Death By Smoothie by Laura Levine
When funny lady and writer Laura Levine was just breaking into the business, she worked with some of the best comedians of all-time (think Jack Benny, Smother Brothers, etc.). I’m sure she never dreamed she’d also have TV credits for shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat and more! Talk about longevity!!!
But wait! Fast forward to 2022 – this marathon writer still continues to bring riotous laughter to the world!!! In fact, Death By Smoothie is the 19th (yup, count ‘em) in her Jaine Austen Mystery Series. Just like numbers 1 through 18, Death by Smoothie doesn’t fail to give us an endearing and infectious cozy mystery that could only be penned by Laura Levine!
In this humorous tale of single, struggling free-lance writer, Jaine Austen, we find her landing a writing gig for a play based on an old show. Jaine quickly realizes this isn’t exactly writing for a famed Broadway production. In fact, the script totally stinks and the PROBLEMS keep mounting:
Problem #1: the star can’t act! Problem 2: Almost everyone loathes problem #1! Problem #3: The director/producer is in starry eyed in love with the star. He can’t see that she’s not fit to even have a minor non-speaking part! And last, but not least, Problem #4: The director/producer’s wife (need I say more?).
But when one of the cast members keels over dead from a deliberately tainted smoothie, it looks like this is Problem #5 – and it’s not going away! Jaine can’t help but be drawn into the murder – after all, this isn’t the first time she’s played amateur sleuth.
There’s simply nothing more fun than following Jaine as she trails a cold-blooded killer in between her disastrous dates from hell, escapades of her spastic cat, Prozac, and quelling the nerves of her haughty hi-end shoe salesman/neighbor, Lance (who falls in love with just about every man he meets)!
But this post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning her fabulously funny parents, affectionately known as Shoptillyoudrop (mom) and DaddyO. It’s not easy for Jaine to keep tabs on her rambunctious dad – this time, DaddyO had me laughing out loud as he tap danced his way into the local talent show with an iguana on his head (it didn’t end well)!
Death by Smoothie gives us plenty of cast members as potential suspects, and secondary characters doling out more humor than a fast-food restaurant doles out fries. This lighthearted, solid, cozy should be on your reading list if you want infectious and laughable entertainment.
Sarcastically funny and creative – Laura Levine gives us exactly what the world needs – HUMOR – and she sure has plenty of it! Thanks Laura, for showing us that wit and humor are timeless – and so are you!
Death by Smoothie won’t be released until late November, but YOU CAN PRE-ORDER it NOW online at multiple retailers.
Want to learn more about Laura Levine? Visit our interview with her under the Books/mystery category, last page…and also see some of our other book reviews in this series, as well as other book reviews.
A copy of this book and cover photo was provided by the publisher, Kensington Publishing.