I wouldn't say that this is the best installment yet, but it was pretty entertaining...but probably not for the reasons you think.
After finishing my reading of this novel I realized something about the Chintz 'n China mysteries....they're not really about the mystery, they're about the characters. To be honest, the characters are the only reason I enjoyed this book. I didn't really care about the Klakatat monster or even the murder "mystery" (which falls flat on its face, by the way).
Now, I have to complain about the sex scenes again. They were just a bit too graphic and they seemed out of place in a novel like this. I don't know about the other readers, but I really don't care about Emerald's sex life. Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not uptight about this stuff. I've read novels (Michael Cunningham's come to mind) which can be very graphic in that department, but at least those kinds of scenes belonged there and went right along with character development. In the Chintz 'n China novels, they're just an annoying distraction.
All in all, don't expect a good (or even decent) mystery, but read it for the characters. Some stuff is even left unexplained: Like, what happened to Jimbo's fence?
The fourth book is titled 'A Harvest of Bones' and is due out December 2005.
-Ater
