Fruitcake

I finished Rubino's first book, Death of a DJ, and just had to head straight into Fruitcake. It is even better than the first. Cat and Victor's budding romance is finding solid ground, the Fortunatis are an absolutely authentic Italian-American family. In fact, I think I know them.... And the mystery cannot be beat. Now if I only had Rubino's third book in my mitts tonight I'd be a happy woman. Dang! To have to wait 12 hours is torture. You just have to read this one.

I read Rubino's books out of order, and Fruitcake was last- the dessert! I loved this wonderful, wild Christmas ride. It takes up very shortly after the conclusion of Rubino's debut book, Death of a DJ, drawing her heroine Cat Austen into a bizarre Christmastime conspiracy! The side-splitting sub-plots, the tight pacing and the wonderful developing relationship between Cat and Lt. Cardenas are superior to anything I've read in this genre in a long time. Cat and Victor, Cat's rambunctious Italian family, Victor's off-beat homicide unit and a the well-drawn supporting cast, both the naughty and the nice, make this the number one Christmas mystery in my book. Five stars on the Christmas tree to this one!

Cat Austen, a police officer's widow with two children, is recovering from the gunshot wound she received while working on her first murder investigation. She has no time to fully heal because she now stumbles upon a corpse. The victim, garbed in a Santa Claus suit, is found in an out of order elevator in the Phoenix Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Cat's significant other, Lieutenant Victor Cardenas, being excessively protective and a bit mach, orders her to stay out of the investigation. ...... Never being an individual who blindly follows orders, Cat stays on the case, hoping to get a good story that she can sell to a local newspaper. The trail leads Cat to the highest levels of society, those who boogie with the Trumps. The truth is buried under an avalanche of lies and double dealings. Even in the face of bribes, threats, and attempt on her life, Cat remains adamant in her efforts to uncover the truth. Victor feels helpless trying to stop her, and prays that he is there if she needs him. ........ Following on the success of her first novel, DEATH OF A DJ, Jane Rubino pens another exciting romantic mystery. The who-done-it is complicated enough to maintain reader interest and the love angle is used as emotional relief to counter balance the duplicity and death that threatens to engulf the protagonists. FRUITCAKE is a fast-paced and enjoyable experience akin to the works of Earlene Fowler and Wendy Hornsby. This a writer who will go far in her chosen profession. .......Harriet Klausner -----