Heather McPhaul

Don't let the title fool you, this is a story of relationships, but it is also a legitimate murder mystery served up with inter-active humour, sometimes quirky, sometimes laugh-out-loud, sometimes with snappy wit. There are many different relationships between mothers and daughters: love, pride, disappointment, competition, among others. This book has them all.

Imagine the insecurity and fate of a young woman who has not quite found her niche in life. Now imagine her mother, a famous soap opera actress, strong, confident, and not 30 pounds overweight. On the other hand even she, Ava Gerard, has her own fears to conquer...she has never won an Emmy! Here we have the basis for the relationship between Heather McPhaul's two main characters. Still, many can relate to at least some aspects of these relationships.

Leann Conklin has a difficult time with her many choices of work, but has finally found the one that at least has one customer. She is on her first day as a private investigator and is hired by the wife of a supposed cheating high-profile husband, Joseph Marlens, to take photos of night-time activities in his office where she believes he is having an affair with his new secretary, Brenda. No problem, a handy perch, perfect view to take the photos that very night, but they only appear to be working, nothing more.

After work, Marlens escorts her to her cab then returns to his own car and is immediately shot to death! Oh, oh! Looks like another short term job for Leann. But wait! Why is her picture plastered all over the news? And just who is this cop that keeps showing up everywhere? Surveillance or something more sinister? She wasn't even there when the shooting happened, but now she must either run for her life or wait for the murderer to catch up with her.

Heather McPhaul has a wonderful quirky style of writing. She can switch locations and personalities at a moments notice without losing the plot. This book gives her plenty to work with as naturally, the plot is about to thicken like glue! But this is where our perception of the mother-daughter relationship alters. They actually not only work together, they work well together and the humour flies. Fast paced, with an actress in the mix, the book is given a lot of opportunity to entertain. The mystery and the chase to keep Leann from being arrested or killed covers a lot of ground quickly. The story spins out in rapid speed to the final confession.

Loose ends are tied up, but there seems to be a possibility of a man in Leann's future, even the possibility of a partnership of some type, whether it will be romantic, friendly, or working relationship remains to be seen, but sounds like a good deal to me. However, we will have to wait and see if anything comes of it. For now, we will have to just sit back and enjoy this attention-grabbing book and leave the rest to chance, or to the author.… (meer)

Fire in the Hole: A Year in the Life of the World's Sorriest Stuntwoman
By: Colleen Kelli

Making the decision to separate from her long time love, who she calls Pickle, was a drastic move. Choosing to move from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico may be the change that Colleen, also known as Pea, needed to finally reach her goals. Getting a new life consisted of getting a place to live, alone, going back to school and finding a job. As an actor, Colleen looks for acting jobs and finally finds a job at a local theme park only to find that they wanted her to do stunts, like falling off buildings. After a family tragedy, Colleen starts to fall apart, starts to struggle with her choices, and then finally starts to find the determination, with the help of a few good friends, to make it alright for herself.

*** "Dysfunction Junction, so that's your function." ***

Labeled as a memoir (which I don't read many of), this reads like a fictional story. One year, showing the ups and downs in her life - sounds like a life that is more interesting than the story portrayed it to be. There were a lot of people who entered her life during this transition time and while they may have played a large roll in her life, their characters in the story seemed to blend together some. I either needed less characters or more of each of them because as I read it, I found that I just didn't care enough about so many of the characters / people to know what happened next. Tough times in life can bring interesting stories and this is one example of that. I would be interested in seeing how she writes her 'previously published' novel.… (meer)

I truly enjoyed this hilarious yet edgy book, Colleen Kelli had me laughing in the first paragraph, and in the next paragraph sensitive to the pain of the breakup of her relationship. Like so many people, the split between Colleen, nicknamed "Pea" by her girlfriend and partner, whose nickname is Pickle, comes in a standoff where Pickle takes a stance and says if that's what you want just go! And so it goes, with every kind of emotion, as this actress decides she hates Los Angeles and wants to move to Albuquerque. If that weren't enough personal trauma, her sister has just committed suicide.

Our heroine is definitely not your typical girl-next-door type. She comes from a dysfunctional family, lacks confidence, and converses with an alter-ego named Trevor in her mind. On the other hand, maybe Trevor is a steadying influence or guardian angel. Classed as a memoir, some is true, some is mostly true and some is strictly fiction, and what a fascinating imagination it is!

Her efforts and excuses, hopes of success and failure at the same time, really come to light once she auditions as a stuntwoman... no, actress, ...no, stuntwoman it is, at a Western Town theme park, Gunsmoke Gulch. I’ve seen a Western Town theme park, and Gunsmoke Gulch sounds so familiar! The description certainly fits.

The characters are somewhere between misfit, accident prone, Shakespearean actor, and bizarre. Not Colleen, though, she is just a sensitive mass of confusion, bordering on the flip side of calm and rational. This motley group is one part family, one part support, one part zany and totally madcap, the whole becomes great fun. In Albuquerque she has been staying at her cousin's home, but as she starts her training, she moves out; well, kind of. Colleen heads back to L.A. to retrieve her belongings, moves her furniture into her new place in Albuquerque, then goes back to her cousin's while they’re out of town for a week, because they have air-conditioning, TV, and food.

There is so much underlying the humour in this book, I'm not sure I can really do it justice. It's a wonderful book, easy and fun to read, hilarious in spots, and heartbreaking in others as Colleen flounders her way through the miasma of her new workplace, learning a new vocabulary as she joins the others in the crew, doing everything from washing toilets to working stunts. All the crew have their own quirks and dysfunctions from Shakespeare-spewing Quint to "Murphy's Law" Bob.

The biggest problem at work that Colleen has, though, is being trained by Doyle. By the end of the first week, she is well into her training of making bombs, followed by punching on the chin, kicking in the groin (harmlessly), and trying to avoid learning how to fall off a two-story building. Shades of Metropolis, every move is timed like clockwork! She is so tied up in time that she can't sleep. Soon Doyle is determined to have her hanging on a 30 foot flagpole mounted atop the hotel, three stories high. He is installing a flexible flagpole meant to "break", swinging her out toward the audience, where she is to "slip" and fall. The book reminds me of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

She has already had enough of trying to fall off roofs without breaking her neck. But under all this weirdness is a very depressed woman, one who finally seeks help. As she tries to find herself again, her personal life is falling to pieces. Behind all the laughs there is grief and insecurity, much like the adage of clowns hiding sadness. This is what I mean by so much going on in the book, all taking place within one year, hence the title, that nothing is cut and dried. Fortunately for us, the readers, her life is all laid out for us, and like so many others with similar problems, we have to laugh at what life has tricked us with. Colleen's quick wit is wonderful. This is an enjoyable and insightful read, you never know what to expect next and everything is a surprise.… (meer)