Carol Higgins Clark, daughter of Mary, has seized on the serial character concept with her Regan Reilly books: Decked, Snagged, Iced, and Twanged. In this fourth book, Reilly gets involved with country singer Briggid O'Neill, an Irish fiddle, and an heir to a fortune made on thumbtacks."Acclaimed for witty dialogue, eccentric characters, and trendy settings," says the book jacket. The characters are indeed odd and the settings are well-done, but the witty dialogue must have happened when I wasn't looking. Writers have a true challenge in trying to make their characters sound real and Clark falls a little flat, if you ask me.Also, I have to point out that this book insulted my sense of reality.Why?A woman has a plastic bag over her head and gee, she's suffocating."Regan lunged across the room and threw herself at Pammy as Louisa's nails dug into the bag and ripped it open. She pressed her mouth against Briggid's and began to perform CPR." Briggid goes on to give a concert immediately following this event.Yeah, right. That's on page 189; this book has 198 pages. If that'd happened earlier, I'd have tossed the book and read something else. (My biggest problem is the irresponsibility of the author, but we don't need to go into that here, do we?)To credit Clark, though, the book is relatively short and easy to read, and as I said before, the characters are interesting: The lady who ends her statements with "hnnnn,"for instance, would probably be very annoying in person, but she's kind of funny in the book. The descriptions of the Hamptons and Ireland are believable (can't argue - I've never been to either) and the story itself isn't bad.Looking for the crime? There's a party guest suspiciously drowned in a pool and a stolen fiddle with a curse on it. This part (the cursed fiddle) gets a bit silly in my opinion, but Clark has made the New York Times Bestseller list and I haven't, so who am I to say what people like to read...?
Another real good story about Regan Reilly the private detective. I like her character and her family. This book was full of characters and at times it could get a little confusing why they were a part of the book but then it all came together. A good mystery that gets you from the beginning and you do not want to put the book down. Brigid has been given a fiddle that is believed to be cursed if taken out of the country and she does and all kind of problems begin. The story takes place at the Hamptons where they are all staying at Chappy Tinka's compound. Who wants to hurt Brigid and why? Can Regan protect her?
What do You think about Twanged (1999)?
Carol Higgins Clark's latest book, Twanged, is a light-hearted, easy read, but without much depth. All of Carol's books star Regan Reilly whose life never changes...overworked and in need of a vacation (and a companion!). The main question of this book, what do the initials CT stand for, was never answered. So much emphasis was placed upon the "stalker" however, the ending was wrapped up so quickly that he was basically shuffled away. It was almost as if Ms. Higgins Clark was leaving for a vacation and needed to complete her book...the story ended quite rapidly and without much surprise or excitement.
—Judith
This is definitely stronger than the first three Regan Reilly novels. The dialog flows better, Regan's inner monologue is a little less snarky and annoying. What this book lacks is clarity. Character and location descriptions are lacking. I find myself confused at the layout of the properties mentioned because they haven't been adequately described earlier. The same goes with some of the characters. It's an enjoyable little mystery story. I guess "cozy" is the word to describe a very PG mystery with no sex, violence, or coarse language. I do feel that it, like some of the others I've read of the younger Clark's, take place in a very charmed world, where everyone is incredibly self-absorbed and doesn't understand why other people aren't like them. The "working class" characters feel like cariacatures, not like real people. For the main characters, there's no sense of the lives they lead. Regan Reilly feels kind of like a grown up Nancy Drew, where I don't feel like I know Nancy Drew any better at the end of the book. I will continue with the series, hoping that it continues to get better. Hopefully these early works are just having some growing pains!
—Lauren
