When the legendary Hot Pink diamond mysteriously vanishes during a magic show at the popular MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas––along with the famous starlet who was last seen wearing it upon her ample bosom––authorities immediately summon Chief Inspector Jaques Clouseau, the world renowned investigator from the Paris Police Bureau, to the scene of the crime. With the aid of an American private eye and bounty hunter "Junkyard" Bob Convoy, the French detective who bumbled his way to fame in the widely celebrated Pink Panther case is determined to track down the bauble and the bosom it was last cleaving to. Oddsmakers predict he'll solve the case. . .or go bust trying to! So look out evil–doers: Clouseau is in Sin City. (And look out Nevada Highway Patrol, because some fool has given him the keys to an SUV!)
Best-selling author, Marc Cerasini has spent time on the New York Times and USA Today best-seller's lists. His writing spans from children's picture books and young adult novels to adult mystery and military nonfiction. Along the way, he's managed to ghostwrite for Tom Clancy.
Sometimes you just have to have fun. I love the original Pink Panther movies, and the remakes are fun, too. The books are based on the remakes, and they continue Clouseau's bumbling good luck with creating disasters that cast him in a good light with everyone except his boss. The unintentional double meanings are enjoyable to catch and laugh at. These are a good a guilty pleasure as the movies.
Honestly, why did it take so long for an original Clouseau mystery novel to happen!? Despite the fact that this book was published in conjunction with the Steve Martin Pink Panther movies, I still pictured Peter Sellers (The only Clouseau!) when I read it. There's an odd peppering of real life pop culture references early in the text that seems quite out of place. There is also a small absence of real world logic, like Clouseau being employed by an insurance company but never once meeting with any of their representatives, that is a bit jarring. Other than those small qualms, this is a hilarious and genuinely compelling mystery worthy of the best of the original movies. The writers cleverly weave outrageous comedy and innuendo (Plenty of that. It's even in the title!) with criminal intrigue in an enjoyable narrative that almost stands with the best of the original movies.
This book was very fun to read and the mystery was solved in the Pink Panther's normal (abnormal) manner. The Authors did a very good job picking up where the movies ended.