Wollie Shelley is a thirtysomething single woman living in the greater LA area. She does a variety of odd jobs from designing greeting cards and painting murals to being a contestant on a reality dating show. She’s working through the heartbreak of having her fiancé dump her and move to Asia with his daughter. This starts to take a backseat to intrigue when a friend of hers, Annika Glük, disappears.Annika had been in LA working as an au pair for the Quinn family, plus working as a production assistant on Wollie’s show, “Biological Clock.” When Wollie investigates Annika’s life, she finds a narcissistic ex-boyfriend, jealous au pairs, and hints at a dark lifestyle that seem at odds with what Wollie and Annika’s other friends know of her. Wollie finds herself in the middle of some major intrigue with a drug czar, a new designer drug, and a federal co-agency investigation, not to mention getting over her heartbreak when a new love interest enters her life.Kozak is touted as the new Janet Evanovich or Sue Grafton. She’s not. She is, however, a strong new talent who weaves a decent mystery around a chick lit background. Wollie is a likeable heroine, attractive but unaware of it. I couldn’t completely warm to her, however, because she embodies too many clichés. She’s a wimp. Not just in a fight-or-flight situation, but in other day-to-day things like driving. Even though she’s a voluptuous six feet, she’s also a shrinking violet. When she does drive, or stick up for herself, it’s almost an accident she makes it through. Another irritating cliché is Wollie’s baby fever. She pines over other people’s babies (but not children) and sighs over Baby Gap and strollers. Hasn’t this theme in women’s fiction grown a bit stale? And what’s with all these characters who don’t have real jobs or normal names?Those things aside, because I’m sure they do appeal to a portion of the populace, this was an enjoyable book. I can’t say I’ll rush to my bookseller for more Kozak, but I’d pick up another one of her books if I found it lying around.
Dating is Murder (Wollie Shelley, Bk 2) (Audio CD) (Unabridged)Author: Bernadette Dunne (Narrator), Harley Jane KozakWollie Shelley, a greeting-card artist in Los Angeles, California, is featured. Wollie is struggling to keep afloat financially and to pursue—despite a series of recent disasters—the search for the love of her life. She reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on the reality television show Biological Clock. The show's premise: six eligible singles date each other, and the audience votes on which couple would make the best parents. Alas, Wollie isn't having much luck finding a man she'd like to date “off the air,” much less father her child. As the biological clock ticks away, Wollie gets caught up in a much more pressing demand on her time. Her friend Annika has vanished into thin air and Wollie is convinced that she's in grave danger. When Wollie reports the disappearance to the Los Angeles Police Department, however, the detective assigned to the case seems more interested in dating Wollie than in finding her friend. So Wollie springs into action—and lands right in the middle of an FBI investigation into an international drug cartel. She soon finds herself being stalked by an assortment of threatening characters, including her fellow television contestants, who will stop at nothing to beat the clock. With Dating Is Murder, Kozak delivers another sparkling treasure, a laugh-out-loud funny, literate mystery for readers of Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton, and for Kozak's own growing legion of fans.
What do You think about Dating Is Murder (2006)?
A sequel to Dating Dead Men, this mystery is just as fun and quirky as the last one, although the plot was a little more screwball. I should have a bookshelf for humor, since my most favorite books usually have to have that element, and this one does. Wollie's love interest from the first book has broken their engagement and moved to Asia to try to get custody of his daughter and Wollie is missing him and his sweet daughter and bemoaning the fact that she isn't a mother--maybe brought on by being on a reality TV show Biological Clock focusing on the trials older women face getting hooked up and having children. One of the support crew, Annika, goes missing and Wollie gets more and more embroiled trying to find her, especially since the police aren't too motivated. I was amazed at how well the author made me love Annika little by little when we never even meet her throughout the book. Wollie dates and detects and deals with her quirky family and friends, runs from stalkers and hitmen, and delights me with her goodness and resourcefulness.
—Dlora
Wollie is back and so are the shinanigens! Wollie, desparate for help in the health insurance dept, signs on to a botton-of-the-barrel reality show. It's bad enough that there is barely any budget and the director, creative front-runner and all around annoying pest is constantly yelling at everyone, but her best friend is there trowling on the make-up and dispensing unsolited advise on every turn. To make things worse, her new friend and math tutor goes missing and no one seems interested. What's a Wollie to do? Go looking, of course. Enter tall, dark, and scary warning her off, her new friend's boyfriend ends up missing, her best friend engages in b&e and Wollie gets stuck in a window. The threat heats up as Wollie finds herself embroiled in an international scary scene. Good thing she's got that guardian angel looking out for her...in more ways that one! If you're a fan of Stephanie Plum, you'll get a giggle out of Wollie. She's delightful and fun to watch bumble around only to piece everything together just from sheer determination. Makes you believe anyone can be a hero.Great fun read.
—Rebecca
One of the best mysteries I read in 2007. Wollie Shelley, a greeting-card designer who supports her schizophrenic brother, is trying to make money and get health insurance by participating in a reality=tv show involving dating. She's also trying to finish college and so when her math tutor, a German au pair, disappears, she's highly motivated to find her. Hijinks, as well as murders, ensue. Set in LA, and you can tell the author (who was in the movie Parenthood and others) knows whereof she writes.
—Nikki
