Monday, September 7, 2015

ARC review: Uneasy in New Orleans by Carol Carson


Uneasy in New Orleans
About UNEASY IN NEW ORLEANS
FINNIGAN JONES HAS A PASSION FOR COOKING AND
A PENCHANT FOR TROUBLE.
Dead bodies aren’t on Finn’s New Orleans walking tour of cemeteries and haunted houses. Ditto disappearing bodies. Now she has to explain to Detective Jack Boyle how her missing corpse has turned up in the Mississippi putting her smack-dab in the middle of a murder investigation.

Unfortunately, another of Finn’s odd jobs is taking questionable photos for Jack’s PI brother, Tommy. After she snaps shots of a dubious pair of lovebirds, they stalk her, then kidnap her. Now Finn’s dealing with two lunatics intent on killing her. Or driving her crazy. She’s not sure which.

Because lunatics and smokin’-hot brothers aren’t enough trouble, she’s gossiping, yes gossiping, with a chef ghost at culinary school, cat-sitting her aunt’s six felines and attempting to corral her wayward teenage sister.
All Finn wants is to survive school and become the best chef in the world.

FINN’S LIFE IS ABOUT TO GET EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.

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What I thought about Uneasy in New Orleans

Finnegan Jones has a lot on her plate -- she gives walking tours of the city by day, goes to culinary school in the afternoon, and take survelleince photos for her PI friend, Tommy at night. Then there's her sex-obsessed teenage sister who's dropped by because their parents can't handle her.  In the middle of all this, she sees a dead body on one of her tours, gets clobbered over the head and generally gets herself in a whole bunch of trouble.

The story is told mostly from Finn's point of view with an occassional point of view from someone else as the scene warrants. Tommy and has a detective brother named Jack and they are all childhood friends, which makes for some nice banter and playfulness.

I really liked this story. There was lots of action and lots going on with the build-up of the mystery of the dead body.  But then there's a ghost in the culinary school and almost too much happens.  What doesn't happen is any real sexual tension, and I missed that.  This is mostly about the mystery and very little about Finn's love life, even though there is some really nice chemistry between Finn and her two brothers.

Somewhere toward the end of the book, all the tension just seemed to drain from the story and that was a disappointment.  While I really liked the story, there were some execution issues like the ghost that seems to serve little purpose, and the uneven tension that just fizzles toward the end.  

There's potential here for something really nice as this author does have a light, humourous touch with dialogue that I liked, so I might just check out a second book in the series, but only if Finn gets a love life. 



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Author Bio:
Multi-published author Carol Carson was born and raised in central Iowa. She is a former finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest and is an avid bookworm who actually enjoys doing research. Her other passions include travel, American history, the Kansas City Chiefs, the St. Louis Cardinals and dark chocolate. She has lived in Colorado and Kansas, and currently lives with her husband in a log home on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri. Write to her at carol.carson@centurytel.net or check out her website at carolcarsonbooks.com
Connect with Carol: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

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