"Brett Kavanaugh owns Las Vegas"
Brett Kavanuagh is known for her original art - tattoo art
that is. As the owner of The Painted Lady tattoo shop in
Las Vegas she doesn't do "flash" artwork as her
counterpart Jeff Coleman does, she does custom work. So
after she does the ink for a group of Drag Queens, she
makes sure she's there for their opening night. What she
doesn't expect is to get caught up in the middle of
another murder investigation. During the show, Britney Brassieres is taken down by what
sounds like a gunshot, but what turns out to be the cork
from a champagne bottle, shot right at her heart. She
recovers from this incident, but not to long after ends up
dead. Brett manages to catch not the culprits face, but the
distinctive Queen of Hearts tattoo on the inside of their
arm. She then sets out to track down who did the art,
leading her right to the door of rival tattoo artist Jeff
Coleman. But when she finds out that not one, but three
people got the same tattoo one night, Brett isn't sure what
to do next. Everything seems to somehow be related to a pin found in
Britney's make-up case (a pin that matches the tattoo of
the mystery man). Not only is Brett now involved in this
case, but it seems so is her trainee Charlotte. But to what
degree? As a victim or a suspect? Things get really scary
when another Queen is found dead (by Brett of course),from
deadly ricin poison he was manufacturing in his apartment. Just what are these murders about? Are they related to a
sinister terrorist plot to take out Las Vegas or is it
something smaller like a simple case of blackmail? Brett
certainly has her hands full with this color cast of
characters. What's the actor turned politician hiding? Is
the hunky doctor that Brett meets in the ER after being
exposed to the ricin somehow involved? How does her
assistant Charlotte, accountant turned tattoo artist, fit
into all of this? And is the sheriff on the case more
interested in actually solving the case or just doing
whatever he can to annoy Brett and her brother Tim
(consider the fact that he's now engaged to Tim's former
fiancee Shawna)? Once again Brett has the support of her loyal staff,
including shop manager Bitsy and tattoo artist Joel to help
her solve this intriguing who done it. This one is filled
with just enough 'he's' and 'she's' to make it hard to
keep all the hims and hers straight. While she does make a
few slips up along the way, Brett is definitely getting
the hang of this sleuthing thing and is giving her
detective brother a run for his money in the crime solving
business. And just why is Jeff being so nice to Brett all
of a sudden? Might there be something brewing here? One
can only hope! It shouldn't be to hard for fans of Olson's
Annie Seymour series to easily pick up the reference to
that series. Pretty in Ink is a quirky mystery with a fun, independent,
determined leading lady and loyal supportive cast of
characters, each so different, yet lovable in their own
ways. A fast, easy, enjoyable read with an ending that will
catch the reader completely by surprise. I look forward to
seeing what Brett gets herself involved with in Driven To
Ink, due out later this year.
Reviewed by Lori Gondelman
Courtesy Lori's Reading Corner
Posted February 9, 2010
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