Gretchen Archer

Once again, Gretchen Archer pens a fast moving mystery with Davis Way still undercover for the Bellissimo Casino. This book was once again full of humor, almost slapstick. Davis aka David, is still acting as a double for Bianca Saunders and in this story, she gets Bianca in some situations that hit the press. Of course keeping Bianca from finding out what has happened is a job in itself. When there is a fire at the Bellisimo on the day of Davis and Bradley's wedding, the plans go awry. Add show more in the fact that her divorce to her ex-ex was never finalized and Davis is in some hot water. The "Strike it Rich Game" is where she is supposed to be concentrating her attention, but there is just way too much other stuff going on.

Davis Way and her associates are becoming more developed and we are seeing other sides to them to make them real to us. Everyone is a person with motivation, a back story, and a unique personality. Even the “bad guys” are complicated. I love how they put together the motivation and the plans of the bad guys so that we can actually believe the story could have happened. The interpersonal relationships are also filling out. Bradley Cole now works with Davis, at the same casino. He is the manager now, so he sees what she is doing and is there to help.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters, the intricacies of the plot, the humor, the unexpected happenings and the relationships all mesh together to create an enjoyable series. Ms. Archer’s descriptions of southern culture are wonderful. I doubt they will make her popular in Alabama, but it’s some of the best, snarky, sharp, intelligent descriptive writing of a place and its culture I’ve ever read. I found myself reading sections out loud to my son, who laughed along with me. Gretchen Archer is a great author to enjoy with each book in the series better than the last. I definitely recommend this one. show less

Davis Way Cole lives on the twenty-ninth floor of the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. This is due to the fact that she's the wife of Bradley, General Manager, and mother to a pair of three-year-old twin grils. She's also part of a three-person security team for the resort, along with Fantasy and Baylor (just Baylor). When her husband puts her in charge for the week he's going to be out of town - along with owner Richard Sanders and Davis's boss No Hair (forever), she show more agrees, thinking, what could go wrong?

Aside from the fact that five million dollars has completely disappeared? And there's an Elvis convention filling the rooms and the town? And the woman who runs the Lost and Found - where the money was left - is also gone? Not much...unless you count Davis's mother, her ex-ex-mother-in-law, a missing cashier, a howling cat, frisky dog, and a smell so rancid it will put you in a coma...

When Davis and Fantasy are on the hunt for the missing money (and Birdy, the old, old lady who runs the Lost and Found) they don't want to tell Baylor. Because he'll squeal and tell their boss and anyone else who will listen. So the two women try everything to get the money back, but all that occurs is more problems..and more. And what ensues is complete chaos, Davis trying to find a moment to regroup and not go insane, and her mother spending all her time cooking everything she can. (because cooking is love).

The casino is a madhouse, there are Elvii (or Elvises, depending on who's arguing the point) everywhere, and Davis is frantic to put her hands on the money and keep her family safe. She's also discovering that what seems like an accident wasn't, but when she finds this out it may be too late for all of them -- in more ways than one.

It's a wild roller coaster ride from one end of the casino to another, and one floor to another, moving tomato plants, gawd-awful smells, and several missing persons needing to be located. Meanwhile, she's babysitting a woman who's nearly a hundred, and trying to stay out of the sight of her mother and ex-ex-mother-in-law (a long, long story best saved for another time, and who shouldn't even be there in the first place, according to Davis).

Ms. Archer takes us on this crazy journey from the first page, and keeps us moving through the story like we're trying to find our way out of a house of mirrors at a carnival. Without help. With people trying to kill us. It's fascinating, humorous, suspenseful, and even a little maddening (but that might just be Bea Crawford). If you blink, you'll miss something.

It's an old saying: follow the money. But in this case it's true - if you can find the money; which Davis can't. So there's that. But it starts with that thread and leads into a whole lot more, until you have a regular tapestry in front of you that she needs to unravel. And it's the unraveling that's the most fun you'll ever have. Highly recommended. show less

Davis Way Cole works at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi as a sort of "secret super spy." When she's needed, she does whatever necessary to keep things running exactly the way they should, even if it means turning into a female James Bond.

Right now she and her family - her husband, President and CEO Bradley, and twin daughters Bexley and Quinn, need to evacuate the casino because of impending hurricane Kevin. But that can't be done until they remove all the cash from show more the machines, and there's only herself and her partner Fantasy to do it. The rest of their team - Baylor and No Hair - are in Hawaii for Baylor's wedding to Davis's nanny July.

Unfortunately, they also have in residence Davis's lookalike Bianca Sanders, who, along with her husband Richard, own the casino (Richard is in Norway) a couple of women from Michigan who couldn't leave because of flight problems, the Bellissimo Storm Team (first responders and specialists), and a television production crew, and a couple of gaming agents.

But things never go according to plan, especially so when Davis and Fantasy hear a gunshot while removing the cash boxes from the machines. They follow the sound and find Davis's ex-husband Eddie (who is there because for some reason unknown to Davis - and unwanted - her high school reunion was supposed to take place at the casino) apparently shot, and his girlfriend Danielle - Davis's nemesis - lying in a pool of blood. Which turns out not to be hers. But which also means it has to belong to someone else, and that someone else isn't Eddie. Which means there's a shooter in the casino, and they need to find out who and where that person is.

Needless to say, Davis isn't going anywhere, and neither is anyone else; which means they're all going to be huddled up on Disaster, the unnamed thirteenth floor that Bianca's father built as a fortress in just this kind of emergency and which no one is supposed to know even exists.

Now that the stage is set for riding out a hurricane in a deserted casino, holed up in a fortress that isn't there, let me be clear: In Davis's life, things never go as easy as riding out a hurricane in a fortress. This is about to be made clear in her latest escapade. Which all takes place in under 48 hours.

It's an intense ride, rather like being on a roller coaster - backwards, upside down, blindfolded, and in the rain. Even if you could see, it wouldn't be a pleasant trip. Davis finds out that there's more at stake than finding a lone shooter in the casino. It's finding out who killed the man on the floor... and who took the fifty million dollars they removed from the machines. But, unfortunately, the only witnesses are Danielle, who seems to have amnesia, and Eddie, who's dumber than a sloth (which is the dumbest animal on the planet). Which means Davis has no help at all.

What ensues is worse than chaos, and Davis is stuck right in the center of it, like being in the eye of the hurricane. Endlessly. With no way out. It's full of suspense, intrigue, conspiracy, and cunning. The tale is masterful, with Ms. Archer pulling you into the story immediately, and right from the amusing phone call with her mother (who wants her out of the casino now) to that first gunshot. By that time, you are hooked.

But there's more afoot to be found: People who are not what they seem, and even what appears to be forthright problems on the surface turn out to be something else entirely. (Sorry, but in saying more I'd be pretty much telling you enough so that you wouldn't need to read the book - so I won't). It's enough to say that not only are the twists and turns aplenty, it's a tale that weaves so many threads throughout you could create a tapestry. It's crazy. Insane. Totally enthralling. It makes me grateful I don't have to live Davis's life.

Some of the characters are annoying (even I was starting to hate Eddie and Danielle as much as Davis) and I probably wouldn't have been able to keep from slapping Filet, so Davis has the better of me there. Or more patience. Either way. I do think Bianca has grown on me, since I actually like her, too. I don't know why. I love Davis, Bradley, and the rest of the crew, who are always there and always have each other's backs, and not a stupid one among them. I even like her parents (her mother, while trying at times, does have her moments).

When we reach the climax and everything starts to come together, it's woven so tightly you couldn't pull the threads apart if you tried. It's a delightful narrative, engaging, and those last few moments when the action finds it way to a close are surprising. An ending to be proud of. A book to be read and reread. Highly recommended. show less

Davis Way is back to uncovering crime and engaging in hi-jinks at the Bellismo Casino. Employed as a special undercover agent at the Bellismo, Davis is expected to uncover and take down criminal operations at the casino. Those who have read the earlier volumes in this series will recall that Davis was hired by the Bellismo because she looks exactly like her boss's wife. She has married the resort's security chief, and they reside in an on-site penthouse apartment. As this volume opens Davis show more has been forced to take over the special events coordinator's job, after the incumbent walked out of the hotel, never to return. She has also discovered the equipment to print fake currency lodged deep in the walls of her apartment. Then there's the fridge: it doesn't work, and needs to be fixed, except it's a crazy, ugly behemoth no one has ever seen before. Then a group of security professionals show up for a conference, with entertainment consisting of high stakes slot tournaments, and platinum goes missing from the casino vault.

The story is a bit nuts, but it's also absolutely hilarious. It's high-energy, high-action, and high-humor. Davis offers significant snarky commentary about her apartment, decorated as if a Party City barfed up a New Orleans themed issue of a decorating magazine. Nothing in this book is expected. If you think you know where there plot is going, you probably don't. I'm excited to see where this series is going to go next.
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