Pretty In Ink [Mass Market Paperback]

In this second installment of the Tattoo Shop mystery series we follow the main character, Brett Kavanaugh, as she chases down a mystery in Las Vegas. Brett is a woman with an edge - she owns a tattoo shop in the Venetian Casino and spends a lot of her time dating hot guys, giving tattoos, and chasing criminals. The first book introduced us to Brett, her employees and her friends - Bitsy, Ace, Joel, Jeff, and her brother (a cop who is also her roommate). The same characters are all back for this book and the author spends more time on the story/characters and less time 'setting the background scene' about Brett and her life. So, the good news is that this book can stand alone and you needn't read the first one first. The downside is that this book suffers from the same problem as the last one; the mystery involves way too many characters and it's hard for the reader to keep up and keep things clear. There is wordplay with a lot of the character names and, because this book involves drag queens, almost every character has two names. It gets really confusing and if the author could correct one thing for the future it would be to keep it simple - do we really need 10 so-so suspects when 3 or 4 really good ones will do? There was definite advancement of the friendship between Brett and her rival Jeff Coleman - who owns a competing tattoo shop - and their friendship was funny at times and gave the book a much lighter tone. The series is ok - it's fluff, and there are both better and worse series out there. Give it a chance if you haven't before, and if you read the first one and were on the fence about it.. well, you'll still be same after reading this.

Brett Kavanuagh is known for her original art - tattoo art that is. As the owner of The Painted Lady tattoo shop in Las Vegas she doesn't do "flash" artwork as her counterpart Jeff Coleman does, she does custom work. So after she does the ink for a group of Drag Queens, she makes sure she's there for their opening night. What she doesn't expect is to get caught up in the middle of another murder investigation.

During the show, Britney Brassieres is taken down by what sounds like a gunshot, but what turns out to be the cork from a champagne bottle, shot right at her heart. She recovers from this incident, but not to long after ends up dead. Brett manages to catch not the culprits face, but the distinctive Queen of Hearts tattoo on the inside of their arm. She then sets out to track down who did the art, leading her right to the door of rival tattoo artist Jeff Coleman. But when she finds out that not one, but three people got the same tattoo one night, Brett isn't sure what to do next.

Everything seems to somehow be related to a pin found in Britney's make-up case (a pin that matches the tattoo of the mystery man). Not only is Brett now involved in this case, but it seems so is her trainee Charlotte. But to what degree? As a victim or a suspect? Things get really scary when another Queen is found dead (by Brett of course), from deadly ricin poison he was manufacturing in his apartment.

Just what are these murders about? Are they related to a sinister terrorist plot to take out Las Vegas or is it something smaller like a simple case of blackmail. Brett certainly has her hands full with this colorful cast of characters. What's the actor turned politician hiding? Is the hunky Dr Brett she meets in the ER after being exposed to the ricin somehow involved? How does her assistant Charlotte, accountant turned tattoo artist, fit into all of this? And is the sheriff on the case more interested in actually solving the case or just doing whatever he can to annoy Brett and her brother Tim(considering he's now engaged to Tim's former fiancee Shawna!)?

Once again Brett has the support of her loyal staff, including shop manager Bitsy and tattoo artist Joel to help her solve this intriguing who done it. One filled with just enough 'he's' and 'she's' to make it hard to keep all the hims and hers straight. While she does make a few slips up along the way, Brett is definitely getting the hang of this sleuthing thing ~ and is giving her detective brother a run for his money in the crime solving business. And just why is Jeff being so nice to Brett all of a sudden? Might there be something brewing here? One can only hope! It shouldn't be to hard for fans of Olson's Annie Seymour series to easily pick up the reference to that series.

Pretty in Ink is a quirky mystery with a fun, independent, determined leading lady and loyal supportive cast of characters, each so different, yet lovable in their own ways. A fast, easy, enjoyable read with an ending that will catch the reader completely by surprise. I look forward to seeing what Brett gets herself involved with in Driven To Ink, due out later this year.

Brett Kavanaugh owns the Painted Lady tattoo parlor in the ritzy part of Las Vegas while giving her clients custom-made tattoos. Her whole body is filled with tattoos, a walking advertisement for her shop.

One night Brett is at the Chez Terso watching a transvestite on stage when a man pops a champing cork and hits the performer in the chest. Brett gets a look at the man who did it noticing a queen of hearts playing card etched onto his right forearm. Trevor McKay seems all right, but the next day he visits the Painted Lady appearing very ill. He dies at the hospital at the same time Brett's trainee Charlotte disappears. A waiter saw the man the person who hit Trevor with the cork; he describes him to Brett who makes a sketch. The man is Wesley Lambert, a transvestite who dropped out of sight over a year ago. Brett finds herself through a set of circumstances in a condo with the corpse of Wesley. She is decontaminated from ricin, which is all over the place. The tattoo artist believes there is a link between the two deaths and Charlotte as she hops from one hiding place to another to find Charlotte and the killer. She remains resolute in finding her friend, but ignorant that someone is watching her very closely.

Pretty in Ink is a non-stop action amateur sleuth mystery starring a brave strong heroine who thinks outside the crypt; something needed on this deadly case. The support cast adds humor and suspense (even off stage) to this well constructed complex whodunit. With a touch of romance to augment the deep look at another side of Vegas, fans will enjoy the second Tattoo Shop Mystery (see Missing In Ink).

Harriet Klausner

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