The Kookaburra Gambit
By Editor Alexandra Wolfe
Title: The Kookaburra Gambit: Kylie Kendall Mystery #2
Author: Claire McNab
Publisher: Alyson Books
ISBN: 1-55583-904-5
Rated: 3 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Owning half a detective agency is not as exciting as it sounds when your partner won’t let you solve any cases. Transplanted Aussie Kylie Kendall is frustrated as all get out, and she spends most of her time hanging out with her receptionist and sampling the Los Angeles nightlife, but that’s about to change.
Twins Alf and Chicka Hartnidge, the hosts of Australia’s hit children’s television show The Oz Mob, hire Kylie to find out who’s smuggling opals into United States inside their Kelvin Kookaburra plush toys. A syndication deal and a load of money are riding on whether Kylie will shut down the smugglers, but a murder (or two) makes the stakes even higher.
The Kookaburra Gambit is book two of the Kylie Kendall mysteries. I, for my part, buying all three at once, none the less some how managed to read book one and three first…no, please, don’t ask. This fact didn’t spoil my reading experience, far from it, all three stories are quick (and I mean quick) easy reads. There is nothing brain-stretching about the plots which flow along at a pleasant pace, aided by a lot of humour, although the cast of characters border on being caricatures they are still enjoyable enough.
Each story is a complete tale. However, that said, I recommend you read them in order, as the slight if somewhat flimsy romantic sub-plot between Kylie and Ariana Creeling (the other partner in the Detective Agency) might not make as much sense, as it should, as I found out to my chagrin.
Not that there is a great deal to follow given that these books are written in the first person, and Kylie, I mean, McNab never really fleshes out the love interest of Creeling, making me wonder why bother having a lesbian sub-plot involving these two to begin with? But maybe I’m missing the point.
The Kylie Kendall Mysteries are just that: mysteries. Not romances.
All-in-all, three very easy-going reads.
REVIEWED BY ALEXANDRA WOLFE
—
And, just for your reference.
Title: The Wombat Strategy: Kylie Kendall Mystery #1
Author: Claire McNab
Publisher: Alyson Books
ISBN: 1-55583-836-7
Rated: 3 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Running a pub in the tiny Australian outback town of Wollegudgerie doesn’t offer much fun or future to knockabout Aussie dyke Kylie Kendall. So when the father she never knew dies and leaves her 51 percent of his Los Angeles-based private detective agency, it’s bright lights, big city for America-bound Kylie.
Not so happy about her arrival is her father’s former (and Kylie’s new) business partner, the beautiful, enigmatic Ariana Creeling, who wants to buy out Kylie and gives her a decidedly chilly reception in sunny Southern California. But the two women soon have other matters besides their bickering to attend to. Dr. Deer, psychiatrist to the stars whose “slap, slap, get on with it” approach has made him a celebrity, hires them to investigate the theft of records and subsequent suicide of a successful but almost universally reviled film director.
Concerned for his reputation, Dr. Deer would much prefer that the death of his former client be revealed to be a murder. As the sparks between Arianna and Kylie fly, the City of Angels has turned out to be much more difficult and dangerous than Kylie had imagined.
Title: The Quokka Question: Kylie Kendall Mystery #3
Author: Claire McNab
Publisher: Alyson Books
ISBN: 1-55583-915-0
Rated: 3 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Aussie sleuth Kylie Kendall is hired for a routine security detail to prevent an academic rival from disrupting Dr. Oscar Braithwaite’s keynote address at UCLA’s Global Marsupial Symposium. Sounds like a piece of cake, but then Dr. Braithwaite is murdered, and his sister, the sexually voracious and irresistibly attractive Dr. Penelope Braithwaite, hires Kylie to investigate his death. Can Kylie keep from mixing business with oh-so-much pleasure? Can she remain true to her barely requited love for her ice-queen business partner Arianna Creeling? Oh, yes, and can she figure out who rubbed out Oscar?
Kissed By Venus is a web site for the discussion and promotion of lesbian literature. We publish lesbian fiction, articles, book reviews, and interviews.
