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kcfromaustcrime's review
3.0
Simone Kirsh (aka Vivien Leigh) has an interesting job history - ex prawn trawler hand and working as a stripper for starters. Simone is determined to change things though, so even as she's still working in peepshows and as a stripper she's finished her Private Investigator's Course; has her ID and she's working to get her best friend and fellow stripper Chloe out of a big lot of trouble. Francesco Parisi's been brutally killed and Simone find herself undercover at his table top dancing venue, The Red Room. She has to find out why the police think her friend Chloe killed Parisi and why his brother seems to be convinced that even if she didn't, Simone will work out who did because he is holding Chloe hostage. Now Simone can look after herself and despite having to deal with some seriously weird fellow strippers; corrupt cops and her own rather frantic attraction to rockabilly guitarists, she finds herself in some very sticky situations. Fans of series like Lauren Henderson's Sam Jones and even to some extent Liz Evan's Grace Smith books will find some similarities here. The story is a a big romp through the world of strippers, drugs and the Melbourne sex industry. There are some moments of high camp humour and some very steamy sex scenes. More sexually explicit than the comparison books and with frequent and detailed depictions of the drug scene, this was a good witty book which was very enjoyable.
menfrommarrs's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting Private Eye twist, with the protagonist experiences in the sex industry.
Learn something new every day!
Learn something new every day!
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘The tripper staggered out of the Palace nightclub into the bright hideousness of dawn.’
Simone Kirsch, twenty something, wanted to join the Victorian police force. But, because she’s worked as a stripper, the police force aren’t interested. So Simone goes to a security college and completes a course as a security agent. But just when her plan looks like working, her best friend and fellow stripper Chloe is kidnapped. Why? Well, Chloe works at Melbourne’s notorious Red Room. Francesco Parisi (the owner) is murdered, and certain people think that kidnapping Chloe will get Simone to find who killed him. Simone has two weeks to find the murderer, or Chloe will be killed. The police have not been able to find any clues about the murder, so what chance does Simone have?
Well, Simone Kirsch is not your average PI. She manages to get on the wrong side of Melbourne’s most corrupt cop, do some serious partying, find love (well, sex, anyway) and take the reader on an interesting trip through Melbourne’s adult clubs in search of a murderer and to try to save Chloe.
‘Peepshow’ is the first in a series to feature Simone Kirsch. I’ve read the second, and will start the third shortly. Simone Kirsch is an interesting character. There are plenty of hard-living male PI characters in the fictional world, but not many personable young females. Simone, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. Thanks for broadening my world of escapist reading material.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Simone Kirsch, twenty something, wanted to join the Victorian police force. But, because she’s worked as a stripper, the police force aren’t interested. So Simone goes to a security college and completes a course as a security agent. But just when her plan looks like working, her best friend and fellow stripper Chloe is kidnapped. Why? Well, Chloe works at Melbourne’s notorious Red Room. Francesco Parisi (the owner) is murdered, and certain people think that kidnapping Chloe will get Simone to find who killed him. Simone has two weeks to find the murderer, or Chloe will be killed. The police have not been able to find any clues about the murder, so what chance does Simone have?
Well, Simone Kirsch is not your average PI. She manages to get on the wrong side of Melbourne’s most corrupt cop, do some serious partying, find love (well, sex, anyway) and take the reader on an interesting trip through Melbourne’s adult clubs in search of a murderer and to try to save Chloe.
‘Peepshow’ is the first in a series to feature Simone Kirsch. I’ve read the second, and will start the third shortly. Simone Kirsch is an interesting character. There are plenty of hard-living male PI characters in the fictional world, but not many personable young females. Simone, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. Thanks for broadening my world of escapist reading material.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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