This (so far) final book in the series really shows her growth as a sleuth, but also as an adult. Should she kiss the pretty boy (and he is) or should she move to the next level in a real relationship? Now, I'm panting for the next book!

This (so far) final book in the series really shows her growth as a sleuth, but also as an adult. Should she kiss the pretty boy (and he is) or should she move to the next level in a real relationship? Now, I'm panting for the next book!

Laura has written a book that goes back to Black Rubber Dress with its style and mystery. It took me till the last 4 pages, where she tells you who did it, to figure it out. Once I knew who did it, the whole story feel into place. But, the story kept me on my toes the whole time.

Sam has yet again stumbled into a murder. This time her best friend Tom has been accused. She spends her time in a small town outside of London debating her relationship with Hugo and trying to figure out who done it. This story is a fast mind-tickling read. I would recommend it to any mystery reader.

If you travel a lot for business, there are few better companions than Lauren Henderson and her Tart City sisters. They have breezed me through red eye flights and interminable seminars. Sam Jones is saucy and fun. I only wish her first two books were available here.

Third in the series finds Sam Jones in NYC where two of her big mobiles are to be shown at a Soho gallery along with three other yBAS (young British artists). The fun of this novel is Sam's take on NY. From the wild cab rides to the hustle and bustle to the public ingesting of drugs, Sam enjoys NY and contrasts it with London.

She arrives a week early to hang her mobiles and meets the crew at the Bergmann LaTouche Gallery. Carol Bergmann is the owner and she is all efficiency and competence. But even her sangfroid is tested when the paintings of one of her regulars, Barbara Bilder, are vandalized in the gallery. And at the same time, one of the assistants at the gallery, Kate, with whom Sam was to work and with whom she felt an immediate connection, is found dead in the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park. She had been garroted and left dead on a bench. When the surly Don, who moves and hangs the installations is also found dead, Sam determines to find out who did it.

Complicating the scene is that early arrival of Lex, one of the yBAS, who had tried to stick his tongue down Sam's throat in a ladies room in a British pub a week before. Lex had been staying with Kate and now that she is dead is scared to go to the police and be implicated. And Lex had a one-night stand with another of the yBAS due to show at the gallery and she has turned into an obsessed stalker. Lex is very handsome but Sam is being faithful to her actor lover, Hugo. It is tough for Sam to do without her shag, but she manages with copious amounts of vodka and cocaine and other mind-altering substances.

This is a great read for Sam's views on things. She is a wild woman and lots of fun. Seeing the world from her viewpoint is a gas. I enjoyed this thoroughly and laughed aloud. The series just gets better and better.

Lauren has written another winner. Sam Jones, the main character, finds herself looking for clues and answers in yet another page turning mystery. Her witty style - fashion sense and humor make her one of my heroes. A quote from the novel, "..., saying a silent prayer of thanks, as so often, to the person who invented Lycra miniskirts." Here is Sam's idea on kids, "Children in any quantity give me hives." This story revolves around her first New York show. You will be trying to figure out who done it while knowing she has already got the person pegged. A must read!

Chained is not my favorite of the Sam Jones novels. This book was again centered on a mystery of sorts and drama (in all forms), but the "kick [backside]" detective girl was just slightly off (and no mantra to the mini skirt - which is a key Jones symbol). It could be that she has a steady man, or that she was written to be less aggressive, but whatever the reason it makes her less of a hero and more of a normal character. I liked Sam as the [bootie] kick action hero type. I also found the "chained" part of the story a bit too dark. Over all a good read - but not the best one.

Sam Jones is a tough, no nonsense, take charge woman, so when she wakes up to find that she is tethered by a chain in a cellar, it doesn't faze her in the slightest. Once she figures out how she got there, she focuses her attention on working on a way to get out.

This is an oftentimes light-hearted mystery that revolves around Sam's kidnapping, escape and her attempts to work out who the perpetrators were. Many of the scenes are on the set of a television drama that is in the process of being filmed and is where Sam is working as a stand-in for the leading lady. The characters encountered on set provide many amusing moments as the actors' egos duke it out, trying to maintain their superiority over the hired help.

My favourite scene, and one that I can easily relate to, occurs when Sam and her friend, Tom, venture into an Ikea store with a great deal of trepidation. Their fear of venturing of the marked paths and becoming lost forever, and indignation that the store doesn't contain a bar (and their means of remedying the situation) had me in stitches.

This is a very enjoyable book that is just right for anyone who prefers their female protagonists to be strong, fearless and capable, yet feminine to the core. It's also ideal for anyone who enjoys their mysteries to be sprinkled with a healthy dose of humour.

Perhaps the cleverest Sam Jones novel to date. This novel is filled with delicious witticisms ranging from literature to sex. A combination of "chick-lit" (not to be confused with the gum) and mystery genres, it transcends the boundaries of both to become a novel without genre limitations. It is witty, suspenseful and great fun to read. Like most series novels, a good understanding of the history of the characters helps to tip the enjoyment upseveral notches. Sam Jones is a modern female who loves sex with the proper stranger, drugs with anyone and has a hangover most mornings. But as she is a sculptor working in metal mobiles (at least for the moment) she has the luxury of staying in bed till noon. This lack of morning initiative in no way prevents her from finding dead bodies during the balance of the 14 hour day, nor does it prevent her from getting into messes that threaten her death and cause significant bodily injury. If you like 'em tough, you'll love Sam

The novel opens with a prologue in which Sam is chained to a pair of handcuffs in a dank cellar. Her head aches and she has no idea how she has come to be in this place. Slowly it dawns on her that she has been kidnapped but she cannot figure out why.

Henderson makes the reader work to put all the pieces together, especially as chapters open with little seeming relevance to the end of the preceding chapter - an approach that trusts the reader to pay attention. All is explained eventually, but the reader needs to read closely and trust the novelist. This type of exposition is one of the marks of great literature and it is a pleasure to see genre writers moving toward mainstream literary techniques.

Chained introduces us to the world of TV production and animal rights. Much of the novel takes place on the set of a TV production starring Sam's new beau, Hugo. Hugo's co-star, Sarah, has given reporters a field day by drunkenly defending wearing a fur coat. The animal rights groups are furious and she is inundated with threatening letters. When a dead fox is nailed in her trailer dressing room toilet, the threats to her life become more real.

Sarah is beautiful and a good actor but is not one of those who has the need to have an affair with her leading man, so Sam's jealousy of women near Hugo remains low. That she feels jealousy at all is a new emotion for her and it scares her a bit...

...

So much of the charm of Henderson's novels is the sly placement of literary allusions. For example: "The highly particular smell of damp unwashed armpit penetrating through seismic layers of its own previous dried-off secretions had brought memories flooding back to whatever parts of my brain were still reasonably intact. Not quite Proust's madeleine, but when you were chained to the ceiling of a cellar with no chocolate in sight, you took whatever moments of distraction you could grab."

Henderson is an intellectual whose learning lies lightly on her shoulders and gives the reader a smile of recognition without pushing things too far. So the reader gets sex, drugs and murder through a literary sensibility that gives the whole series its particular flavor of the sweet, the bitter and 180 proof.

Our heroine's name here is *Samantha* Jones, not Bridget...but if Bridget Jones lost her paranoia and self-obsession she might turn into Sam Jones! There's much of the same characterization, concern and compulsion with boyfriends, dating, sex, losing weight, career, etc., transplanted into a hip North London sculptor, and thankfully, it's a lot more entertaining to read. (Brief memo to Helen Fielding: give poor Bridget a *plot* next time!) If you like British mysteries but are turned off by their usual two extremes: the elderly biddy detective solving the murder of the vicar in the tea garden, or the world-weary Birmingham cop battling corruption in his own force...then this is the book, and the character, for you. Sam Jones is a breath of fresh air...a young, confident (mostly), sexy sculptor from Camden Town (no, she's *not* Cockney, as another review here has said!) Definitely an non-traditional mystery series heroine--she sniffs coke, juggles lovers, and takes action to solve a mystery not necessarily out of justice, but rather because it's her sculpture that's crushed a murder victim. The mystery takes a while to get going in the book (the murder doesn't occur until about a third of the way through, and Sam doesn't even really start taking action until two-thirds in)...but I didn't mind because the personalities, scenery, and subplots were so compelling and fun to read about--scandal, blackmail, drugs and murder inside an ultra-exclusive society family and London banking firm rope in Sam, giving her a lover from the privileged side of the tracks. For the Anglophiles there's plenty of London atmosphere from trendy Kensington to hip Camden Town, and this is definitely a character worth watching and checking in on in future Sam Jones mysteries. She reminded me a bit of Stephanie Plum in Janet Evanovich's mysteries...sexy, spunky, sometimes a little out of her depth but always entertaining to watch. Perhaps I'd like to see Lauren Henderson work on having a stronger mystery plot itself in her next book, but if the characters and scene-setting are as entertaining as this one, I'll gladly forgive her that!

The Sam Jones series of suspense novels by Lauren Henderson was recommended to me by an editor at Amazon.com, and I decided to take a chance and purchase the earliest one available (the actual first in the series "Dead White Female", appears to be out of print) as a gift to my 21 year old daughter, who enjoys books with a female protagonist. She liked the book very much, so I read it, and I also enjoyed it. Sam Jones is not the typical female character, but rather an independent, single person who lets nothing stand in her way when she has the scent of a good mystery. The tale is well-told, with a number of interesting characters and minor plots. The mystery is rather straight-forward, but that's all right with me: I'm not engaged in a guessing game with the author, I just like to read the book. Some references to things only known by British readers tends to be puzzling, but I'm sure overseas readers of American books have the same problem. This is well done, and a good diversion for a few hours at any time of year.

I loved Lauren Henderson's book "Black Rubber Dress" but the reader should be aware that the Samantha (Sam) Jones character does induldge in casual sex and casual cocaine use. If you think Janet Evanovich's series with Stephanie Plum is wild, you won't believe Sam Jones!! But Henderson is a very good writer and the action is funny and fast paced. I wanted to read more but her other books are not in print (at least in the US).

Lauren Henderson is back with another Sam Jones Mystery.

Sam has a couple of interesting jobs in life. She is a dominatrix and a sculptor. Her pride and joy is her sculptors. This is what leads her into her next mystery. She meets an old friend at a fetish club. Over a blue margarita he tells her about a job. Once she has the job of building mobiles for a play, Sam finds herself in the middle of a group of actors, one of whom takes her by surprise. Also, Detective Hawkins, Sam's on again-off again interest shows up and finds her in the middle of another murder.

With all the hype about Sam's past time (a dominatrix) and the author's last book, "Black Rubber Dress," I picked up this book with my eyes half shut. I expected a risqué story line with a character that overwhelms the mystery - not at all. Although Sam dresses and talks the part, the story line itself was not at all risqué or tacky. I will be honest and say I wish there had been more focus on the mystery, and sometimes the conversations seemed to go on and on. Like I said, Sam is an interesting character with a wild side, and the secondary characters are just as attention grabbing. It's an interesting, out of the ordinary, mystery series everyone should give a try. I think you will be surprised too.

Sam Jones is back! The busty, vibrant, outrageous and unapologetic heroine of "Black Rubber Dress" (think Kelly Brook with a talent for art, and for witty repartee, for that matter) tackles a series of murders threatening to shut down a off-West End production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Sculptor Sam's producing elaborate sculpture mobiles for the play, but you know her involvement in the production will include sleuth as well. The London setting, slang, and wild characters all contribute to the contemporary, modern mood of the mystery, and this is definitely a heroine-detective for the 21st century. The casual sex and casual drug use we saw Sam indulge in during "Black Rubber Dress" is present but *much* understated in "Freeze"-enough to make her an unorthodox and wild character, not so much that we wonder how she manages to get through ordinary day-to-day life. And *no*, she's *not* a dominatrix, as another reviewer suggests. Although the book opens with Sam in a d/s bar, it's clear she's a bit out of her element (although always willing to try anything!).

As always, the personalities shine more than the mystery, which takes a definite back seat to such characters as stage diva Violet, and Sam's newest lust interest, the flamboyant 'is-he-or-isn't-he' Hugo. (Answer: he isn't, as Sam finds out, much to her pleasure). As I did with "Black Rubber Dress," I wished the mystery itself was more developed and less of a casual background to develop characters. Perhaps taking Sam out of her familiar London and into the art scene of New York will add a few twists in her third mystery, "The Strawberry Tattoo," coming this fall.

For those who think British mysteries must be either hardboiled police procedurals set in Manchester or 'Oh dear, the vicar's been murdered in the drawing room during tea time,' try this series: definitely unorthodox, reflecting the young urban London of today, with a great heroine, sharply drawn supporting cast, and sprightly realistic dialogue. Like Sam itself, this mystery is vibrant, flirtatious, witty, and above all, fun.

Lauren Henderson improves as a writer with each new book. This one is better written than the last, with wittier dialogue and crisper characterizations. Also, there is a lot of insider-type information about how a theater production is put together. The mystery is well done, with the required red herrings and obvious suspects who turn out not to be so obvious in the end. It held my interest throughout, which is what I require of a mystery story. I'm looking forward to "The Strawberry Tattoo", which should be out shortly.

I bought this book because I love noir, I love strong female characters, I am a fan of some of the authors regular novels and thought I would find new authors in the process. But instead of juicy, fresh, hard fiction from a female view it seems to revel in making characters as vile as possible. Is this the authors idea of liberation, to write stories that just make you wince-no matter what the sex?
I read a good amount of books every year, maybe 75-100, and out of those I would average less than 1 that I don't finish...Tart Noir was this years.
I really tried to give it a new chance with each story but after the one where a 15 yr old girl hacks off her mothers head for messing up her incestuous relationship with her father, cuts out the mothers womb and fries it up for dads dinner, I was done...but the story wasn't, I won't even go into the deformed baby!
Pluck Katy Mungers other books, Legwork for instance, or Sparkle Hayters series for great tarts, but leave this book to wither on the vine.

A few of these stories are easy reading, but most seem unneccesarily violent and shocking. It's worth the price for the three or four decent stories. I enjoyed the stories by Jenny Colgan, Jen Banbury and Laura Lippman and Sparkle Hayter's story was light fun if not exactly "tart noir." You take your chances with the quality of the rest.

Tart Noir is a crime anthology starring tough and sexy women who get away with crime. I thought I'd find a clever collection of short crime stories with strong female characters. I was deeply disappointed. The authors explored the tartness in their characters, but I was more interested in what the book had promised: noir stories with a feminist touch. Isn't the title supposed to be ironic? Apparently, it isn't. Alas, there are some nice short stories to indulge in. The ones written by Jessica Adams, Lisa Cody, Lisa Jewell and Jenny Colgan are worth reading. Overall, however, this book and its editors (Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson) leave a lot to be desired.

Heroine:   solid

Independent, avant-garde metal sculptress and amateur detective Samantha Jones has an uncanny knack for accidentally turning up wherever very bad "stuff" is going down.

Savvier than the police and tougher than the bad guys, sexy Sam serves up equal measures of justice, booze, and humor in between her art sessions and sexcapades.

   What worked for me:

This first-person narrative of a feminista Sam Spade-type flung out so many similes and metaphors it was hard not to feel like the author was poking fun at the gumshoe genre even as she embraced it.    

What didn't work for me:

Despite years of watching imported British comedies, much of the slang went right over my head. I guess I have been watching all the wrong shows?

I am definitely too vanilla to read this entire series back-to-back, but one book here and there makes for an interesting way to break out of a reading rut.

Overall:

Edgy, darkly funny, and very British (not in a tea-and-scones sort of way) this thriller series is the antithesis of the Agatha Christie cozy mysteries. Anyone searching for a hip heroine who refuses to play by society's rules need look no further.

Warning: Very coarse language, graphic violence, casual drug use, and spicy sexual references are the trademark of these books. Not for the politically-correct or the faint-of-heart.

If you liked the Sam Jones series, you might also like: the Stephanie Plum series, or the Women's Murder Club series.

If you're interested in the fatal-femme crime genre (a la _One For The Money_, etc.) then you really should hook up with the writings of Lauren Henderson. This is her first book in the series about Sam Jones, a sculptress in metal works who has a sharp-witted mind, a series of adventurous and sexual escapades with a tongue as fiery as her blowtorch! In this introduction to the series, Sam's former beloved art lecturer is found dead after a wild (and rather hippy!) party. Sam won't let this mystery go unsolved and ends up pursuing the matter through the world of London's art society, often risking herself in the memory of the "dead white female". You can't really get better than this for a series - I personally think that it's faster and spicier than the Evanovich series and for an Australian reader who relates more to Brit culture than American suburbia it really is an enthralling experience. Since it's out of print (shows how popular it is!) you'd most likely find the "Freeze My Margarita" book first to get a glimpse of Sam's wild life and Henderson's pacy writing. If you're into this style or genre, check out tartcity.com for similar writers and get into Henderson as soon as you can!