Marianne Delacourt- Sharp Turn (Tara Sharp #2)
Format- Paperback
Source- Self-purchase
Synopsis: Tara Sharp’s unorthodox PI business is starting to attract customers – though not necessarily of the kind she envisaged… Working at Madame Vine’s luxurious brothel teaching the ‘girls’ to ‘read’ their clients better isn’t exactly what she had in mind when she started out…
So it’s a relief when the man of Tara’s dreams, Nick Tozzi, lines her up with a lucrative job. Something is rotten in the local motor racing industry and an associate of Nick’s wants Tara to sniff out the bad egg…
It’s not long before Tara finds herself in all kinds of danger, with a murder at Madam Vine’s followed by the discovery of a bloated corpse in the Swan River.
Review: Tara Sharp is back! We met this flighty trainee PI in Sharp Shooter and she is up to more outrageous antics in the sequel, Sharp Turn. If you are a fan of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and haven’t discovered Marianne Delacourt yet, then you are missing out! Set in Perth, Australia, Sharp Turn takes us on another adventure with Tara Sharp, 28 years old; living at home with her parents and near broke.
Out of desperation she accepts a job by Madame Vine who runs the local brothel and needs Tara’s ‘skills’ to sort out some problems among her staff. Just to make things confusing, she also takes on a job at a nightclub to locate the troublemakers and a big job with the motor racing industry with thanks to her dream man (and very married man) Nick Tozzi.
I loved the chemistry between these two in Sharp Shooter as the author managed to convince me that Nick and Tara would make a better couple than Nick and his drug addicted wife. The tension continues in this sequel, but Tara is very much inexperienced in dealing with emotional issues and so chooses to deal with them via avoidance. This suits her impulsive personality perfectly, as she is always jumping from one thing to another and winding up in situations that are impossible to escape from. I liked that Cass, the unruly teenager who turns up on Tara’s doorstep had a much bigger role in the sequel. Tara, Cass and her bizarre bodyguard Wal make a hilarious team.
The Tara Sharp series is exciting, funny and slightly outrageous at times but completely engrossing and a lot of fun!
For humour crime genre fans- this series is a must!
4/5 rating
Purchase book @
Fishpond/ Amazon
Also in the Tara Sharp series by Marianne Delacourt:
This novel was read as part of the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2012 & the Aussie Author Challenge 2012
This is on my must read list for this year, I haven’t picked up a copy yet but I hope to
Yes, it’s a hard one to track down. I managed to get a copy while I was in Perth. You are welcome to borrow it if you can’t get a copy!
I got a call from my library yesterday to say its in – they bought it on my request so I hope to read it this week some time – thanks for teh offer though Jayne 🙂
I read this last year via library eBook, not my usual kettle of fish but I enjoyed it.
I haven’t tried to borrow via an elibrary yet… I’ll have to give it a go
Just put in a review request at my local library for Sharp Shooter, thanks to your intriguing review. I’m an Aussie book blogger too, although I specialise in children’s literature. But sometimes I claw my way over the TBR pile to a book for grownups!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy Sharp Shooter once it arrives at your library!
Jayne
@Shelleyrae- No problem! You’re lucky to have such an accomodating library 🙂