I downloaded this as an audiobook when I had an Audible.com subscription because...well, I don't remember why I chose it, exactly. Mystery novels are absolutely my personal guilty bookish pleasure, so it's not a stretch to imagine that someone recommended it to me and I picked it up for that reason. Regardless, I greatly enjoyed it. Plot summary: Jacqueline Kirby, loud-mouthed, brash, fearless, hilarious, best-selling romance author, needs a vacation from the publishing biz. Unfortunately, she's also out of money. So when she hears about the opportunity to write a sequel to one of the best-selling books of all time, which also happens to be one of her favorite books ever written, she jumps at it. The book's author, Kathleen Darcy, disappeared in the middle of nowhere seven years ago, and she's now presumed dead. Her family is interviewing candidates to write the sequel, and Jacqueline very much wants to get the job. The more she pokes around in their family business, however, the more certain she is that one of them wanted Kathleen dead - and she's determined to get to the bottom of that particular mystery.This was a fun, fast, entertaining story. The actor who reads the book captures Jacqueline Kirby PERFECTLY, which made the audiobook that much more enjoyable. I believe that this is the second or third Jacqueline Kirby book, and I definitely want to read the others in the series after experiencing this one. When I mentioned on Facebook that I'd read it, one of my friends said she liked to describe Elizabeth Peters's books as a peanut M&M - candy-coated chocolate with a nugget of protein in the center. I think that's a dead-on description. It is a fun, fluffy, cozy mystery story, but there's something weighty about it. It's well-written, and I can tell Peters is a smart woman.
"She may be a bestselling author, but ex-librarian Jacqueline Kirby's views on the publishing biz aren't fit to print. In fact, she's thinking of trading celebrity for serenity and a house far away from fiendish editors and demented fans when her agent whispers the only words that could ever make her stay: Naked in the Ice."Seven years ago, this blockbuster skyrocketed Kathleen Darcy to instant fame. Now the author's heirs are looking for a writer to pen the sequel. It's an opportunity no novelist in her right mind would pass up, and there's no doubting Jacqueline's sanity ... until she starts digging through the missing woman's papers -- and her past. Until she gets mixed up with Kathleen's enigmatic lover. Until a series of nasty accidents convince her much too late that someone wants to bring Jacqueline's story -- and her life -- to a premature end."I quite liked this book. The heroine is a no-nonsense, competent, intelligent, curious woman who makes her own way in the world and isn't frightened by very much. But the main reason I liked her so much: "The bird-brained heroine of a certain type of romance novel would go, blithely disregarding the possibility that the man awaiting her might be the villain instead of the hero. Of course heroines of that ilk could count on being rescued -- though Jacqueline had always wondered why a hero who hoped for mentally competent progeny would bother saving a woman so feeble-witted."The plot is just convoluted enough to keep you guessing -- I guess part of the solution but certainly not all of it. It's entertaining reading, with a cast of enough odd-ball characters & their nefarious subplots to make it really fun. I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book this much!
Do You like book Naked Once More (1990)?
Originally published in 1989, Naked Once More is a re-issue of a favorite mystery by Elizabeth Peters, a pen name for the award-winning author Barbara Michaels.Author Jacqueline Kirby is selected to write a sequel to the blockbuster bestselling novel Naked in the Ice. The book's original author, Kathleen Darcy, has been missing for seven years. Now that she's been declared dead, her heirs want to cash in on her first and only novel.Jacqueline finds herself in the Darcy's small hometown trying to complete the first outline required by the family and her new agent, who was also Kathleen Darcy's agent. Not everyone wants the sequel written and Jacqueline wonders if the accidents she keeps having are intended to put an end to her upcoming book or put an end to her. As she investigates, she finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery of Darcy's disappearance and possible murder.This complicated mystery is well constructed and easy to get lost in. I'm going to enjoy going back and reading the other books in the Jacqueline Kirby series. They're just as much fun today as when they were first published.
—Lyn
Jacqueline Kirby, a former librarian who is now an author, is chosen from a pool of writers to create a sequel to a wildly popular book, Naked in the Ice. The original author, Kathleen Darcy, had disappeared several years before and was presumed dead. Jacqueline visited Pine Grove, first as a candidate to write the book and later to actually write an outline of the book that would be auctioned off to publishing houses. She met the Darcy family and became very curious about Kathleen's death. First of all they never found Kathleen's dead body. Then, over the years, family members had received letters allegedly written by the dead woman. Jacqueline set out to find what really happened to Kathleen and possibly solve the mystery.Although I enjoyed this book. I prefer the Amelia Peabody series that Peters also writes.
—Jo Dervan
Did not finish.I've read and enjoyed seven or eight of the Amelia Peabody series, but unfortunately, Peters' writing style doesn't translate well to this character. Kirby's character is supposed to be brash, bossy, and over-the-top (because really, doesn't that describe every librarian you know?). But to me, it comes across as pompous, self-satisfied, and arrogant. Further, it feels to me more like that's the tone of the book itself more than just the main character. For instance...I hope never to read another book that uses the word 'effusions' twice in the same chapter. Too many 50 cent words where simpler ones would fit better. And they're not just in the dialog - they're in the narrative, too.Jacqueline's trip to a local bar is apparently supposed to have some sort of shock value, like seeing your grandma on a Harley. You can practically see the author's self-satisfied smirk as we humble readers gawp at this dignified lady's descent into humanity.Which reminds me of my confusion over Jacqueline herself. I can't figure out who she's supposed to be. In one scene, she's a hot mamma turning heads and sleeping with a 30-something detective. In another, she's got grandchildren and is giving some poor clerk a two paragraph rant about how she should be called "Mrs. Kirby" instead of Jacqueline. I mean, I know it's not mutually exclusive, you can be sexy AND yell at a clerk, it makes her seem kind of schizophrenic to me.Usually, I'm pretty tenacious when I start a book - it takes a lot for me to put it aside. But all that, coupled with a mystery that seems wafer thin, made me look for greener pastures.
—Donna
