Star Book Review: Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate by Kyra Davis

     Break Out of the Box - at least that was the first part to the demands made of me for Red Dress Ink Reading Challenge Task #9 in the 5 point Category: Read a Chick Lit Mystery.

     Once again, I turned to Kyra Davis and her Sophie Katz series for murder, mystique and a litttle sex and candy. Hey, what could possibly NOT be entertaining about that combo?? Well, I know for me, mysteries are my second favorite genre to that of Chick Lit, so any book that combines the two probably doesn't have to try to hard to please my interests. Also, Kyra Davis is one of those authors who (at least to me) gets better and better at her craft the more she writes. The story becomes more involved, more intricate and more entertaining as the series continues. I also love how she maintains the core group of characters. In fact the only person not in all of them (that i can think of) is sister, Leah, who isn't introduced until book two. She does an excellent job of maintaining consistency in that core group of characters, making the reader feel like they really know this San Franciscan group (not to be called Frsico under ANY circumstances:))

However, now that I'm on my third novel in this murderous and fashionable series, it is somewhat easier to reminisce about its good moments. For instance, I have listened to all the unabridged audio books in the Sophie Katz series so far and I wasn't always so enthusiastic about them. The first book (not my favorite) was a new experience for me (to say the least). First, I had never read (or listened to) a chick lit mystery before Sex, Murder and a Double Latte so I eally didn't know what to expect from the genre. Second, the narrator, although varied in her vocal talent, was also dissimilar from many of the narrators I had listened to thus far. I guess I was used to the sweet, soft, very feminine (and often British) sounding voices of women, like Katherine Kellgren, Rosalyn Landor and Kathleen McIneney. For the Sophie Katz' anthology, Kyra Davis teams up with Gabra Zackman, who has a more alto (than soprano) sounding voice. It can get somehat gruff, even for the female characters. I think, more than anything, it caught me by surprise in the first audio book and by the third book, I didn't even think twice about her tone of voice. Perhaps Ms. Zackman's talents also grew over the years, the more she got to know the collection of interesting and diverse characters in Sophie Katz' life but maybe also I just became more open to different voices. As I listened to Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate, I credited Ms. Zackman for her efforts in portraying such a wide range of characters - this third installment seemed to have more characters than the first or second book required of its narrator - and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to constantly (and believably) change one's voice so that your audience can differentiate between them. Well done, I say. Overall, Gabra Zackman, and Kyra Davis once again offer listeners a thrilling, murderous, scandalous and sexy mystery with Sophie Katz and on-again off-again boyfriend, Anatoly Darinksky, on the hunt for their killer. As always tensions are high (and not just between Anatoly and Sophie) and listeners are kept guessing "whodunit" until the very end. Definitely recommended to Chick Lit and Mystery readers alike.

 

                                                                                         4 STARS: