This is the sixth book in the Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, with an emphasis on humor and fun, rather than being dark like most of the urban fantasy out there. I've been enjoying this series since the first book and recommend it for someone looking for a light, easy break from typical urban fantasy out there.





The premise of this book: Esther's usual waitressing job is ended when the restaurant run and frequented by one of the mob families in the city is raided by none other than her on-again-off-again boyfriend Connor Lopez. Her mob friend and hitman Lucky goes into hiding in Chinatown and ends up calling Esther and Max when he suspects that one of the Chinese mobsters has been killed mysteriously . . . by a fortune cookie. Esther agrees to confront Evil once again, with Max at her side, and it has nothing--absolutely nothing!--to do with the fact that the mobster's son is making an independent film and suddenly needs a new leading lady.

As I said, I've been enjoying this series. It's light and easy to read and the characters are fun to follow around, especially when they get into the most bizarre and interesting situations. Lucky, Max, and Connor return, of course, and all of them end up playing a significant role as the plot unfolds and they start investigating the spread of these misfortune cookies. A good portion of the book is spent on the continuing relationship troubles between Esther and Connor, the main point here being that Connor has slept with Esther and yet HASN'T CALLED HER for over a week since. But Max and his magical talents are actually required in this book, and they are front and center, rather than being performed off to one side. And Lucky plays an important role in the resolution, as well as recognizing the Evil in the first place. We get the introduction of a new character with some fairly strong hints that he'll play a role in the next book. But I don't want to spoil anything here, so that's all I'll say.

I didn't rate this as highly as some of the previous books in this series because it isn't quite a strong in terms of plotline and development. I thought that far too much time was spent on the "hasn't called me yet" aspect of the relationship, but then I'm a guy, so perhaps I'm not tapping into the seriousness of this situation as much as I probably should be. But while reading, I reached the point where I said, "I get it, let's advance this part of the plot to another level, please." I also thought that the main plot regarding the fortune cookies, once it got started, kind of stalled out a little bit in the middle. For a long while, nothing happened with it, mostly because there was (initially) only the one misfortune cookie sent. However, once the second one appeared, the plot rocked from then on.

So, overall a good story and nice installment in the series. Certainly an enjoyable and fun read that doesn't discourage me at all in terms of reading the next book when it comes out. Not as strong as some of the previous books, but certainly much better than a slew of other humorous urban fantasies out there. If you haven't started this series, I suggest to start it now.

This is the third book in Laura Resnick's Esther Diamond series. The first book is good, and the second was great, this one sort of landed in the middle of both of those. Fun and interesting, better written than the first, but it didn't have the same uniqueness as the second book. It's going to be hard to top that second book though, in terms of creativity.





In this book, Esther is working on her guest appearance on a TV cop show called The Dirty 30, but then the lead actor gets sick. During the break while he recuperates, she tries to help a man being attacked by two gargoyle like creatures and in the process gets arrested. Not only is she wearing her hooker's outfit, but the man she tried to help turns out to have been dead for weeks. She's forced to call her ex-somewhat-boyfriend Connor for help. As she begins to investigate herself, she finds herself mixed up in zombies, voodoo, and a rather unsavory snake.

I liked the book, but as I said it didn't have the uniqueness of magic that was present in the second novel. But the author still played with the magic of voodoo in all its possible incarnations well, creating a fun and at times frantic plotline and of course the usual humor and sort of slapstick situations that we've come to expect from Esther and her crew. I did like the development of the relationship between Esther and Connor in this one. It felt much more natural and believable than in the previous book--the conflict with Connor not understanding what Esther was getting into and Esther afraid to tell him everything since he'd likely not believe her, I mean.

So, a good addition to the series. Definitely worth reading, especially if you enjoyed the second novel. We get some advancement in the relationship plot, get to play around with some voodoo, with some good laughs along the way. I'm ready to move on to book four.