Written by Laura Levine
SUMMARY:
First released in 2006 by Kensington Books, 2007’s 270-page paperback edition presents Laura Levine’s fifth Jaine Austen cozy mystery. Living carefree outside Hollywood, CA, under-employed freelance writer Jaine Austen has mixed feelings about her best friend Kandi’s impending nuptials. There is celebrating finally lucky-in-love Kandi’s happiness, of course, but the flip side is her pushy fiancé, Steve, … and those eyesore bridesmaids’ dresses in a nauseating shade of baby pink.
The day hasn’t gone much better between an unsuccessful bathing suit shopping excursion and feuding with her stubborn housecat, Prozac. She can also add another round of fending off unwanted flirting by one of her writing students at a local retirement facility. Not to mention, Jaine’s happily retired parents in Florida are keeping her posted on Dad’s latest misadventure: targeting a new neighbor he suspects is a fugitive serial killer he saw on America’s Most Wanted.
The good news is that Jaine makes a new friend: actress/waitress Pam Kenton. Invited by Pam to join an informal ladies’ support group, the PMS Club is really a weekly excuse to unwind over homemade guacamole and margaritas. Mingling with mostly other divorcées, like herself, Jaine lets the good times roll at hostess Rochelle Meyers’ upscale home.
Soon after fellow PMS-er Marybeth stupidly reveals an ongoing extramarital affair with Rochelle’s dentist husband, she expires from a fatal dose of poisoned guacamole. Suspicious eyes instantly squint towards both Rochelle and her adulterous spouse, but the police deem everyone present a suspect – including Jaine. Being publicly implicated in a homicide case certainly doesn’t bode well, if she intends to land a gig as a high-profile bank’s newsletter editor … let alone any romantic chance with the hunky executive she hopes will be supervising her.
If only to save her own skin, not to mention a well-paying job, it’s up to this amateur sleuth to probe her new acquaintances and all their collective gripes against the victim to help snare a killer. That is, if this elusive killer doesn’t snare Jaine first.
Note: Unlike the cover, the interior pages pluralize the title as The PMS Murders.
REVIEW:
As far as acerbic snark goes, novelist/TV sitcom screenwriter Laura Levine concocts a LOL cozy whodunnit. Still, there is one looming issue of preference; it’s the literary equivalent of whether readers prefer light mayo on their sub sandwiches or just smothering the mayo. Though consistently entertaining, Levine’s cynical humor unmistakably projects the latter.
Short of a TV laugh track, one will likely wonder if Jaine’s crime-solving is more an excuse for Levine’s wacky chick lit jokes and spoofing of Southern California culture clichés rather than a suspenseful whodunnit. What compensates for Levine’s bevy of genre caricatures is the insertion of sporadic bits of plausibility at welcome moments, such as a homicide cop’s no-nonsense skepticism of Jayne’s past amateur sleuthing.
As narrated by its bumbling, down-to-earth protagonist (projecting contemporary shades of Penny Marshall’s Laverne DeFazio), the sitcom spunk of The PMS Murder is mostly a welcome delight. If anything, this comedy-mystery delivers a fun bedtime read. Still, it’s a good bet that even genre fans might deem Levine’s excessive sitcom humor the reason why this novel will simply be one-and-done. The decision really is: aside from the unremarkable plot, will Levine’s jokes still be hilarious reading them a second time or more?
In that sense, finding The PMS Murder either at the library first or perhaps a second-hand bookstore may be the most practical option.
Note: This title is also available in hardcover, audiobook, and digital formats.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Levine provides an acknowledgement and thank-you’s. A thirteen-page sample previews Jaine Austen’s next caper: Death By Pantyhose. Now employed as a comedian’s joke writer, Jaine is unwittingly caught up in another homicide investigation. This time, the victim is her client’s professional rival, who has been fatally strangled with a pair of nylons.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6½ Stars
