Gemma Halliday - Uncover in High Heels

Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Co

ISBN: 978 0 8439 5834 8

My rating: 1 / 5



Secret affairs, hunky gardeners, and housewives desperate enough to bare it all... welcome to Magnolia Lane, TV's hottest new prime time show. A place where L.A. shoe designer Maddie Springer should be in fashion heaven. That is until the body of a rising young starlet is found dead on the show's set. Now it's up to Maddie to sift through a leading lady with a secret, an actor on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a sexy cyber scandal, and one tabloid reporter who'll stop at nothing to get the story of the century. Not to mention Maddie's hot-cold relationship with the case's familiar lead detective, Jack Ramirez. In a world where secrets, lies, and deception can earn you an Oscar, Maddie plays the role of a lifetime to catch Hollywood's hottest killer. But if she doesn't watch her step, Maddie's fifteen minutes of fame just may be her last.  (http://www.gemmahalliday.com/)

My thoughts

The thing is: I should have stopped reading after the first ten pages - Maddie's "boyfriend" police cop Ramirez cancelled their date because of other committments. The thought that Ramirez has other committments in a pick-up bar really doesn't sit well with Maddie so she's off to "spy" on him. So far so good - BUT not only does she blow up the undercover work, no she was then on a mission to help out Ramirez, who got demoted to bodyguard to the celebrities, to get back to homicide.

I took me more than a month to get through this book. Admittingly some of the annoying habits Gemma had in the first two books are well and truly under control (the number thing of the motorways and the mention of "for good measure"), but Maddie is just a character I cannot warm to and the story was a drag for me, especially as I had figured out the "whodunnit" half way through.

I still have another two books from this series on my desk, but I'm still arguing with myself to just simply not finish the series ....

My verdict - don't bother !

Gemma Halliday - Killer in High Heels

 

Publisher: Mass Market Paperback

ISBN: 9780505527127

My rating: 2/5


L.A. shoe designer Maddie Springer hasn't seen her father since he reportedly ran off to Las Vegas with a showgirl named Lola. So she's shocked when he leaves a desperate plea for help on her answering machine - ending in a loud bang. Gunshot? Car backfire? Never one to leave her curiosity unsatisfied, Maddie straps on her stilettos and, along with her trigger-happy best friend, makes tracks for Sin City in search of her MIA dad.

Maddie hits the jackpot, all right. She finds not only her dad, but also a handful of aging drag queens, an organized crime ring smuggling fake Prada pumps, and one relentless killer. Plus, it seems the LAPD's sexiest cop is doing a little Vegas moonlighting of his own. In a town where odds are everything, Maddie bets it all on her ability to out-step a vicious murderer. She just hopes her gamble pays off before her own luck runs out. (http://www.gemmahalliday.com/)


My thougths

“Killer in High Heels” is number two in the series with Maddie Springer and as in the first book, this one doesn’t disappoint with clichés and annoying repetitions.

The book starts with the big bang within the first pages as Maddie talks to her “real” dad on the phone when she hears a gun shots (or so we're to believe) in the background before he hangs up .... but then nothing really happens until about hundred pages into the book. It was a drag!

There were a couple of things already in the first book that got onto my nerves , like the constant mention of the numerical road that Maddie’s driving on, yet, that was toned down quite a bit; but the constant eating frenzy was quite tiresome, as well as the “mental eyerolls” and “mental forehead slapping” ... most of all though was the phrase “just for good measure” – one more time I think I would’ve thrown the book into the bin.

As for the sex with Ramirez ... I have no idea, and perhaps I’m a bit naive, but nevertheless, honestly, how many women would stop during a passionate situation because of the possibility of having hairy legs when having a guy like Ramirez nibbling on their earlobe? So she stops and whinges afterwards, that she should have gone the whole way. Annoying!

Got the third book sitting on my desk staring at me to be read – not sure whether I’m ready yet to cope with another story with Maddie ....