"Double Dose" By Gretchen Archer: Review/Giveaway

Review by Cynthia Chow

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it.

By nine o’clock in the morning on a Friday in June, Bellissimo casino operative Davis Way Cole would have already put out a dozen of metaphorical, and occasionally literal, fires while also preventing her twin daughters from getting kicked out of their elite preschool. While the blatant briberies of a new library, playground equipment, theater drapes, and refurbished soccer fields have been enough to keep the precocious and creatively manipulative Bexley and Quinn enrolled in the Willow Academy for Exceptional children, Davis’s phone blowing up again with texts is rather alarming. While their taking birth control pills to show-and-tell is undoubtedly an emergency, Davis’s attention is quickly diverted towards a hiccup breakout in the casino. Over five hundred gamblers uncontrollably hiccupping is a cause for concern, but far more alarming is the Bellissimo’s surveillance team suddenly all falling asleep. As Davis attempts to lockdown the customers with the bribe of free gambling, she and her Amazonian investigative partner Fantasy Erb must determine the cause of the chaos and whether it is linked to the unexpected booking of a pharmaceutical conference.


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While her husband Bradley, Bellissimo’s President and CEO, is away meeting with the Mississippi Gaming Commission, Davis is in charge of dealing with the physical and legal havoc resulting from the new casino being built next door. A destroyed pool, blatant sabotage, and now an unhelpful halter-wearing mediator all seemed designed to cause Davis’s stress level to skyrocket. Her mother’s near-incomprehensible texts, which Davis has learned to decipher despite her mother’s inability to type, indicate that all is not well back home in Pine Apple, Alabama. Apparently Davis’s mother has left her father and is on her way to Biloxi to stay in the Bellissimo. That Davis’s mother is unprepared to handle the twins and the energetic dogs Cotton and Candy doesn’t seem to be a factor, nor is the fact that Davis has her hands full with a corrupt mayor, incompetent police chief, and a crime lord’s casino next door. And that’s still not taking into account Davis’s other occasional sideline as being the body double for her lookalike Bianca, the casino owner’s wife whose demands for once seem sane compared to the rest of the out-of-control staff and clients.

This seventh in the series starts off in high gear and doesn’t slow down as it continually escalates the chaos no matter how many disasters Davis manages to prevent. The humor never lets up either, with Davis’s dry observations increasing as she is bombarded with new emergencies. With her usual partners No Hair and the distracted Baylor mostly out of commission, it’s up to Davis and Fantasy to save the Casino and their families. New readers to this series will need a minute to catch up on all of the players in this game, but longtime fans will delight in this action-filled, extremely funny new entry in the series. Larceny, greed, and good-old-fashioned-gangsters make this a winning read for those looking for a fun and very entertaining escape.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Double Dose, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "double,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 28, 2023. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! A new episode goes up next week.

You can use this link to purchase the book or click here. If you have adblocker on you may not be able to see the Amazon link:

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).
 Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.

Comments

  1. Sounds like a great book. Would really love to read.
    diannekc8(at )gmail (dot)com

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  2. We have a winner!
    Lorie Ham

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