Review: Sharp Turn by Marianne Delacourt

Title: Sharp Turn {Tara Sharp #2}

Author: Marianne Delacourt

Published: Allen & Unwin 2010

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.

Status: Read on February 10, 2012

My Thoughts:

Sharp Turn continues the adventures of twenty something fledgling investigator, Tara Sharp who was introduced in Sharp Shooter. With three new cases and a new romance, things are finally looking up, then her clients girlfriend is murdered, her boyfriend’s first modelling job pairs him with Tara’s nemesis and Tara is targeted by an assassin known as ‘The Finisher’. It’s all downhill from there.
With it’s blend of humour, action and romance, the Tara Sharp series is proving to be an entertaining read. The plot is just a touch improbable, but perfectly enjoyable as Tara uses her newly discovered skill at reading aura’s, and undercover investigating, to help her clients. In Sharp Turn, Tara’s cases involve the owner of a local brothel, Madame Vine, sabotage at Wanneroo Raceway and troublemakers at a nightclub. As she searches for clues she also has to contend with a narcoleptic bodyguard, an illiterate teenage runaway, the tempting (but very married) Nick Tozzi and the attentions of a serial killer. None of these distractions do anything to enhance her new relationship with the gorgeous Ed nor gets her any closer to moving out of her parents garage.
Tara is a fun protagonist, and she is supported by a great cast of quirky characters. Many of those met in Sharp Shooter return for the sequel though we see only glimpses of Bok, Smitty and Mr.Hara. The romantic tension between Tara and Nick is ramped up in this installment with both desperately trying to do the right thing despite their attraction to each other. Wal and Cass are back and camping out at Tara’s and Johnny Viaspa is still lurking menacingly in the background.

Sharp Turn is a light-hearted crime caper with fast paced action in the tradition of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. I’m not sure that Sharp Turn would work as a stand alone but as a second installment it does a great job of building on the series and I eagerly await the third.

Available to Purchase

Australian Retail: @Boomerang Books I @Booktopia

International: @Amazon