~Sam Jones~

mystery/thriller series

by Lauren Henderson 

      Heroine:   solid

   Independent, avant-garde metal sculptress and amateur detective Samantha Jones has an uncanny knack for accidentally turning up wherever very bad "stuff" is going down. 

   Savvier than the police and tougher than the bad guys, sexy Sam serves up equal measures of justice, booze, and humor in between her art sessions and sexcapades.

            What worked for me:

   This first-person narrative of a feminista Sam Spade-type flung out so many similes and metaphors it was hard not to feel like the author was poking fun at the gumshoe genre even as she embraced it.     

       What didn't work for me:

    Despite years of watching imported British comedies, much of the slang went right over my head.  I guess I have been watching all the wrong shows?

   I am definitely too vanilla to read this entire series back-to-back, but one book here and there makes for an interesting way to break out of a reading rut.

Overall:

     Edgy, darkly funny, and very British (not in a tea-and-scones sort of way) this thriller series is the antithesis of the Agatha Christie cozy mysteries.  Anyone searching for a hip heroine who refuses to play by society's rules need look no further.

Warning: Very coarse language, graphic violence, casual drug use, and spicy sexual references are the trademark of these books.  Not for the politically-correct or the faint-of-heart.

     If you liked the Sam Jones series, you might also like: "Faking It", the Stephanie Plum series, "Ain't Nobody's Bizness", or the Women's Murder Club series.

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