Holly Love’s life fell apart on a Monday. Somehow this made the whole thing seem even more surreal. Being an optimistic sort of person, Holly had always thought of Mondays as new beginnings, days of promise.
When Holly Love leaves Sydney bound for her new life in the Blue Mountains, she has no idea just how different her life is about to become. She thinks she’s heading for wedded bliss with her fiancé Andrew. But Andrew has vanished, taking Holly’s heart and all of her savings. All she has is a dodgy car, forty dollars cash and a burning desire of revenge. She is going to track Andrew down and make him pay.
But as she tries to figure out what has happened, Holly’s life goes from the helpless to the bizarre. First the investigator she hires turns up dead, then she’s dragged in to a mystery involving a missing person, an Elvis impersonator and a giant snake. And what’s with the black four wheel drive that seems to be following her wherever she goes?
Love, Honour and O’Brien is a funny, clever mystery with a blend of the bizarre, the sinister and the just plain funny. Holly is a slightly naïve but determined main character, and the new friends she makes are an entertaining bunch. As an accidental detective, Holly does a pretty good job of figuring out what’s going on, though she relies on a bit of luck and the help of her new friends to get her out of trouble when things get heavy.
This is a good fun read, with hints that there may be more stories to come featuring Holly Love.
Love, Honour and O’Brien, by Jennifer Rowe
Allen & Unwin, 2011
ISBN 9781742375830
This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.