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Last Writes
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Review
"The wisecracks and puns again fly fast and thick." (Publishers Weekly)"
Product Description
Jaine still hasn't found a good man - or a way to keep all those sugary snacks from going straight to her hips. But - with a little help from her best friend Kandi - she's finally landed a gig as a sitcom writer! True, Muffy 'n Me isn't going to win any Emmys, but for Jaine, being on staff sure beats writing boring brochures and bad resumes. Until the plot thickens - with murder...Jaine figures the trouble all started when Muffy 'n Me's hottest star, gorgeous Quinn Kirkland, seduced the head writer - whose husband also works on the show. But when Quinn's caught in bed with the barely-legal actress who plays his niece, things really heat up - and his many jealous girlfriends start to figure things out...So when the no-good heartthrob drops dead after nibbling a poisoned doughnut, Jaine isn't terribly surprised. But who could have done it? A competitive co-star and a couple of scorned lovers top Jaine's list of suspects, but the police have zeroed in on her man-crazy pal Kandi. Now Jaine has to figure out who finally stopped Quinn's cheatin' heart - before her best friend ends up behind bars...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jaine Austen is thrilled when her friend Kandi gets her an assignment writing an episode of the syndicated sit-com Muffy 'n Me. And, if this goes well, it might even be a permanent job. With visions of Malibu beach homes in her head, Jaine starts work. Her dream dims a little when she encounters the cast fighting and poor working conditions. But it becomes a nightmare when one of the stars is poisoned during the filming of the first scene of her script. With Kandi as the prime suspect, Jaine must find out who the real killer is to keep her friend from going to jail.
I enjoyed the first booking this series, but I think I liked this one more. It's light and fun, definitely for the humor mystery crowd. Jaine's narration is loads of fun, contrasting what she wants with what really happens. The characters are lively and well developed. All the secondary characters from the first book are back, from the memory writing octogenarians to Lance, the neighbor with x-ray hearing. They add some wonderful bits of humor. And the plot was great. It twisted so many ways that I still had no clue who had done it until the end. Plus the sub-plot with her parents is a riot.
This is an enjoyable read. I'm already anxious for the next book in the series.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The second book in the Jaine Austen mysteries is a page turning, frothy romp that improves on the winning format of the first book. Jaine Austen is a freelance writer specialising mostly in resumes and adverts for toilet cleaner, she's also possibly the only woman in LA who never turns down dessert, and without meaning to she finds herself embroiled in another murder that only she can solve.
Jaine's best friend Kandi lands her a job working beside her as a scriptwriter for teen sitcom Muffy'N'Me a thinly disguised Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Delirious with visions of milllion dollar beach houses, riches and fame Jaine realises quickly that Muffy'N'Me is far from glamourous; Helga the canteen cook has a moustache, and the cast of actors are vain, eccentric and one may be a murderer when teen idol Quinn is poisoned onscreen during taping.
Jaine's problems are soon worse than the lead dying during her big break as Quinn's voracious sexual appetite left a host of angry women in his wake, but at the head of the suspect list is her best friend Kandi. Jaine finds that narrowing down the suspects is harder than it seems; there's Vanessa the teenage vamp who was one of Quinn's many conquests along with Audrey the executive producer, and Bianca her assistant. Was it a woman scorned or will some actors do anything for more lines?
The mystery here to be fair is not rocket science, but Levine's dry humour and charming characters more than make up for that. Last Writes has enough twists to keep you guessing but it was really the dialogue and the humour that had me devouring this in one sitting.
Stand out moments for me are Jaine's relationship with her tyrannical cat Prozac which is hysterical for any cat lover, as well as a subplot involving her parents.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
33 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
More Fun with Jaine
29 Aug 2003
Format:Hardcover
Jaine Austen is thrilled when her friend Kandi gets her an assignment writing an episode of the syndicated sit-com Muffy `n Me. And, if this goes well, it might even be a permanent job. With visions of Malibu beach homes in her head, Jaine starts work. Her dream dims a little when she encounters the cast fighting and poor working conditions. But it becomes a nightmare when one of the stars is poisoned during the filming of the first scene of her script. With Kandi as the prime suspect, Jaine must find out who the real killer is to keep her friend from going to jail.
I enjoyed the first booking this series, but I think I liked this one more. It's light and fun, definitely for the humor mystery crowd. Jaine's narration is loads of fun, contrasting what she wants with what really happens. The characters are lively and well developed. All the secondary characters from the first book are back, from the memory writing octogenarians to Lance, the neighbor with x-ray hearing. They add some wonderful bits of humor. And the plot was great. It twisted so many ways that I still had no clue who had done it until the end. Plus the sub-plot with her parents is a riot.
This is an enjoyable read. I'm already anxious for the next book in the series.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Funny
19 May 2008
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I didn't like this Jaine Austen episode as much as the others I have read. It seemed like it took forever to finish. It might just be me but I felt it was not up there with the rest of her books. I still gave it 3 stars because it was clever and entertaining.
Jaine gets a job writing for a sitcom. The author definitely knew the ins and outs of a tv studio. Someone kills the handsome actor in the show. The police suspect her best friend Kandi. Jaine works hard to find the real killer.
If you have read the other books in the series, don't miss this one!
Jaine gets a job writing for a sitcom. The author definitely knew the ins and outs of a tv studio. Someone kills the handsome actor in the show. The police suspect her best friend Kandi. Jaine works hard to find the real killer.
If you have read the other books in the series, don't miss this one!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
a fun summer read
27 Jun 2003
Format:Hardcover
Thanks to the efforts of her best friend, Kandi Tobolowski, free lance writer Jaine Austen has finally landed a gig as a sitcom writer -- or at least as a writer for one episode of "Muffy n' Me". Of course it is true that as far as sitcoms go Muffy n' Me isn't exactly top notch -- ditto the studio (Miracle Studios), the acting cast and the head writers, Audrey and Stan Miller -- but Jaine isn't about to allow such considerations to get her down. She finally has her first real professional tinsel town job!! The atmosphere at the set however soon extinguishes the stars from Jaine's eyes: everyone from the actors to the stage crew is out for number one; and the star, Vanessa Dennis (affectionately known as VD) who plays the teenage Muffy, turns out to be truly obnoxious; add to that the fact that half of the head writing team, Audrey, seems to be an Ice Queen, while the other half, hubby Stan, is an ineffectual alcoholic -- and you have some idea of what the atmosphere at the set of "Muffy n' Me" is like.
But it is when one of the cast members, Quinn Kirkland , is discovered in fragante delicto with the teenage Vanessa, that things really begin bubble. Quinn, it turns out is a bit of a slimy Romeo, who has been spreading his favours evenly and indiscriminately around all the women on the set (a list that unfortunately includes Kandi and Audrey). Now the women are all breathing fire and swearing revenge, and when Quinn dies during the shooting of a scene (apparently from nibbling on piece of poisoned doughnut), the police zero in on Kandi as prime suspect! Now it is up to Jaine to figure out who really killed Quinn and to get her friend off the hook...
This is the second Jaine Austen mystery novel, and while I really do love these novels, honesty compels me to warn that although "Last Rites" proved to be an amusing and enjoyable read, if you're looking for a mystery novel that will really engage the detective in you, you might want to give "Last Rites" a miss. On the other hand, if you're looking for something light, entertaining and funny as can be, I'd recommend this book in a heartbeat! The thing is, "Last Rites" unfolds a little slowly. Jaine has a small group of suspects to work with (all who don't really trust her all that much because she's a bit of an outsider); add to that the fact that much of the 'action' really is confined to the sets and offices at Miracle Studios, and you will understand why the book is not really a page turner. Fortunately one can always fall back on Laura Levine's bright and breezy narrative prose style. And something else worthy of mention, the authour's precise and cleverly drawn character and scene descriptions. All in all, "Last Rites" proved to be a truly humourous and charming read. I enjoyed all of Jaine's witty asides, her deprecating humour and her wacky interactions with her parents and her cat, Prozac (who bears an uncanny resemblance to my own cats). So that if you're looking for a nice summer read to while away the time while sunning yourself on a deck (or whatever scenario grabs your fancy), I'd recommend "Last Rites" as a book worthy of consideration.
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