'No Such Thins As A Free Ride' Brandy Alexander Mystery #4 by Shelly FREDMAN

From the BLURB:

Puff piece reporter, Brandy Alexander, is determined to win the battle of self-improvement. She is eating better, (or at least telling people she is) working out (if sparring with a guy who fishes doughnuts out of the gutter and eats them counts) and checking her impulsive behavior at the door. But it's hard to stay on track when her own therapist gives her up as a lost cause. What's even harder for Brandy is turning down someone in trouble. Enter Crystal, a young teenage runaway whose friend, Star, has gone missing. Star was last seen getting into a mysterious stranger's car. In her efforts to reunite Crystal with Star, Brandy quickly becomes immersed in the dangerous subculture of homeless youth. As Brandy gets in over her head with hostile street gangs, pimps and others who prey upon the young teens, she looks to the tough and savvy Nicholas Santiago to help her navigate the mean streets. Soon, Brandy realizes that there is more behind Star's mysterious disappearance than she thought, and enlists the aid of ex-boyfriend, Detective Bobby DiCarlo, to help her solve an ever-growing tale of intrigue. Add to an already full plate planning her best friend's baby shower and nursing a broken heart, courtesy of Nick, and you've got the makings for the latest BRANDY ALEXANDER MYSTERY.

‘No Such Thing as a Free Ride’ is the fourth and latest in Shelly Fredman’s ‘Brandy Alexander’ mystery series. And I LOVED it!

In this instalment Brandy stumbles into the dark, depressing world of teen runaways. Having literally stumbled across a bleeding child in the middle of the street, Brandy becomes all consumed with finding out about the young woman. And in the process of investigating, Brandy discovers something rotten in the state of Philly... pregnant runaways found dead, miscarried babies missing and white collar paedophiles. And of course Brandy Alexander can’t let all of this go unpunished.

The mystery plot of ‘Free Ride’ is spectacular and superbly noir. This is perhaps the most uncomfortable but brilliantly sinister of all Fredman’s mystery plots. Teen runaways was always going to be an emotional subject for Brandy to explore, but I was shocked/awed by just how dark Fredman goes. It is at times an intensely sad and sore subject to read about – but by God, it’s good. The blackness of the story raises the stakes and amps up Brandy’s emotional upheaval. I did wonder how Brandy would play in this novel, considering that in ‘Free Lunch’ she had a sort of acknowledged peace with the horrors in her life. That being said, teen runaways were the perfect subject for Brandy to get caught up in, because it ensured that no matter what reconciliations she’d previously reached in her work, this new cause demanded more of her heart.

Brandy’s investigation into teen runaways sees her going toe-to-toe with pimps, alpha females and tough-talking street walkers. All together making for some wonderful (if heart-pumping) action scenes;

“Stand still you crazy son of a bitch,” he barked, which only made Alphonso rock harder.
Beyond them lay the kid, curled into a fetal position and rolling around in his own vomit. The whole tableu was like something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie, only without the fun background music.

The runaways also made for important characterization when Brandy learns that the subject is close to Nick Santiago’s heart. Nick, mystery man; wanted by the police, untouchable and a drool-worthy bad-boy... also, the love of Brandy’s life (even if he doesn’t return the feelings). Nick started out bugging me in this book, as all the male characters seem to. Fredman writes real, so her men will not be found spouting long romantic and revealing diatribes. Damn. Nick is the most mysterious and tight-lipped character in the book, but I love the fact that by contrast Brandy is very open (and persistent) in revealing her feelings.

Though Nick is at once closed-off in this book, his and Brandy’s romance is gooooooooood. So, so good. I don’t want to give anything away, but this is really a turning-point book for Brandy, especially in regards to Nick.

‘Free Ride’ is hands-down and without a doubt my favourite so far in Shelly Fredman’s ‘Brandy Alexander’ mystery series. The book ends on a slight cliff-hanger that has me chomping at the bit for book #5... But that’s okay, because ‘Free Ride’ is so darn noir-good and brilliant that I don’t mind a little cliff-diving.

5/5

'No Such Thing As A Free Lunch' Brandy Alexander Mystery #3 by Shelly FREDMAN

From the BLURB:

It's the new year and puff piece reporter Brandy Alexander has the best of intentions to keep her life safe, sane and simple...but she is having one tough week! It seems that everyone at her new job at TV station WINN hates her--everyone except for co-worker Tamra Rhineholt. But when their budding friendship is cut short by Tamra's apparent suicide, Brandy suspects foul play and (against the protests of her friends and family) sets out to prove it. Soon Brandy is up to her neck in kidnappers, convicts and conspiracies--all the while battling her growing feelings for sexy mystery man, Nicholas Santiago. Of course the amorous advances of her hunky ex-boyfriend, Detective Robert DiCarlo complicate matters even more. Toss in a visit with her well meaning but overbearing parents, her total denial of her own emotional exhaustion and the free lunches she'd been promised but never quite materialize and you have the recipe for the newest Brandy Alexander mystery!

This is the third book in Shelly Fredman’s addictive cozy mystery series, Brandy Alexander.

The book starts very soon after the events of ‘No Such Thing as a Blind Date’, the book in which Brandy was kidnapped and shot in her side.

When ‘Free Lunch’ begins, Brandy is feeling the burn of her post-traumatic stress. She’s not sleeping, with night terrors keeping her wide awake. She’s jumping at every little sound and seeing danger in shadows. But Brandy is a good Catholic/Jewish girl and thinks that suppressing her issues is better than addressing them.
Adding to Brandy’s stress is her new job as puff-piece reporter (and ‘C-grade’ celebrity) for a local Philadelphia TV station. Brandy is outcast at work and struggling with her co-workers cold shoulders. Only one of Brandy’s colleagues is half-way decent to her, Tamra Rhineholt, a hard-nosed investigative reporter. But Brandy notices a change in Tamra’s temperament after the two have a disastrous lunch together. Tamra is jumpy and calling Brandy in the middle of the night with talk of a big story about to break... and then Tamra winds up dead. Police rule suicide, but Brandy suspects differently.
Still reeling from the events of ‘Blind Date’, Brandy jumps helter-skelter into yet another dangerous investigation that sees her snooping too close to the truth...

I *love* the ‘Brandy Alexander’ mystery series, and Fredman’s third outing hits the spot...

I love the fact that in this third book, Brandy is burnt out. She has been through so much, and whereas most cozy mystery authors would brush their amateur sleuth’s near-misses under the literary rug and throw them helter-skelter into yet another investigation, Fredman actually takes the time to examine Brandy’s fracturing psyche. A good portion of the book involves Brandy questioning her own sanity, and fighting her growing anxiety. Fredman doesn’t turn Brandy into a ‘Debbie downer’ by revealing her soft underbelly; she just succeeds in making Brandy all the more relatable and lovable. See, despite her night terrors and anxiety attacks, Brandy soldiers on. She gets to a point where she is *so* scared that she can do nothing but accept the fear and push through it. I was really cheering Brandy on in this book, for her loyalty to her dead co-worker, and also for overcoming her fear. Brave girl, admirable heroine.

Fair warning, Brandy’s romantic entanglements are infuriating in this third book.

The romantic pacing is a little bit off for me. Right when I want Brandy to pipe up and talk about her feelings, she remains silent. Or when Brandy/Bobby or Brandy/Nick *finally* decide to quit walking on egg-shells and have a heart-to-heart, they say too little. When it comes to relationship dialogue, Fredman seems to prefer scarce and pithy one-liners to long diatribes.... and I *hate* that! The perfect example is an exchange between Bobby and Brandy – a momentous event has just occurred between them and the character’s sum it up in five short lines of dialogue. GRRR! I know it’s realistic of Fredman to not have these character’s expunging every little feeling they have, and spouting Dr. Phil rhetoric... but damn, as a reader I just want to put them in a room together and encourage ‘open communication’!

One thing that really bugs me is Brandy’s disinclination to talk to Bobby about how much he hurt her four years ago. Bobby and Brandy were high school sweethearts, until Bobby broke up with Brandy and broke her heart four years ago. In the interim Brandy moved to LA and started a fluffy journalist career, and Bobby got a one-night-stand knocked up, resulting in his daughter, Sophia.
In the first book, ‘No Such Things as a Secret’, Brandy seemed to have healed the wounds of her past, and she acknowledged that she didn’t need to have a big all-out with Bobby over his past actions. But as a reader, *I* still need Brandy to address Bobby’s past pain. It just irks me that Brandy has never really gotten overtly angry at Bobby for casting her aside... especially when, in this third book, Bobby makes his amorous feelings of reconciliation plainly known;

“I've got to be honest with you, sweetheart, except for Sophia, my life has been shit these past few years.” Before I could say anything, he added, “I did it to myself, I know. And I screwed you over in the process. But the way I look at it, we’ve got a chance to start over. And this,” he said, pulling me toward him, “would be an excellent place to start.”

Once again, I know it’s Fredman erring on the side of realism, but by gosh I was gritting my teeth with the need to yell at Bobby on Brandy’s behalf...
I did that a few times while reading this book, in fact. Sometimes I got so emotionally involved in Brandy’s predicaments that I was literally sputtering through scenes. And how wonderful that a character can rouse that sort of vicarious-indignity in me. It’s a sign of a truly good author and lovable character when readers get so invested.

And then there’s the other man in Brandy’s life, Nick Santiago... .ahh. Nick, Nick, Nick. Once again, as a reader and Brandy-fan I was really on the edge of my seat trying to decipher Brandy and Nick’s changing emotions. I sort of love that Nick is such an enigma, to Brandy and readers alike. It’s up to us to discern and dissect his words and actions, motives and motivations. As a reader I don’t think I’m any closer to discerning Nick’s feelings... but Brandy is likewise none the wiser.
Nick has been very honest with Brandy, telling her that he doesn’t do monogamy and can offer nothing but friendship. Brandy has also seen first-hand evidence of Nick’s voracious love life, after painful encounters with a few of his lady friends.
If Fredman hadn’t done such a good job writing Nick as a sexy and mysterious ‘bad boy’ with a heart of gold fans might be frustrated with Brandy’s continual romantic martyrdom. But the thing is, Fredman has done such a fine job sculpting Nick into a drool-worthy darling that we *get* it. I may be concerned for Brandy’s feelings, and sometimes frustrated with Nick’s stone-walling emotions, but by golly I can’t fault Brandy’s hormones!

I still love the ‘Brandy Alexander’ mystery series, three books deep. Fredman just keeps getting better and better, and despite jaw-clenching romantic tensions I can’t wait to read what happens next in Brandy’s crazy, muddled (love)life.

4/5

'No Such Thing As A Good Blind Date' Brandy Alexander mystery #2 by Shelly FREDMAN

From the BLURB:

When childhood friend and recent parolee, Toodie Ventura, suggests he exchange his plumbing services for the spare room of twenty-eight year old Brandy Alexander's house, the out-of-work new homeowner thinks it's a pretty good idea.
That is, until she discovers a dismembered body in her basement freezer and the suspect topping the list is the now missing Toodie.
Brandy refuses to accept that her old friend is a cold-blooded killer and with the help of her ex-boyfriend, Detective Bobby DiCarlo and the sexy mystery man, Nicholas Santiago, she sets out to prove Toodie’s innocence.
Soon, Brandy finds herself up to her neck in stalkers and deranged killers, all the while juggling some of the worst blind dates ever!

‘No Such Things as a Good Blind Date’ is the second book in Shelly Fredman’s ‘Brandy Alexander’ mystery series. I loved the first book, ‘No Such Thing as a Secret’, and this second instalment is a wonderful follow through.

Brandy was an LA fluff reporter... but coming home and solving her best friends murder (of sorts) really makes a girl nostalgic for her roots. So Brandy packed her bags and moved home to Philadelphia... her parents moved to Florida and sold the family home to her and now she’s staying for good. Or not so good, as the case may be...

Brandy is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend’s crazy wife who thinks Brandy and Bobby are carrying out an illicit affair. In actuality Bobby is avoiding Brandy and she feels the sting of his cold shoulder. Nick Santiago (the sexy Latino martial arts trainer and shady Philadelphian underworld character) has also been avoiding Brandy since their heated flirtations and rescue missions of the previous book.
With all these men avoiding her, Brandy is lonely. And her cute kitty, Adrian, is not enough company. So when her ex-classmate, Toodie, offers to be her roomie in exchange for his plumbing services, she jumps at the offer...
But their roommate agreement didn’t include Toodie hiding a torso in Brandy’s freezer. A *dead* torso!

I am really loving this series! Shelly Fredman is a tight-rope writer, walking the thin line between comedy and tragedy, light and dark, with serious flair. Brandy is pretty hilarious at times – she’s often bumbling, scared and stubborn, but always genuine. Her funniest moments are with the men in her life, Bobby and Nick. Her attraction to Nick is particularly hilarious because Brandy is so self-aware of his prowess and lothario reputation, compared to her self-doubt and four-year-long man drought. Amidst the scenario’s in which Brandy is in over her head, her flailing love life is a point of recognition for readers who will find Brandy’s struggles totally relatable.

But Fredman is also able to contrast the light and funny side with a sharper edge. Brandy is seriously threatened in this book; she is stalked, assaulted, harassed and the recipient of death-threats. This book goes darker than the first, and is the better for it. It’s great to read Brandy’s reactions to the various dangers – her responses vary anywhere from outright fear and dry-heaving to gob-smacked inappropriate laughing. She is definitely a woman on the edge in this book, and it’s wonderful to read.

But what I love most about Brandy is her steadfastness. Yes, she is shit scared most of the time. But she will not cry, dammit! and she will not let the bad guys win. That’s what I like in my heroines – a vulnerable side to be revealed, but their courage to come up trumps;

“Why do you keep helping me?” Shit. I meant to say something urbane.
He sat down next to me on the bed and brushed the hair from my eyes. “Maybe I’m just a sucker for a girl with bangs.”
“No, really. I mean it. I've caused you nothing but inconvenience since the day we met. What do you get out of this?”
Nick leaned forward, the dim light from the desk lamp casting a shadow on his beautiful face. “If I were ever in trouble I’d want you on my side, because I know you’d never give up on me.”

The love triangle between Bobby/Brandy/Nick is a page-turner as much as the murder mystery. Theirs is a complicated triangle, for Brandy and Bobby’s rocky past and Nick’s dangerous reputation. The romantic stakes are definitely raised for Brandy in this book, and I look forward to reading how she navigates the battlefield.

I do love Fredman’s light/dark within this series, but I found this book to be far darker than the first. I also found it to be quite sad, because Brandy really explores (and admits) her loneliness in this book and sort of questions if she’s wasting her time on Bobby and Nick... neither of whom can give her the companionship and security she wants and needs. ‘No Such Things as a Good Blind Date’ is quite a revolutionary book for Brandy’s character; she confronts a lot of her unspoken concerns and fears, and starts to really evaluate her life and what she wants out of it.

I am loving this series so hard! I am impatiently waiting for Amazon to ship me the next 2 books and have my fingers crossed that Fredman is contracted for a 5th...

5/5

'No Such Thing As A Secret' Brandy Alexander Mystery #1 by Shelly FREDMAN

From the BLURB:

Meet Brandy Alexander, a young woman from South Philadelphia with a big mouth, an even bigger heart and a little problem with impulse control. It’s not her fault trouble seems to follow her around. Okay, it is her fault, but why quibble over details?

When Brandy (a puff piece reporter for a local Los Angeles TV news station) returns to her hometown after a four year absence, she is thrilled to be reunited with friends and family. But her joy is short-lived when her best friend, John, becomes the victim of a tragic accident. Brandy is alone in thinking that the death is “no accident” and as she sets out to prove her theory, she stumbles upon a political scandal of major proportions. Things begin to heat up, when it appears that her former boyfriend, police Detective Robert Anthony DiCarlo, is involved in sabotaging the investigation. The one thing Brandy knows for sure is that people keep turning up dead and if she doesn’t get some answers fast, she could end up on the short list.

As Brandy searches out the truth, she gains some unexpected allies including sexy, dangerous, street-savvy Nicholas Santiago and the now-married Bobby, who still holds a torch for his former girlfriend.

With humor, guts and determination, Brandy tackles each challenge – be it dodging a bullet or resisting that box of Tastykakes in the cupboard. Murder, mayhem and romance abound in Shelly Fredman’s novel, proving there really is No Such Thing as a Secret.

Okay, I’ll admit it. Cozy mysteries are my guilty-pleasure reading.

A cozy-mystery is a murder-mystery that is light on blood, gore, sex and violence (hence the ‘cozy’). And the ‘mystery’ is normally investigated by an unlikely sleuth. I love a good cozy mystery, and a few of you probably do too (without realizing it!). Josh Lanyon’s ‘Adrien English’ series is a little bit cozy (except he writes explicit sex), because Adrien fits the ‘cozy sleuth’ as a book-seller turned amateur dick. Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series has been described as a little-bit-cozy for having a telepathic barmaid who in each instalment has a ‘whodunnit’ to figure out (who kidnapped Bill, who kidnapped her brother, whose been shooting the local shifters etc...).

Shelly Fredman’s ‘Brandy Alexander’ series is cozy mystery. Brandy is a small-bit LA reporter who does fluff pieces for a third-rate TV network (think dog-show expose). Brandy is a South Philly girl born and bred, but she fled her home after the love of her life and boyfriend of ten years abruptly ended things. Brandy is forced to come home after a four-year absence to attend her best friend’s wedding. But when her other best friend is killed in a boat explosion Brandy puts her journalism degree to good use and hunts down her friend’s killer.

‘No Such Thing as a Secret’ was a great introduction to this cozy mystery series, and I fully intended to stick with the books. I loved the fact that amidst the larger plot of discovering a killer, Brandy was dealing with some very relatable emotional issues. Returning home after fleeing heartbreak makes for a wonderful kick-off to this book. The emotional stakes are further heightened when Brandy learns that her ex-boyfriend, Bobby, has been having marital difficulties and could be facing a custody battle for his baby daughter. Things are made ten-fold worse when Brandy and Bobby are forced to work together on the murder investigation of a mutual friend.

The mystery is great, a real page-turner and brain-teaser. It’s a misconception that putting ‘cozy’ in front of ‘mystery’ instantly makes it dumber or less intricately plotted. Fredman proves how wrong that assumption is in ‘No Such Thing as a Secret’. Clues are dropped, red herrings dangled and curveballs thrown. She really keeps readers on their toes and writes an amateur sleuth to admire in Brandy Alexander.

“... it’s who I am, Bobby. I can’t stand by and watch the bullies win. And maybe I don’t always think things through, and maybe I don’t always get it right, but I’m never going to just sit by and do nothing while there are people in the world who can’t fight for themselves. You used to be able to accept that about me.”
“It used to drive me nuts, but I knew there was no stopping you. But this is different. This is life threatening.” He climbed off the bed and joined me at the window. “Brandy,” he said, forcing me to look at him, “I know I gave up the right to tell you what to do a long time ago. But I care about what happens to you.”

And underneath all the high-stakes drama and intrigue, Brandy is acknowledging the fact that she has missed her home. She left Philly for LA four years ago, and in a bid to avoid Bobby and opening old emotional wounds, she hasn’t been back very often. One of the highlights of this book is Fredman writing about Philadelphia and Brandy in all her South Philly home-grown glory. Fredman clearly knows and loves this city, and the suburban side of things. She writes about restaurants, food, sights and smells with such aplomb that I felt as though I was walking down those streets with Brandy. South Philly really becomes a character unto itself in the book, for Brandy’s love of the place and later for the insider knowledge that helps her in the murder investigation.

The secondary characters are also great and wonderful indicators of why Brandy has missed her home town so much. Her friends are loud and proud Philly natives; the women wear shorts skirts and big hair and the men frequent a local boxing ring for their work-out. A very different scene to Brandy’s life in LA. Her friends include twins Fran and Janine, and her gay best friend John. These characters are loud and wonderful and it soon becomes clear that Brandy has missed more than just the Philly food in her four-year absence.

Half-way through the book Brandy realizes that she needs to get an ‘in’ with the Philly underworld. Through a friend of a friend she is introduced to Nick Santiago, a shady martial-arts instructor who rubs the police the wrong way and is rumoured to have a hand in everything from weapons deals to training soldiers from the Congo. Nick is a sexy, suave and seductive man and a temptation for Brandy who has had a dry-spell since Bobby broke her heart. Nick steps in and does lots of leg-work for Brandy and the murder investigation, and at times it did feel like Nick was a scapegoat for the plot. Brandy still does plenty of legwork, but after Nick’s introduction he does a fair bit of heavy lifting. Plot semantics aside, Nick provides a hot and frustrating distraction for Brandy, and a nice alternative to Bobby’s complications.

The book did remind me a little of Janet Evanovich’s ‘Stephanie Plum’ series, because of Brandy’s two love interests. There’s Bobby DiCarlo, Brandy’s ex boyfriend/love of her life who dumped her four years ago for reasons unspecified but still devastating. Then there’s Nick Santiago, a karate trainer who is rumoured to do dodgy dealings with the Philly underworld and who sets the local police on edge. Bobby reminded me of Stephanie’s Joe Morelli, while Nick was reminiscent of Ranger. It was just a little similarity, and only so far as Joe/Bobby Ranger/Nick had similar jobs and contribution to ‘cracking the case’. But whereas Evanovich’s series is all about the funny, Fredman’s book is a wonderful mix of light and dark, comedy and tragedy. Brandy’s love life is far more robust as well – Brandy and Bobby have a complicated past, and while a few niggling questions are answered there’s still plenty still to be unearthed about these two and their rocky relationship. Nick is likewise an intriguing character, an obvious ladies man with a dark side but Brandy (and readers) can’t help but be a little bit smitten.

I really liked this book, and I am delving into the next three instalments with enthusiasm. I loved Brandy as an amateur sleuth, and as much as the murder investigation intrigued, the love triangle left me equally breathless. Wonderful start to a series!

4/5