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THE MODEL MAN is the story of Christy Harris and Joe Richter. Christy is
trying to survive on the mean streets of Hollywood. She came to
California with the goal of becoming an actress, but now she’s hit the
big Three Oh, and knows she’s never going to make it. And a girl has to
do something to survive. She has a gig as a psychic and is known as
Madam Christina. She meets her marks online, and rents a storefront
telemarketing room to meet them in person. Another method she uses is to
sit in a bar with tarot cards nursing a beer, waiting for someone to ask
for a reading. She also makes money by stealing liquor from ritzy
Hollywood parties. Her neighbor, Lou, is the one who hooks her up with
the liquor, and they split the proceeds. The very last person Christy
wants to encounter is a cop.
Detective Joe Richter meets Madam Christina outside her psychic storefront. He asks her for her assistance on a case and promises to pay her $100 per hour for four hours of her time. He says she helped his mother’s friend, and knows she’s going to help him too. He’s a gorgeous man, and has a drawl that betrays his Texas roots. Christy knows this is a really bad idea, but she needs the money to pay her rent. She goes with him to Ricky Littlejohn’s home. Ricky was a model twenty years ago, and had lived a marginal life for several years, but recently was found dead in his hot tub. There’s strong suspicion that he was murdered, and Joe is the detective assigned to the case. He’s hit a dead end, and is taking the unusual step of enlisting a psychic’s aid to try to crack the case.
Christy does her best in the house, but she’s not really a psychic, and the only information she has about the case is what she read in a paper at the storefront while waiting for a mark to show up. Joe is obviously disappointed, but tells her it’s ok. He takes her to dinner, then to a hotel in Oxnard. Christy starts thinking Joe just might be her model man, if only he wasn’t a cop. She thinks the relationship is over, but Joe isn’t ready to let her go. He contacts her and they get together again. Shortly after this, things get very complicated and dangerous.
It took me quite a while to write the review for this book. I read this book twice, before writing the review as I wanted to do it justice. Christy is anything but a typical romance heroine. It is a credit to
the author's writing skill that she made me not only care about Christy, but actually identify with her.
The story is complex, and involved. The premise of a con artist falling in
love with a police detective is unusual as well as humorous. There are
several laugh-out-loud funny sections, as well as edge-of-your-seat
suspense.
The secondary characters are unique, and add a
great deal to the story.
Genie Davis describes the Los Angeles setting in a vivid and striking fashion. The time frame is mid-December as Christmas is approaching and Los Angeles is in the midst of a Santa Ana. She shows the tawdriness under the glitz and glamour. The incongruous use of inflated snowmen, purple tinsel trees and sleds as decorations in eighty-degree weather and gusting winds is only one example of this. Ms. Davis’ familiarity with the area shines through each description. I highly recommend this book, and look forward to reading more from this author.
Reviewed by Nancy Riggins-Hume
for The Road to Romance
April 24, 2006
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