Review of
Innocent
in Las Vegas: A Humorous Tiffany Black Mystery,
by A. R. Winters
Four out of five stars
Tiffany Black
works an unusual combination of two jobs, she is a private investigator during
the day and a blackjack dealer at a casino in Las Vegas in the evening. While
her job at the casino is secure, Tiffany is essentially still in training for
her role as a PI. When the womanizing wealthy husband of Sophia Becker is
murdered and the murder weapon is found at Sophia’s bedside, it is natural that
Sophia be charged for the crime. Sophia is a beautiful former stripper that
managed to snag a wealthy husband, so the tag of gold-digger is used by many to
describe her.
Sophia declares
her innocence, but no one, especially the police, takes her protestations
seriously. Therefore, the only hope that Sophia has is hiring Tiffany for what
is her first case. Despite being portrayed as somewhat of a weak and retiring
personality, Tiffany is not of that ilk. When she is threatened, she manages to
work over two pseudo-toughs, leaving one sucking wind and the other bleeding
profusely.
The case
progresses and there is the hint of a budding romance with a man named Stone.
He has his own private security firm and claims to be ex-CIA, but uses words
and facial expressions very sparingly. As could be predicted, Stone comes to
the rescue when Tiffany is in trouble. He also advises her to take fighting
lessons and a gun.
As seems almost obligatory in murder mysteries where
the primary character is female, Tiffany has trouble with relatives that are
pressuring her to get a man and children in her life. Tiffany is also portrayed
as having a cupcake addiction. There is no climactic ending where the tension
is built, what happens is largely predictable, hence the four stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment