RUBDOWN - Leigh Redhead
Simone Kirsch is a Stripper (exotic dancer) turned Private Investigator working the fringe of Melbourne constantly, it would seem, in and around the sex industry.
In RUBDOWN Simone and her new PI boss Tony are called in to look for the daughter of a well-known, respectable barrister. His daughter seems to have got caught up in drugs and the sex industry herself. When she commits suicide whilst Simone is supposedly watching her from outside the flat, things start to get a lot more complicated than Simone and Tony want. Simone's PI license is threatened and so is her life.
Leigh Redhead has created a great PI in the character of Simone. She's in the long tradition of female PI's with attitude, although there's a strong sense of humour and Australian-ness in Simone that makes her a great character to spend time with. Her rocky path to love seems to have stabilised a little in this book, although there's a twist (isn't there always). Given that both Simone (and Leigh) have spent time working in the striptease industry the surrounding characters from that world are sympathetic, if not slightly out there, for the average reader. As with Redhead's first book PEEPSHOW, the sex scenes in RUBDOWN are a lot more on the explicit side than some of the similar style books (Liz Evan's Grace Smith for example).
The mystery in this book is a rollercoaster thriller, the plot is deftly handled and nicely twisted. Some of the outcomes are easy to see coming, but that doesn't matter - this is a book about Simone and how she copes with her world and the series is a great, entertaining romp.
Simone Kirsch and her best friend Chloe, celebrity stripper, return in Simone's first official case as a private investigator.
Sexy, witty and a great read. Simone Kirsch, P.I. has given up stripping and is trying to be straight. But she can never stay straight for long.
Simone is hired by prominent lawyer Emery Wade, to follow his wayward daughter Tamara. She's been taking drugs and working in the sex industry and Daddy fears a scandal that will affect not just his reputation, but that of her AFL-hotshot brother and his high-profile soap-star fiancee.
When Simone finds Tamara dead the coroner says suicide. But Lulu, Tammy's best friend from the parlour, is convinced it's murder.
Tangling with a drug dealer, a sleazy brothel owner and a bizarre love quadrangle with three coppers, time is running out for Simone to get to the bottom of it all before someone tries to keep her quiet too.