Ain't Nobody's Bizness

By Laura Garner

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1410401022
• ISBN13: 9781410401021
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Five Star Trade
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Fiesty heroine in a thought-provoking story

Heroine: short and solid After surviving a harrowing adolescence and maintaining her status as the town's foul-mouthed, hard drinking tart for twenty-plus years, shop teacher Maddie "Max" Maxwell thinks she's one tough cookie. But she soon discovers her "soft center" when her hormones start going haywire with a surprise pregnancy. After all, it's not everyday you go into the doctor's for a scheduled hysterectomy and come out with a due date for a baby--by a guy you are about to dump, no less!        But Max is about to find out that even the toughest cookie is liable to crumble under the right circumstances. If the pregnancy wasn't enough to bowl her over, surely the multiple murders occurring around town will do it. Especially since all of them are connected in one way or another to Max herself!What worked for me: All right, I admit it, Max grew on me. Rough-around-the edges and with odd taste in men she's very different from me, but I think I could enjoy time spent in her company. I thought the writing was clever, and the plot held my interest with its nicely convoluted mystery. The dash of raunchy sexual tension and heart-wrenching plot developments were also a great touch.    Size-wise Max is closing in on forty and built, in her words, like a fireplug. And her best (and annoying) friend is rather voluptuous as well.What didn't work for me: It was hard not to flinch when thinking about Max's drinking during her early pregnancy.Overall: I found this story to be a creative hybrid of women's fiction and mystery. Readers looking to be drawn into an emotionally raw, thought-provoking story would be well-advised to search this one out. Warning: this book has some coarse language and some brief references to homosexuality.If you liked "Ain't Nobody's Bizness" you might also enjoy the "Steph Plum" mystery series, the "Sam Jones" mystery series, the "Casey Jones" mystery series, the "Odelia Grey" mystery series, the "Women's Murder Club" mystery series, "Princess Charming", "Infernal Affairs", "Plum Girl", and "Hey Lady, Your Tin Snips Are Showing".

Mouthy Max Investigates Brother's Death

While trying to solve the mystery of her brother's death, tough gal Max confronts her own conflicted feelings about her past as well as her well-concealed softer side. Funny, sassy, and ultimately very moving.

Much More than a Mystery

This book is full of delightful contradictions: satire, straightforward dialogue, dark humor, clever word-play, brazen irreverance and raw emotion. This author does not shrink from exposing the ultimate effects of love, intimacy, pain and what can happen when any of it goes awry. It's a rare and special novel that can elicit laughter and tears in the blink of an eye. I didn't want this one to end...perhaps it hasn't.

Max is splendid!

The characters and the places are so vivid and compelling that they seemed to become part of my own life. Their depth and richness lends a reality that makes them a warts-and-all set of family, friends and neighbors whose doings I deeply cared about; plus it was a good old-fashioned page-turner as well. Hope MS. Garner will consider creating a series!

Very funny and touching

The heroine, Max is a wonderful character. She is strong, funny, brutally honest, and deeply touching at the same time. Supporting characters are also well-drawn and intriguing. This book works on many levels: a humorous portrait of small town life, a murder mystery, and a character study. I enjoyed reading it, and found myself laughing out loud several times. Max feels like a friend, and I certainly hope to hear more from her in the future.