Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 1-59058-354-x

A HARD BARGAIN is the second book featuring former beauty queen Madeline Maclin. Mac, as her friends call her, has given up the crown in favor of a private investigator’s license and is looking for cases of any size on which to cut her teeth. Mac quickly lands several small cases that she hopes will be good PR in her small town, but when a murder is committed literally in her front yard, Mac can’t help but get involved. She is more than a little worried that her housemate’s old partner in crime has roped him into a new scheme. And since Mac has hopes that she and Jerry won’t be sleeping in separate bedrooms for much longer, she needs to help him both keep his nose clean and confront some issues from his past.

And boy, does Mac have her hands full. She is trying to solve her PR cases, involved in the murder investigation, and trying to fend off the Pagentoids – her personal wild-eyed beauty queen fan club – who have pressured her into being involved in a local beauty pageant. Oh, and she is trying to get to the bottom of the giant Mantis Man monster sightings that are threatening to turn her small town into a three ring circus of monster hunters and souvenir hawkers.

I really enjoyed this book. It is more than a little wacky and jam-packed with comings and goings, to-ing and fro-ing as Mac tries to juggle the responsibilities she has taken on. Jerry, the housemate she desires, is more than a handful himself. His primary occupation is paranormal fraud and Mac does her best not to throttle him as he performs exorcisms and sells special tomato-growing incantations to their neighbors. But this levity is counterbalanced by Jerry’s belief that he caused the fire in which his parents died when he was a child. This is a delightful book that will leave you hungry for more.

Did I guess it? Parts of it. Favorite character? Jerry. But I would probably have strangled him. Will I read another? Absolutely!

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

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