REVIEW

DUSTY DEXTER PI: HER FIRST CASE - Jan Richards

Reviewed By
Karen Chisholm

I think I read somewhere that DUSTY DEXTER PI - HER FIRST CASE started life as a newspaper serial, which if that is the case, makes it the second of this sort of book I've read coming out of Queensland this year. Although this isn't a series of short stories, it's the story of an entire investigation.

The blurb is going to give you a tiny little bit of a hint about the style of this book. It's light-hearted, chick-mystery, accidental, mildly clumsy, enthusiastic rather than necessarily highly skilled, female PI. With surgically enhanced boobs (you'll have to read the book to work all this out). So it's not exactly hard-boiled. It's in that territory somewhere between madcap, funny, soft-boiled, cosy, lunatic PI stuff that's getting the rounds of the book buying sites these days.

Needless to say, a style that I'm drawn to occasionally for reasons which remain completely baffling. It's daft, and it's fun, and whilst this isn't the absolute best of this style that I've read, it's a hell of a long way from the worst as well. There's some laugh out loud moments, there's some roll your eyes moments and there's some stuff that's slightly gag inducing. Cleverly though, as daft as Dusty can get, her boss Red doesn't do daft, and that's a nice balance. Her best friend doesn't do daring doing much either and that also works as a nice counter-balance.

I often wonder why it is, if you're a fan of this sort of crazy girl investigator stuff, local readers aren't supporting the local product a bit more. This has a great feeling of Queensland about it, I did laugh quite a bit in places, and all in all, it was a bit of light-hearted fun.

BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
Author
ISBN
B005OFV294
Year of Publication
Series
Book Number (in series)
1
BLURB

Dusty Dexter’s a novice PI, but she’s not going to let that stop her cracking wide open an international drug smuggling ring. She doesn’t play by the rules, ok she doesn’t know the rules, but she’s got smarts. And she’s prepared to take chances, something her boss Red, an ex-cop with a secret, doesn’t understand. Neither does Hank, the hunky senior sergeant. Will a zap with a taser put him off Dusty for good? With friend Janet Jones, an obsessive triathlete on target for a PB, she tracks down the bad guys from Mooloolaba to Vanuatu. Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing at home or out on the Pacific, and they have to take their chances with the sharks, in and out of the water.

Review DUSTY DEXTER PI: HER FIRST CASE - Jan Richards
Karen Chisholm
Monday, July 8, 2013
Blog CR - Dusty Dexter PI, Jan Richards
Karen Chisholm
Thursday, May 16, 2013

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