Nice Girls Finish Last

And now for a bit of fluff. I discovered Sparkle Hayter's first Robin Hudson mystery, What's a Girl Gotta Do?, at the AAUW Used Book Sale last October. The cover was so funny that I snapped it up. The heroine was so funny that I ordered the sequel from pbs, and the SEQUEL was so funny that now I have to read the rest of the series!

The books remind me a little of Janet Evanovich's bountyhunter series, though less raucous and more cloak-and-dagger. And, apparently, more autobiographical - check out the bio. of Hayter by clicking on the title link! The call numbers of the tv station for which Robin Hudson works are ANN; one wonders just how many of the incidents and personalities in these books are based on Hayter's real-world experience at CNN.

Much of the humor derives from the fact that Robin works in the special features section, and her boss persists in assigning her to hideous stories that send her undercover in S/M clubs, sperm banks and funeral home embalming rooms. But part of it is that Robin herself is such an intriguing mix of gutsy woman reporter and paranoiac. On the one hand, she pursues murderers and wrong-doers with dogged persistence; on the other, she cultivates potted and hanging planters filled with poison ivy all over her apartment in case robbers break in.

As I said, funny. Very. Fluffy, too.

Hm, I think I'll head on over to pbs now & see if anyone's posted any more . . . .

~Cheers