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Review of LAST WRITES by Laura LevineA JAINE AUSTEN MYSTERY
Kensington, July 2003
Writer Jaine Austen (no relation) is working for a sit-com, her freelance script picked up and now being shot. It's a great job and a big step up from writing copy for a toilet company. Better yet, one of the handsome actors is paying Jaine some serious attention. The only problem is, he's paying all of the women serious attention--and several of them are paying it back. When the actor ends up murdered, Jaines's best friend (and one of the actor's conquests) is the prime suspect. Jaine knows her friend didn't do it, but how can she prove it, and how can she keep herself alive?
Author Laura Levine (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Levine) writes with a sassy contemporary style. Jaine worries about her thighs, even as she helps herself to the second brownie, obsesses over her cat, and tries to sort out her parents' delusional lives, all while trying to solve a mystery. Levine's insights into Los Angeles screenwriting ring true, and Jaine has a best girlfriend sort of appeal.
I found the device of having Jaine give a smart comeback, then admitting that she didn't really say that to be amusing, but it became tired as Levine used it again and again. Likewise, I could have done with a little less of Prozac, the cat or neighbor Lance, neither of whom seemed really tied into the story. The aging memoir crew at the Shalome Retirement Home come on strong, however.
Three Stars
Reviewed 9/09/03
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