Jeff Shelby

This book is very cute, and pretty much delivers exactly what's promised on the tin: a light, frothy mystery that's very easy to read and very entertaining.

Deuce Winters (I know, I know, that is the name of a douchebag) is your typical stay at home parent, carting his kid to many different sorts of activities (soccer, swim lessons, VBS). He has a side business as a private investigator, and he's dragged into a case when he learns that Moe Huber has stolen $73K from his daughter's soccer association and has vanished into thin air. The soccer association is fee-driven and will have to completely shut down, which nobody wants - even if the kids are playing soccer for fun instead of serious competition. So, reluctantly, he begins to track down Huber and runs into quite a few twists and turns along the way.

The characters are really nicely drawn. Deuce narrates in the first person, and its a refreshingly irreverent point of view. He is devoted to his wife and his daughter and, contrary to the name, is the opposite of a douchebag. One of the subplots is how his wife is determined to have another baby, and she is just as driven in her personal life as she is in her career as an attorney: she charts out the next two months of their sex life, and holds him to a strict schedule in order to maximize her chances of getting pregnant. It's rather hilarious, actually; he learns about all the things that affect his sperm count.

She is also very practical and level-headed, and lends her legal expertise to his crazy schemes as a PI. He has a partner in the PI biz, Victor Anthony Doolittle, who is just as loud as he is short. He apparently helped Deuce clear his name in the first book of this series, and they teamed up shortly thereafter. They rib each other constantly, which is also funny, but the midget jokes can start to run a little thin. They have a great buddy-cop partner thing, tho.

Even the characters central to this story are pretty nicely fleshed out. Though I could've done without the constant description of the 350 lb Belinda (head of the kiddie soccer association), who sweats profusely in the Texas heat. That was the one blip on the character radar, and I guess it can be written off as it being a first person male POV. Mercifully, he doesn't ogle the sorority sisters who show up about halfway through the book to nearly the same nauseating degree, which is nice. And his scenes with his daughter are really cute.

The plot is a bit on the convoluted side, but in the context of the story, it makes sense. Deuce is not the most patient person on the planet, so he tries to cut through the woo-woo bullshit pretty quickly, which I appreciated. I definitely kept turning the pages this afternoon and (in spite of the screeches of a dying squirrel) managed to get through it all in about three hours. There was no heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat denouement, but the ending was wrapped up quite nicely, and the story actually ends on a very sweet note, with Deuce's wife revealing that she's pregnant.… (plus d'informations)

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.

Deuce Winters is a stay-at-home dad who inadvertently solved a mystery with the help of a private investigator (see book 1 Stay At Home Dead). Now, it seems he needs the annoying PI again for a case of the missing King of Soccer and $73K of youth soccer association fees. The more Deuce digs the more complicated things get, but he feels he needs to find Moises Huber and the money for the kids’ sakes.

Humorous and twisty this mystery kept me guessing until the end. Lots of colorful characters and amusing situations, but Deuce’s daughter, Carly, takes the spotlight. Adorable! If you like small town stories with humor and a decent mystery then don’t pass up this book or book 1. You won't be sorry!… (plus d'informations)