Description
She played a detective on TV, but now that her life depends on it, can Maizie Albright play a detective for real?
For fans of romantic comedy mysteries like Meg Cabot’s Size 12 Is Not Fat and Stephanie Bond’s Body Movers, The Wall Street Journal best-selling author Larissa Reinhart brings her listeners the first in the Maizie Albright Star Detective series, Hot Mystery Reviews’ “Top 10 Mysteries for Book Clubs”.
”Child star and hilarious hot mess Maizie Albright trades Hollywood for the backwoods of Georgia and pure delight ensues. Maizie’s my new favorite escape from reality.” (Gretchen Archer, USA Today best-selling author of the Davis Way Crime Caper series)
Three Teen Choice Awards, one Emmy nomination, and several Maxim covers later, Maizie Albright was an ex-teen star, stuck in reality show hell, and standing before a California judge. She has one chance for a new life: return home to Black Pine, Georgia, and get a job that has nothing to do with show business. So why not become a private detective – the person she played during the happiest days of her life?
Maybe because…
First: She’s got 10 days to get and keep the job.
Second: She has to convince the only private investigator in town to hire her.
Third: She lost the client’s wife on the first day. (And the woman may be dead…)
Fourth: She just might be falling in love with her new boss. And she just might have lost him his business.
But what has she got to lose, other than imprisonment, her dignity, and possibly, her life?
Start the Wall Street Journal best-selling series and download 15 Minutes today!
“Sassy, sexy, and fun, 15 Minutes is hours of enjoyment.” (Phoebe Fox, author of the Breakup Doctor series)
Julie Howard –
I really enjoyed this book. I got the audio book because I recognised the cover and thought I must have read it. I was wrong I didn’t remember it at all and it is probably sat on my kindle waiting to be read. Big mistake because I loved it. If I had know it was going to be this much fun I would have read it ages a go. Oh well at least I got it on audio. I loved the whole plot,a child star that plays a detective on tv trying to make it in the real world. The mystery was good even though I had worked out what was going on it was still fun getting there with the characters, who were like able if a bit quirky. Some of the situations she found her self in were humorous and most of the time caught on camera as the paparazzi followed her everywhere. I hope there is more books in the series to come because I think it will be fun to see how the characters develop as they work more closely together.
Maizie has just ten days to prove that she can be a detective and not just play one on tv. Life isn’t like it is on tv, you don’t have a script to follow or the director shouting cut when it gets to hard and Maizie is learning it the hard way. First she turns up for a job interview and Nash has no clue why she is there and when he does relent and gives her a chance she gets her nose broken and loses the women she is meant to be following. As if that wasn’t bad enough but her controlling mother wants her back on the tv show the judge ordered her to stay away from or she faces going to jail. Can she solve the case and find the missing woman with a camera crew and her mother following her every move and getting in the way? Every move she makes has a habit of ending up gossip for celebrity magazines but can she use that to her advantage and get reluctant witnesses to talk to her? She might just have to because the missing women’s husband is going to sue and run Nash out of business for letting his wife get kidnapped while he was watching her.
I liked the narrator as she used a variety of voices for the characters and was bubbly and entertaining In the telling.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request from audiobooksunleashed and have voluntarily left this review
Rosemary HUGHES –
This is very much a young person’s book, with a lot of upscale items and phrases.
This being said, it was a very involved mystery that our two intrepid P.I.s were trying to solve.
It highlights the difference between the make believe of Hollywood and the possible dangerous world of true life.
I must say, I enjoyed the jaunty feel of the tale, and the few dramatic sequences were spellbinding. Often it is easy enough to get characters into a tight spot, it’s getting them out, in a believable way, which is hard. This author mastered these problems and more.
Jennifer Fournier –
This was a cute story, well-narrated. Masie is trying to escape her tabloid past but it keeps following her as she tries to become a private investigator by apprenticing to a private investigator in her old home town. Her Hollywood (shallow?) life has given her a real knowledge of clothing designers and cutsie expressions – both of which she uses a lot (perhaps just a bit too much for my taste, but not a big deal). The pronunciation of Julio with a J really threw me but eventually I picked up that he was Italian so assume the Italian pronounce it with a J rather than the Y sound of Spanish. The mystery was good and the characters interesting. A good listen all in all but not, to be honest, riveting. I received a promotional code for this book.
Laura –
I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and any opinions expressed herein are my own.
I am actually somewhere between a 3 and 3 1/2 stars. Parts of this story, I really enjoyed and parts started to grate on me a bit as the book continued. There is some really fun humor and the romantic tension was enjoyable. The premise of a former child star returning back to her hometown to become a PI is a great concept. I really enjoyed the tension between Maizie and her momager – who doesn’t want to leave Hollywood behind. What began to bother me about this book was the constant high fashion references and when Maizie declares herself separate from her TV detective character and wanting to leave it all behind but yet, she seemed to almost constantly be asking herself what would her TV detective character do in a situation – it just became a bit one note. Overall, it was an enjoyable light read.
The narrator, Joan Dukore, did a good job in a very light-hearted narration.
Jerry Harkey –
Maizie is a washed up Hollywood Valley Girl and a clueless detective wannabe. However, she is also hilarious with she self-dialogs and as she overthinks her “every move is carefully planned.” With an equally low IQ group of friends, her grumpy new boss (and semi-love interest), and sheer perseverance, can she survive until the case is “solve-d!?!” Sorry for the Inspector Clouseau references but I had to go there, and if you read/listen you’ll get it too.