Sticks & Stones

by K. J. Larsen

Overview

What does a woman do when she discovers her husband is an incurable cheater? If she's Cat DeLuca, she launches the Pants On Fire Detective Agency to do what two years of unholy matrimony taught her: she catches cheaters.

After client Cleo Jones shoots her cheating husband's bum full of buckshot, he disappears, taking her money, her dog, and her sister with him. Cat promises to return the dog and money if her client stops shooting at Walter. She finds the dog and a mysterious bag full of cash, and then she finds Walter, his very dead body still warm. The cops quickly arrest Cleo for the murder of her husband.

Cat is determined to prove her client's innocence and it's not an easy sell. Cat's investigation leads to four players with secrets: a childhood friend, a gambler, a construction tycoon, and a legendary Chicago designer. But when forensic evidence suggests the detective knows more about the murder than she's telling, Cat faces the certain loss of her agency...and maybe much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615953332
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	02/07/2012
Series:	Cat DeLuca Mysteries , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	906,066
File size:	865 KB

About the Author

K.J. Larsen, AKA Kari, Julianne, and Kristen Larsen, co-write the Cat DeLuca Mysteries. Their debut novel, Liar Liar, was awarded Library Journal's Best Mystery, 2010. There Was a Crooked Man is the fifth novel in this fast-paced series. The three sisters live in Chicagoland and the Pacific Northwest, with a shameless menagerie of dogs, cats, horses, and one misbehaved rabbit.

K.J. Larsen, AKA Kari, Julianne, and Kristen Larsen, co-write the Cat DeLuca Mysteries. Their debut novel, Liar Liar, was awarded Library Journal's Best Mystery, 2010. There Was a Crooked Man is the fifth novel in this fast-paced series. The three sisters live in Chicagoland and the Pacific Northwest, with a shameless menagerie of dogs, cats, horses, and one misbehaved rabbit.

Editorial Reviews

In Larsen’s engaging second mystery featuring Chicago PI Caterina “Cat” DeLuca (after 2010’s Liar, Liar), Cat goes after Walter Jones, Cleo Jones’s no-good ex, who’s stolen Cleo’s money as well as her Tibetan terrier, Beau. Cat, trailed by a furious Cleo, finds Walter’s bloody body, still warm, in his suburban house, plus a bag of money and Beau. With perfect timing, the police show up and arrest Cleo—who’s threatened Walter loudly and publicly—for murder. Determined to prove Cleo innocent, Cat turns for help to a number of friends, notably Chance Savino, her FBI agent lover, while evading the police to track suspects and hiding Cleo, after she’s released on bail, and Beau in her home. It’s a plus that Cleo is a great cook. Janet Evanovich fans will relate to the humor and crazy characters, but under the fun is a well-crafted plot with all the elements of a classic whodunit. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

The Chicago-based Pants on Fire Detective Agency might not garner huge respect, but it gets results thanks to Cat's dedicated sleuthing against marital cheaters. Her client this time is the irrepressible, loudmouthed Cleo Jones (Cat's assistant) who made so many threats against her cheating husband, Walter, that when he turns up dead, she becomes the prime suspect. As Cat probes deeper, she discovers Walter harbored a 20-year-old secret that has caused several enemies to surface. With Cat's disguises and her cop connections, maybe she'll survive her own sting operation. VERDICT The madcap plot makes this lighthearted sophomore outing (after Liar, Liar) a good choice for mystery buffs who can't get enough Janet Evanovich. Try also with readers of Sophie Littlefield and Laura DiSilverio for the impudent, female detective angle. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/11.]

Library Journal

Suspects abound when an unscrupulous blackmailer is found dead by a private eye and her histrionic assistant. Caterina DeLuca's Pants on Fire Detective Agency, meant to catch cheaters, is charged with an investigation that may be beyond its means when Cat's assistant/partner (depending on who you ask) Cleo Jones is charged with murder. It all starts with Cleo's cheating husband, Walter, who hasn't bothered to wait for his divorce to take up with Cleo's sister. When Cleo brings Cat along to do a bit of B & E at Walter's place and rescue Cleo's pooch Beau, the two find the last thing they expected: Walter home and stone-cold dead. Now Cleo is prime suspect and Cat is looking at accessory after the fact, a status not even her connections at the police department can wrangle her out of. Cat thinks her only way out is to identify who really killed Walter, but with the dead man's unscrupulous ways, including adultery, blackmail and embezzlement at a minimum, it's hard for Cat to imagine who wouldn't want Walter dead. While Cat craves support from her FBI boyfriend Chance Savino, she's seen more of her Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker lately than she has of Chance. As Cat investigates the murder of a man the world may be better for having lost, she debates whether finding the truth is as important as staying out of trouble. It's only logical that Cat's second case (Liar, Liar, 2010) is a bit disjointed, since the author is a nom de plume of three sisters. Tighter editing might return the series to its former glory.

Kirkus Reviews