Review Tour & Giveaway for And Justice For Some by Joanne Sydney Lessner

Welcome to my stop on the Review Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for And Justice for Some by Joanne Sydney Lessner.  Please leave a comment or question for Joanne to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway, for a $30 Amazon GC, by commenting and filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You must comment in order to enter the giveaway.  You can follow the rest of the tour here, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.

And Justice For Some

By Joanne Sydney Lessner

An Isobel Spice Mystery, Book 3

Publisher:  Dulcet Press

Release Date: September 16, 2014

Genre: Cozy Mystery/Female Sleuth

Length: 252 Pages

ISBN: 1230000264900

ASIN:  B00MT6H8EY

Buy Links:  Amazon | Nook | Kobo

About the book:

Dinner theater can be a death sentence—literally.

Actress Isobel Spice and her best friend Delphi Kramer are thrilled to finally have an opportunity to perform together, even if it’s just a cheesy interactive murder mystery at a judge’s lifetime achievement dinner. But when Isobel’s dramatic death scene is upstaged by a real murder and Delphi is left holding the still-smoking gun, Isobel drops the role of victim and assumes the role of detective. With the help of her precocious brother Percival and her reluctant temp agent James Cooke, Isobel peels back layers of deception to reveal a shocking abuse of power—and no shortage of suspects eager to deliver justice to a man who denied it to so many.

Excerpt

Practically before the last word was out of Delphi’s mouth, the crack of the gunshot ricocheted off the walls. Isobel smacked her hand to her chest and felt the blood packet burst against her blouse. Someone shrieked behind her as she staggered forward onto the dance floor. The Brioschi burbled up from her throat, foaming out the corners of her mouth and down her face. She spun around, arms flailing, eyes closed. More shrieks erupted around her.

Yup, she thought with satisfaction, definitely memorable.

She finally collapsed on the floor, limbs splayed, and after a few full-body spasms, settled into a position she could hold until Peter lifted her into the fireman’s carry.

She strained to hear Andrew’s line, “You just shot my wife,” but she was distracted by the sound of a glass shattering somewhere to her left. Somebody kicked her arm, but she held still, determined to be a convincing corpse. A pungent tang of gunpowder tickled her nose. Funny, she hadn’t noticed that when they were practicing. And…was that someone crying?

Suddenly, she felt Peter’s stubble scrape her cheek as he hissed in her ear, “Get up. Get up!”

He tried to yank her into a sitting position, but the sharp movement made her choke on the still-fizzing Brioschi. She knelt on all fours, hacking and heaving until her eyes finally stopped tearing.

“You see?” she heaved. “That’s why I wanted to practice…”

Her words died in her throat as she got to her feet. Two Hostelry security guards gripped Delphi’s shoulders, pinning her arms behind her back. Delphi’s mouth was frozen open in horror. Slowly, Isobel turned and looked behind her.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 Joanne Sydney Lessner is the author of BloodWrites Award-Winner The Temporary Detective (Dulcet Press, 2012), which introduces Isobel Spice, aspiring actress and resourceful office temp turned amateur sleuth. Isobel’s adventures continue in the novels Bad Publicity (Dulcet Press, 2013) and And Justice for Some (Dulcet Press, 2014). The Ghosts’ High Noon (Dulcet Press, 2014), an Isobel Spice short story, is available on http://joannesydneylessner.com as a free download.

Inspired by the true story of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine, Joanne’s debut novel Pandora’s Bottle (Flint Mine Press, 2010) was named one of the top five books of 2010 by Paperback Dolls. Her play, Critical Mass, winner of the 2009 Heiress Productions Playwriting Competition, received its New York premiere at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row in October 2010. She has written the book and lyrics to several musicals with her husband, composer/conductor Joshua Rosenblum, including the cult hit Fermat’s Last Tango, which received its Off-Broadway premiere at the York Theatre Company in November 2000, and Einstein’s Dreams, based on the celebrated novel by Alan Lightman. They are currently developing a musical based on Wilkie Collins’s The Haunted Hotel for the Signature Theatre Company in Arlington, Virginia. Joanne is also a regular contributing writer to Opera News.

           

Website:  http://joannesydneylessner.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JoanneSydneyLessner

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/joannelessner

A fan of female sleuths and cozy mysteries, I looked forward to reading and reviewing And Justice for Some by Joanne Sydney Lessner.  While this is the third book in the Isobel Spice Mystery series, I was easily able to read it without having read any of the previous books in the series.  Well-developed characters, a good mystery, some light humor and a good pace kept me turning the pages to discover what would happen next.   If you’re a fan of mysteries, this is a series you will want to add to your reading list.

Actress and part time secretary Isobel Spice jumps at the chance to do a little light dinner theatre with her friend and roommate Delphi.  Thinking they’ll get to do a little acting and get a free meal, Isobel never imagined a murder would take place and leave Delphi holding a smoking gun.  Determined to prove her friend innocent, and satisfy her curiosity, Isobel once again dives into a murder investigation to uncover who killed the guest of honor at what turned out to be a real presentation of Murder a la Carte. 

I really enjoyed how Ms. Lessner introduced her characters at the beginning of the book; as a person who’s always wanted to go to dinner theatre, but never been able to talk any of her friends into it, I have always been curious about how a murder mystery would get staged during a dinner.  As a character, Isobel is a hoot; she’s intelligent, funny and as curious as a cat!  While she’s determined to let the police do their work and not interfere, discovering her temporary boss has a connection to the victim sends her good intentions out the door.  Soon Isobel is neck deep conducting her own investigation and uncovering clues about the victim that show he wasn’t a nice man and that there were plenty of people who might have wanted him dead.

The secondary characters are also well developed and I especially enjoyed getting to know her roommate and best friend Delphi, and her intelligently gifted younger brother Percival.  The mystery itself took several twists and turns and kept me guessing.  There’s also a little romance in the story as Isobel, who considers herself average, has two completely different men interested in having a relationship with her.  She just can’t make up her mind about who she wants to date.

Will Isobel discover who killed the guest of honor while they were performing Murder a la Carte?  Or will the killer add her to his list of victims before she can uncover the truth?  You’ll have to read And Justice for Some to find out, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more books in this series

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

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FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review.  I did not receive any additional compensation for my review.