTY HARRIET RIDES AGAIN, were originally published by Harlequin and were reissued by Bell Bridge Books in 2013. The third in the series, DEAD IN BOCA, was published by Bell Bridge in 2014.

Miriam lives in South Florida with her husband and their multicultural canines, a Welsh Corgi and a Brussels Griffon. She continues to profess by day and decompress by night by writing her next Dirty Harriet novel.

Reviews

[Julie Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book but did feel slightly disappointed with the ending. After building up the story it suddenly came to an end after revealing the killer, who was never even on my radar. Otherwise I did like the story and the mystery. There was a lot going on with hurricane preparations, which keep the story interesting but it was the characters that really made the story. Especially the older generation that went under cover, this added humour and was my favourite part of the story. Although having imaginary conversations with alligators was just as fun. This is book three and as each book is a standalone mystery you don't need to have read or listened to the books in order to enjoy them. I hope there is another book in the series.
Harriet (Harry) as a former Boca babe turned private investigator she should have known better but when Junior Castellano hires her to find the man who conned his mother out of her money, Harry jumps at the chance to get another scamer off the streets and get drag back into the world she thought she had left behind. Before she has time to assemble her team of elderly rich widows Junior is found dead on his construction site. What was a simple honey trap turns into a murder hunt but who had the biggest motive to kill him and can Harry find it before the storm hits and turns deadly?
I liked the narrator and thought she helped to bring the story and characters to life.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request from audiobooksunleashed and have voluntarily left this review.

[Beckyjo Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read. Auerbach has a lot of fun poking at the seedy underbelly of Boca Babes right down to the beloved Countess. (Names have been changed to protect the hmmm?)

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable enough fluff but not nearly as good as Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, which it tries really hard to be.

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the time, especially with mysteries, series become dull and predictable after a while. Book three of the Dirty Harriet series does not follow this path. It wasn’t in the least dull—full of humor, wisecracks, and guessing games as we try to figure out whodunit. The story manages to avoid dulldome without even having anyone attempt to kill Harriet. So many things kept me chuckling. If this author ever decides writing isn’t for her—and I sincerely hope that never happens!—she could have a career in comedy.

Dirty Harry was a loner, and so am I. I like it that way. It keeps me out of trouble, like marrying someone I might have to shoot sometime down the road.

And how about the little story about the old lady and the “kondoms” who forked over her life savings to purchase a truckload of things I won’t mention here but cracked me up big time…intending to sell them over the phone to “aging horndogs” before discovering…

“…the market for these particular products in South Florida’s retirement communities was already deeply penetrated.”

LOL!!!

But I digress. As I said above, the story is not predictable either. I like tiny clues here and there as I read. I like to sorta guess whodunit and then be wrong! This one offered some clues that didn’t really “smack me in the face”. Even when I began to get a “feeling” I didn’t want it to be true and thought, “naww..”

This has a surprising ending.

We meet a very cool engineer too, a woman of course. I hope we see more of her.

And as usual, there’s the usual cast of eclectic characters with things heating up between Lior and Harriet. I got a feeling Harriet is not going to hold on to her heart much longer. And you can’t have Florida without hurricanes, hogs (the bike), gators, and Boca Babes. Something else I liked about this installment in the series is that it shows us more of Harriet’s inner feelings and thoughts and fears. It never gets mushy or loses its quick pace though.

Full review: http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2014/...

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead in Boca is the third in this series, but I had no problems jumping right into this new to me series.

I found Harriet an engaging, likable heroine. I also liked the secondary characters who help Harriet out in finding the con man who took Junior's mom for $100K. As a matter of fact, I wished they'd played a larger role in the story.

The story really clipped along and I would definitely like to read the first two books and a 4th if there is one. I had issues with two elements of the book: #1 was with Harriet's relationship with Lior, her self defense instructor. Granted, Harriet had been an abused wife (ultimately killing her husband in self defense), but while there is chemistry, they are not in a relationship and have never slept together so Harriet's reaction to seeing Lior at a strip club is over the top and totally unwarranted. Especially for her to completely cut him off as if he no longer existed. For a character that is supposed to be a vigilante kick ass WOMAN (versus Boca Babe) I would have expected her to at least discuss it with him and/or perhaps overreact in a different way, such as yell at him or lash out in some way. Issue #2 was what happens in Harriet's office while waiting for the killer. She is worried enough to have her gun in hand yet she takes time to do something totally crazy in the middle of a hurricane knowing the killer will be there any minute? No.

I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Chalaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads. From the description, it sounded like a pretty cool mystery, so I'm glad that I won it. I got a lovely little note from the author and I dove right into the story. The first couple of pages had me hooked. In fact, now I have to go find the first two books in the series and read Harriet's first two adventures. The characters are well done, so much so that they seem like real people, not just two-dimensional descriptions on a page. The mystery was such as I had no idea "whodunnit". She kept me on my toes. I've already recommended this book to my sister. And I definitely recommend it to other fans of unconventional characters and mysteries.

[Barbara Tobey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining look at Florida and the variety of residents, including an alligator. Harriet rides a Harley, is a PI, but has been so much more in her life. She can laugh at those around her as she has been there, done that.

[Janice Kean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to be a fun read.