I hate being sick. For the past couple of days I’ve practically been on my death bed and I was feeling so unbelievably horrible that I actually cried; I know, I’m a baby. But I had a sore throat, a stuffy nose and a horribly painful cough – and, as if it couldn’t possibly get any worse as the days went by, this just so happened to be my time of the month. Too much info? Maybe. But if you ask me, it’s a vital part of the story, because that happening to me at a time when my immune system was operating at its absolute lowest capacity, is what put me over the edge and caused the waterworks. Anyhow, I tried to make it to work because I’m a trooper – but it just wasn’t happening. Each day I came in, coughing and sneezing, feeling like utter shit, and ended up heading home early to rest and get well. Though I despise the down time and boring day time talk shows that were my only form of mild entertainment, I did manage to do some good while laying in bed all day indulging in my sorrow. I had recently picked up a new book – just a spontaneous purchase one day at the book store. To be honest, I had no idea what I was in the mood to read and so I picked out a title called Sex, Murder And A Double Latte mainly because of the pretty pink cover and the cute coffee stain on the back. Shallow as it may be to “judge a book by its cover,” I don’t really care, because I accidentally stumbled upon an author who is now at the top of my list, and I can’t wait to read the rest of her books.
Kyra Davis, a San Francisco native, penned this captivating murder mystery and has become my “chick lit” hero. Though there was no real epiphany realized after reading this book, and though she didn’t have anything life-altering to say, she still wrote a page-turner – the type of book that you just can’t put down and one that you actually look forward to staying in on a Saturday night and reading. I’ve always liked murder mysteries. When I was in grade school I remember that I had a huge collection of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series and when I wasn’t studying or doing some other extra curricular activity, you could most likely find my nose buried in one of those books. They were full of suspense, drama and entirely unrealistic events and I loved every word of it. However, for some reason I took a very long break from reading all throughout high school and college, only to re-establish my love of the written word after I graduated. Suddenly I was reading all the time, whenever I got a chance – on the train to work in the city, on my front porch to pass the time on a cool summer day, in the backyard by the pool while soaking in the sun – but I was reading books that actually made you think, you know? The issues that they covered and the situations that they portrayed were actually quite realistic and so, in my opinion, even though it was quite enjoyable to read these books, it was also a lot of work. So when I saw Davis’ pretty pink novel with the catchy title, I just grabbed it and didn’t look back.
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte is the epitome of a guilty pleasure read; it’s one that doesn’t take a lot of effort and doesn’t make you think too hard or ponder life’s unknowns, but it certainly does suck you in and leave you hanging on every single word written. In the beginning of the story we’re introduced to Sophie Katz, a novelist living in the eclectic city of San Francisco, CA. She’s not much of a stretch from her creator, Kyra Davis. Her vices include talking to her cat, Mr. Katz, drinking entirely too many caramel brownie frappuccinos from Starbucks, and indulging in her warped imagination as she pens best-sellers for the reader who loves a good, steamy and twisted manslaughter.
Davis doesn’t mess around taking her time to hype up some big action sequence that doesn’t satisfy in the end – instead she jumps right into it. From the very beginning Sophie starts questioning whether or not she is being stalked by a crazed killer, a fear that begins to take over her life as strange things start happening to her and to the people around her. At the time that we meet Sophie, she is in the process of turning one of her best-sellers into a motion picture, and she’s been working with a very well known Hollywood producer. However, her plans get put on hold indefinitely when Tolsky, her Hollywood hook-up, is found dead in his LA home from what appears to be a suicide. Sophie, however, with her untamed imagination, feels uneasy about the whole situation and starts putting her nose where it doesn’t belong in an attempt to uncover the truth about his death, which she believes was actually a murder disguised to be a suicide. In fact, what she thinks really happened is that someone purposely killed Tolsky in the same manner that one of his movie characters had died in, therefore re-enacting scenes from his work.
Throughout the entire book, we go along for the ride as Sophie becomes more and more suspicious that someone out there is on a killing spree, making his or her craft a copycat routine of the artistic works of some of the most well-known public figures. First there was LA producer Tolsky, next was famous rapper JJ Money who was killed in the same way that he described a death in one of his songs, and now it seems that this psychopath is after Sophie, a popular murder mystery novelist, as she starts experiencing things that happened to the main character in one of her books. When the SF Police Dept. doesn’t take Miss Katz seriously, it’s up to her and her friends to investigate and crack the case them selves, all the while putting everyone they know in grave danger. The book is full of cliff hanging episodes, intense drama and, of course, some light hearted humor to round it all out.
Now I’m obviously not going to tell you how it ends – that would just ruin it for everybody. It’s up to you to find out. So, if you’re looking for an easy read with some sassy twists, pick up a copy of Kyra Davis’ Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, and you’ll find your self lost in the eventful life of San Francisco novelist Sophie Katz; and if you really like the book, be sure to pick up the next title in the series, Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate, which is in stores now. Oh, and just one last thought: I think it would be reasonable for Davis to team up with Starbucks and include a gift card inside each of her books, because Sophie’s caramel brownie frappuccino was just as much a main character as anyone else in Sex, Murder And A Double Latte – plus, all that talk of it made me really want a good cup of coffee while reading the book! Just a thought…
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