Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception - Nancy Martin

The synopsis of this book made it sound as if it were right up my alley. I love the Stephanie Plum character that Janet Evanovich writes about so when I saw Roxy Abruzzo, owner of Bada Bling Architectural Salvage, being compared to Stephanie Plum, I figured I would be in for a treat. Add to this that it was also supposed to be about the mob in Philadelphia and it appeared that it would have some interesting secondary characters, and there were even hints of it being funny. I thought I would be in reader’s heaven. I was wrong and so was the synopsis. Roxy is nothing like Stephanie or any other woman protagonist that I have read about lately.

There are several story lines and at times show more it’s a bit difficult to remember just which is the main one - is it about the theft of a priceless salvaged artifact or is it about the murder of the multi-millionaire Julius Hyde who owned it; maybe the machinations of the millionaires family around his estate, can it be about the unscrupulous lawyer who seems to have his finger in every pie or is it about his drug addled art expert niece, or the fact that Roxy‘s mobbed up uncle wants her to work for “The Family“? This novel is all over the map with the numerous stories going on.

I realize that a lot of my dissatisfaction was with the fact that this is a first book in the series and so the author may be trying to set us up for the future books, but this book has a dizzying array of characters, most of whom had nothing to do with pushing the plot forward. Roxy has the morals of an alley cat…which if written a little differently, could have been funny or even endearing. I realize that Ms Martin may have wanted to point out the fact that men having many one night stands can be an acceptable thing so a woman should be able to do the same thing without consequences, but Roxy keeps souvenirs from her one hour stands and unfortunately she just came off as being cheap. Even learning of her difficult childhood couldn’t seem to redeem Roxy in my mind. Since Roxy has a teenaged daughter, you might have thought the author may have taken a slightly different tack, but then again once you meet the daughter you see why the author chose to go the way she did. The daughter is quite obnoxious, but I assume that is typical bad girl teenage attitude.

The story could have been interesting and even very funny if it hadn’t been flawed from the very start. On the very first page we meet Julius Hyde; the now deceased millionaire and his lover Kaylee. His wife walks in on one of their trysts and sets fire to the mansion to the tune of 85 million dollars in insurance money. Now I know things work a tad differently for the rich, but apparently unless I’ve misread something, Mrs. Hyde never even gets charged with arson. I can allow myself to suspend my disbelief for many things, but that just made me try to stretch a bit too far and I couldn’t do it.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a horrible book. I can even see Roxy becoming quite endearing in future books, if the hints in this one run true. But I’m afraid that many won’t have that burning desire to see what happens to Roxy, Sage, Nooch, Flynn, Loretta and Zack. I’m also afraid that with today’s economy people are going to start being a little pickier with their book choices and may not want to take a chance on another confusing book like this.

Good luck and good reading! show less

Roxy does salvage work from buildings about to be torn down or renovated. She is trying to get her assistant, Nooch, off probation. She is also trying to solve a murder of the son of a wealthy family whose burnt out home she was salvaging from. She was also one of the last people to speak to him before he is killed. Who did it?

I found this rollicking fun. It is over the top but with the Pittsburgh connection, I found the fun in trying to figure out where in the city and surrounding area the story takes place. Roxy is supposed to be born and raised in Pittsburgh, but she comes across more as a Jersey girl. I could see the scenes in my mind as the characters and places are described. This was just fun.

Suspend belief; sit back; and enjoy show more the ride. show less

Roxy Abruzzo, tough & feisty, runs an architectural reclamation business, not always on the up & up, but hey, it makes her a living.

Her current client, Julius Hyde, is dead as. His wife, Monica, has been looting her mother-in-law's house of high-end artwork for years and has torched it, which is where Roxy comes in...

While salvaging the remains of the once great house Roxy stumbles upon a Greek antiquity of Achilles hidden in the garden and with the help of her loyal but not-so-bright muscle, Nooch, Roxy adds the statue to her cache of salvage items.

Then there is Dorothy (Dodo) Hyde, matriarch, Julius' mother; living in a residential home and going in and out of a coma as desired... She's willing to write off her losses, after all show more these are her progeny, but not Achilles. Dodo sends her attorney, Henry, to get back her treasure or else.

Also in the mix: Sage, Roxy's daughter who is living with Loretta, widowed aunt & tough-as-nails attorney; Flynn, Sage's father, ex-marine, & chef; and Roxy's Uncle Carmine, who is ill & would like Roxy to take over his business for him.

I liked Roxy, her crazy family, & friends and I didn't figure out who-done-it, but I really didn't try as I was swept away with the story.

There is no end to the action and on-the-edge humor, which can be compared to Carl Hiaasen, although not as finely crafted. But the book held my interest, I was up until 4:00 am in order to finish it.

The book seemed very familiar to me, the name Abruzzo rang a bell. Then I remembered that I had begun another series, The Blackbird Sisters (which I dropped) had a character named Nick Abruzzo in it. Turns out to be by the same author. I know I'll not be returning to complete The Blackbird Sisters but I'll give Roxy a second go around. show less

This is the first book in a spin-off series, of sorts, from the Blackbird Sisters; it involves a completely different member of the crime family Michael is the heir apparent to, and takes place in Pittsburgh, rather than Philly.

It’s also a much rougher, seedier flavour of cozy mystery, set in a low income area with a high crime rate. Roxy owns an architectural salvage company, trying to support her daughter and avoid working for her uncle Carmine in the family business.

Martin created Roxy as a deeply flawed, broken woman who uses an active sex life as a weapon, but seems to enjoy it not at all. She obviously cares a great deal, as she goes out of her way to shelter abused women, support her daughter, and keep her dim-witted friend show more from violating his parole, but her uber defensiveness is grating and her inability to connect with anyone makes it difficult for the reader to connect with her. It’s a very different take from the Blackbird Sisters, which didn’t shy away from dysfunction, but still managed to engage the reader.

Different too is this story’s multiple POVs. When it works, it works brilliantly, offering an ending that might not be expected, but when it doesn’t it leaves the reader wondering why Martin bothered, or at least wondering why certain POVs were included.

The parts were there for a very excellent read, but they just didn’t come together in a way that left me caring at all about any of the characters. I have the second book of what ended up being a 2 book series, but when I finished my re-read of this one, I found that I just didn’t have it in me to dip into this kind of dysfunction a second time. Maybe someday. show less

Though I was disappointed to find out that Nancy Martin wouldn't be doing any more Blackbird books in the forseeable future, I was definitely looking forward to her new series beaturing Michael's half-sister, Roxy. Devoured it in a day. While it may take a while to warm up to Roxy, a wise-ass, smart-mouth single mom she's only one in a string of fascinating Pittsburgh characters I'm looking forward to getting to know as the series continues. The problem, now, is waiting patiently for book two.

A good read--perhaps a little too like Stephanie Plum--but still enjoyed the story. Roxy sleeps around to keep from being emotionally entangled. She's a nosy architectural object scavenger with a large, dumb, side-kick and many interesting friends. A murder of a local rich guy has her poking around in a burned out mansion and being there a little too close to the time of the murder.

With a nod to her Blackbird Sisters series, Martin introduces us to Roxy Abruzzo, a slightly mob-connected, sex-obssessed, architectural salvage specialist. She and soon to be off parole assistant, Nooch, stumble onto a murder mystery after "salvaging" what turns out to be a priceless Greek statue from the Hyde estate. There are only so many incarnations of Stephanie Plum possible and although the mystery was fine, I don't know if I'll bother checking in with Roxy again.