Ex-nurse-turned-insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol's willing to risk "anything" to put a bad doc out of business--even her best friend Goldie's near-perfect proboscis! Her cross-dressing compadre has agreed to get his shnozz bobbed so Pauline can pose as his private nurse and gain entry into Highcliff Manor--a posh plastic surgery "spa" making an illegal killing with their repeat clientele.
But when a super-rich "frequent flier" is unexpectedly widowed--and a receptionist who knows too much is given the boot . . . off a nearby cliff!--Pauline realizes she's stuck her own nose into something really nasty. Despite the pleasant distraction of the hunky Dr. Neal--and the unexpected appearance of her sexy cohort, Jagger--Pauline can't shake the feeling she's being closely watched. And if she's not careful, she'll be the next one who goes under the knife!
After serving in the Air Force as a registered nurse, Lori Avocato decided to give up nursing to write fiction. She lives in New England and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, PASIC, NINC, Romance Writers of America, the Author's Guild, and Sisters in Crime. She's raising two teenage sons (heaven help her!), and one darling dog, Spanky. Lori is the author of six novels featuring Pauline Sokol: A Dose of Murder; The Stiff and the Dead; One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest; Deep Sea Dead; Nip, Tuck, Dead; and Dead on Arrival.
It's been a while since I've read this series but I enjoyed this entry and it was easy to slip back into it. I like the characters and especially enjoy Pauline's personality. I find the insurance fraud to a different story line for investigation. I think I especially enjoyed that this story took place in Newport, RI and I was just there last year so it was fun to see some of where I visited in the story. The ending completely surprised me with lots of things I didn't see coming.
The premise was good; a former nurse turned insurance fraud investigator gets a case at a high class plastic surgery spa, where the number of cases submitted to insurance seems rather high for typically cosmetic procedures. It takes place in Newport RI, which is a town I enjoy visiting. The story line was engaging.
However, when I started reading this book, I had to check it a couple of times. Was this a blatant ripoff of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series? Let's see...each has a scuzzy boss...Jagger in this series = Ranger. Both mom's are cook-a-holics and dinners at the house are a ritual. Dad reads the newspaper and tries to stay out of things. Former Ho Lula = cross dressing Goldie. No hamster, thank goodness. No grandma either. The Stephanie Plum formula works. This one seemed like a copycat.
If the characters had more originality, I might have gone 4 stars. As it is, 3 is the highest.
Pauline is at it again but this time with a Plastic surgery clinic but people keep dying. Will pauline be next? and who is doing the killing, when she things she has it all figured out, something comes up that changes her track. To find out the whole story , read the book.
“Ex-nurse-turned-insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol's willing to risk anything to put a bad doc out of business—even her best friend Goldie's near-perfect proboscis! Her cross-dressing compadre has agreed to get his shnozz bobbed so Pauline can pose as his private nurse and gain entry into Highcliff Manor—a posh plastic surgery "spa" making an illegal killing with their repeat clientele. But when a super-rich "frequent flier" is unexpectedly widowed—and a receptionist who knows too much is given the boot . . . off a nearby cliff!—Pauline realizes she's stuck her own nose into something really nasty. Despite the pleasant distraction of the hunky Dr. Neal—and the unexpected appearance of her sexy cohort, Jagger—Pauline can't shake the feeling she's being closely watched. And if she's not careful, she'll be the next one who goes under the knife!”
This is just a fun GREAT mystery to read, they even make me chuckle right out loud and they don’t have to be read in order!
I think I am going to give up on this series. I hate it when an author keeps using the same phrasing throughout. I'm amazed that the main character still has a jaw since her is constantly dropping. She does the same thing with re-occurring themes throughout - as in the heroine can't seem to think straight when there is a handsome man around. She also is incapable of taking care of herself and constantly needs to be rescued by the men in her life.
Okay. I did not find the characters believable. I couldn't imagine the people having the money to investigate. However, in the world of plastic surgery this sort of thing could indeed happen. The tone of the book is wrong and it just wasn't well written.
Good book. It's the first I've read by this author. Definite similarities to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. The writing isn't as tight, and there were typos and one sentence spoiler where the story got ahead of itself. I'll try a couple more by this author.
I felt that this book tried to compete with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, and it just didn't make the cut for me. I suppose that someone without prior knowledge of the Plum series might enjoy it.
This one wasn't for me. Conversational, chatty, light and I'm sure quite amusing/funny for some, but I just found it didn't have enough to keep me interested in the "mystery".