Vanity, Vengeance and a Weekend In Vegas: A Sophie Katz Mystery

The Sophie Katz mysteries gets better and better. In Vows, Vendetta, and a little Black dress, she sets up her latest novel Vanity, Vengeance and a Weekend in Vegas. Davis does a marvelous job threading the ending of one mystery with the beginning of the next. Another strong suite is her continual rounding out of Sophie’s supporting cast. She allows the characters to grow and develop along with the central mystery. This growth started several novels ago and strongly continues.

In this Novel, the story starts innocently as Sophie consoles herself with her friends in Vegas after she and Anatoly split. Finding out he was - is married was too much. And, then the roller coaster ride starts the free fall. The series is great and you should definitely read this. If you haven’t got caught up on the series, you should go back as do so. This novel doesn’t really give anything away from the early novels so you should be pretty safe.

Sophie Katz is a strong central figure. There is a lot to admire, make you laugh and shake your head. The cast of charters work well together and you probably won’t guess what’s going to happen next. If you like the Stephanie Plum, Scarpetta or Pendergast series, this is a great addition to you reading lists. I highly recommend it and there is a hook to the next installment -- but you'll have to read it to find it.

I have bought all the audiobooks in the Sophie Katz series and I've loved them all except this one. The first 5 books I only bought through Audible. This book, I first bought on Amazon for my kindle because it wasn't available in audio format. I had not been overly impressed with the book, but I thought it was because I really loved Gabra Zackman's performances of all the characters. I just recently purchased and listened to this audiobook, and I couldn't even get more than an hour in before I just shut it off. The problem is the story is very slow and lacks most of the laugh out loud moments I loved. This particular performance by Gabra is equally bad. None of the characters sound right. They all seem to lack the personalities and voice inflections I've gotten used to. The main character, Sophie, just comes off as whiney. It's hard to know if these problems are due to the changes in editing and publication, or if this series has just reached the end. I don't believe I will be buying anymore though.

I tried to get interested in this book, but just couldn't make it work. The characters didn't appeal to me, and MaryAnn was the absolute straw that broke the camel's back. I think she was supposed to be cute in her absence of mind, but it just irritated the heck out of me every time she opened her mouth.
The main character got off on the wrong foot at the very beginning of the book, by taking the word of a malicious troublemaker, (which she knew her to be a conniving con) then not even listening to the love of her life's side of the story, just immediately kicks him out of the house. I realized it was going to be one of those books, where you stay half mad at how stupid the characters are acting, and just wasn't in the mood to deal with frustration. At any rate, I decided to go to something else.

Just liking the series, just enough spice to keep it edgy, story enough to keep it interesting, well written to keep me in the story, and the performance by the narrator is spot on!
My third one, and enjoying the characters as developing, evolving and interesting as time is passing....

As long as these elements remain, I will keep listening!

I love this these books! Sophie always manages to get herself in some kind of trouble. But with her sass and wit, and Mr Cat, she seems to solve each case! Sophie's friends and her boyfriend always add to the comic relief. Her ethnic combination of Jewish and African American is a hilarious combination at times.
The narrator Gabra Zackman is awesome! You can't go wrong with any of Kyra's titles

I feel in love with this series with the first book! The story line, humor, and suspense kept me wanting more and more. I hope there is another Sophie Katz in the works!

I love the others, but this one was no where near as entertaining. The narrator changed voices mid character, and more than once pulled my focus from the story to cringe at the reading. This book fell flat.

This is a good book, though don't try to read them out of order, you'd be lost (particularly in this one). I enjoy this series and look forward to each one.

I'm comparing all of the Sophie Katz mysteries and this is one of the best storylines of the bunch. I also like the progression of the characters.

I don't want to be a spoiler but I love when Sophie makes assumptions before she has all the facts but always ends up in the right place.

Gabra does a fantastic job distinguishing the characters. She gets you to care about them and what's going on in their lives individually and collectively.

I wouldn't

I stumbled onto this series and I eagerly await the next installment. Kyra Davis is a writer that should not be passed on. I could easily see this on TV or in the movies. Not network though, cable.

I feel like my review requires an apology to Kyra Davis. I love these books. They're always so much fun. In fact my only complaint about the earlier books is the gratuitous sex scene thrown into each book. I just fast forward. They make me feel like a voyeur and they don't advance the plot. We get it. They like each other.

All of the earlier books have been the sort of thing I've devoured in a day or two. Yes, they're over the top and you have to enter an agreement with the writer that you will suspend disbelief and she won't make it too hard to do so. Sadly, in this book, she didn't keep up her end and I couldn't do my part either.

It felt like she wanted to write a spy thriller. It wasn't fun or funny. It was a labor. The secondary characters became tertiary. You didn't enjoy her relationships with her friends and family, they were merely props.

It was action packed, but instead of feeling exhilarated, I just felt tired.

That said, I liked all of the earlier books so much I will buy whatever comes next.