SOS Aloha Book Reviews and More: Fort Lauderdale

We have winners at SOS Aloha! Jane wins a digital copy of HOT AS ICE. Natasha wins a book choice from my convention stash.

I am also a winner by discovering Elaine Viets' SHOP TILL YOU DROP series:

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the fun, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past...

Elaine penned 15 novels in this series unfolding in Fort Laurderdale, Florida. Since I grew up in nearby Miami, I enjoyed the novels' backdrop. As Elaine wrote in her acknowledgements, she has worked in every one of these dead end jobs. I could related to Helen's experience as an "invisible" persona while rich clients walk over the employees providing service. I can relate - I worked as a waitress, receptionist, and data clerk for minimum wage during college.

Elaine follows the pattern for cozy mysteries - the heroine discovers a body; once she becomes a suspect, she is motivated to find the real killer; the plot includes a few red herrings; the heroine finds herself in danger but solves the crime. Yet Elaine has a distinct writing style - she pulls the reader into the plot with dead pan observations that poke fun at pop culture while making a subtle statement of social issues. Elaine's writing style is like a fine wine - I had to develop a taste for it. The South Florida locale kept me reading .... and I eventually found myself cheering for Helen and her downtrodden coworkers. I also learned a tip or two about upscale clothes boutiques, chain book stores, pet accessory shop, and hotel maid service.

The creme de la creme was Helen's adopted cat - Thumbs is a polydactyl. The fictional Thumbs may be a descendant of Ernest Hemingway's famous felines ... the real Thumbs is cared by a librarian.

From Goodreads (link),

As a young girl, Elaine Viets was taught the virtues of South St. Louis: the importance of hard work, housecleaning, and paying cash. She managed to forget almost everything she learned, which is why she turned to mystery writing.

Living in South Florida has not improved her character. But it has given her the bestselling Dead-End Job series. Like her amateur detective, Helen Hawthorne, Elaine actually works those rotten jobs. Perhaps her early training has given her a lifelong fascination with jobs. She and Helen both know working for a living can be murder.

Learn more about Elaine and her books, including other mystery series, check out her website at elaineviets.com.