| Title | : | Let Us Prey (Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 280 |
| Publication | : | First published July 4, 2011 |
Mimi Capurro, owner of Gotcha Detective Agency, has been hired to protect New York Times bestselling author, Lauren Silke, who was recently assaulted in the bathroom at a paranormal conference. Though Mimi is hired to act as bodyguard for Lauren’s upcoming book tour, plans change when Lauren's assistant is murdered and the slaying is a replica of a scene from Lauren’s newest novel. A novel that hit bookstores the same day as the killing.
Now instead of playing bodyguard, Mimi is cracking computer code, and chasing down vampires. These vampires come alive on the streets of Santa Cruz, as part of a live-role-playing game. Mimi must find the connection between the vampires and the author to track down the killer. This would be much easier if Detective Nick Christianson wanted her investigating the case.
Nick, Mimi’s old college fling, is the lead homicide investigator.
Though he wants her off the case, he also wants to pump her for information. Nick may have used her in the past, but this time she’ll use him to try to catch the murderer first.
Let Us Prey (Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries #1) Reviews
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When Mimi Capurro of Gotcha Detective Agency was hired as a bodyguard for author Lauren Silke, she had no idea what was about to follow. The murder of Lauren’s assistant Esme was the start in a case which involved games with vampires in Santa Cruz, attempts on Mimi’s life, threats and danger. As well as all that, she had to contend with Detective Nick Christianson who was the lead homicide investigator – and Mimi’s old flame.
Would they find the murderer? They had plenty of suspects – but were they looking in the right direction?
Let Us Prey is the first in the Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries by Jamie Lee Scott and while it was a quick, easy read, it was also just a little weird! I liked it well enough, even with the occasional eye roll, but I’m not sure if I’ll go any further in the series 😊 But I’m still happy to recommend it as a light cozy mystery. -
Mimi owns a private investigation/personal security firm and is asked to provide security for her favorite author. This is where her troubles begin. A murder happens and Mimi’s former lover turns out to be the officer leading in charge of the case. They bump heads because he’s as surly as he is gorgeous and Mimi’s all in a tangled mess of feelings.
Let Us Prey has an interesting little murder mystery going on here that involves vampiric role playing and plenty of quirky secondary characters. My #1 suspect turned out to be the murderer so I have to give the book some points for making me feel smart today!
Usually my most obvious picks don’t pan out.
I am a character driven reader. Most of the time. But this time I didn’t really care about the characters. It was the whodunit that kept me going. If I’m being honest, both of the main characters bugged me. Nick is a grouch. He may be pretty but his rudeness was off-putting. And Mimi? Well, Mimi judged every woman she met by their looks and her thoughts were usually unkind. This could be my missing sense of humor kicking in here but I didn’t find this amusing. She also did the same with men but lucky for Mimi most of the men in her circle were super-hot and she wanted to rub her boobs on them. She even did it a time or two, once at a crime scene. If you find that funny, maybe it’s just me who is wired wrong.
Narration Notes:
The version I read was narrated by Gabra Zackman. The male voices almost all sound the same and unfortunately they’re not at all easy on the ears. They sound stiff, unnatural and a little constipated and I admit to getting a little confused at times because of the similarities. Ah well. The ladies do have unique voices. Mimi’s is smooth and confident and suits her character except when she’s thinking about men and lamenting over the fact that they’re not returning her lusty looks. Then the cool, professional voice doesn’t really mesh because I picture a Stephanie Plum type lusting over Ranger and Joe.
I received a copy of this audiobook from Tantor Media. I hope they don’t regret it! -
The framework for this mystery was quite predictable, female P.I. and local male police officer with a 'history'. What brought this to 'really liked'was personal. As an urban fantasy reader, having the plot built around the P.I. being hired to provide security for a popular author of vampire books really made the book work for me. Book fans, vampire fans and interesting relationships made this a book I enjoyed very much though the framework of female P.I. and male police officer was fairly routine.
The author managed to make the rather predictable personal interactions between the two main characters more interesting by building around the contemporary vampire book author theme, along with real-life role playing by some of the characters. I had some issues with both the main characters, which may be mostly due to 'first book' syndrome and I do plan to read more by this author. -
Mimi is a young widow that opens up Gotcha Detective Agency as a sort of therapeutic remedy. She and her colleagues chase down dead beat dads and do general Private Investigator types of things including security details. When Mimi is contacted to guard Lauren Silke, vampire novelist, after she is attacked at a book conference, she thinks she's looking for an overzealous fan....Until they come back to Lauren's house and see her assistant, Esme, beheaded with her corpse sitting at the kitchen table, head in a crystal bowl. This is a scene from Lauren's latest book, "Prey," that had only been released on that day. As Mimi is investigating what in the world is going on, she discovers that there is a LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) group called the Camarilla, that Esme was involved in and it appears Lauren's husband Henry is also part of this group. Add in a former college "friend with benefits" who's now the lead investigator of Esme's murder and you have quite the ensemble cast of characters.
Mimi is the perfect main character. Her attitude and humor make her very likable. She's nursing a broken heart after the untimely death of her husband but when Nick comes back into her life, she's constantly trying to keep her yearnings in check. This, of course, leads to some humorous situations.
Nick enters the picture with a scowl on his face as soon as he sees Mimi. He brushes off Mimi's abilities as a private investigator and tries to get her to leave the case alone. There is definite sexual tension that Nick either ignores or tries to use to get information out of Mimi.
I was engulfed in this novel from the get-go. It has humor, suspense, mystery, action, and tension (between Mimi and her old college flame, Nick, who pops back into her life in the form of annoying lead investigator). This book flowed so well and was such an easy read that when I sat down to start reading it (with the intention of just reading a little bit at a time since I had homework to do too--I'm in college) I read half of it in the first sitting....So much for reading it a little bit at a time :).
This was a novel of substance. There wasn't any "filler" in it that I felt I could skip over like I have in other books I've read. Each paragraph related to parts of the plot without going off on unrelated tangents or tossing in information for the sake of making the book longer. Jamie Lee Scott weaves an interesting web of doubt over just about every character in the book, making the path to the real killer exactly what a mystery should be....twisted and full of surprises.
I look forward to more books from The Gotcha Detective Agency!
(Book provided at no cost by virtual tour promoter in exchange for an honest review) -
Interesting Characters. I’ll try the second in the series
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This story is about Mimi, the owner of Gotcha Detective Agency. I think the name of her business perfectly shows you her sense of humor. Mimi is a funny woman, and I loved her inner monologue. She has wise comebacks and just her general tone was humorous. She is also very intelligent - another bonus!
Soon Mimi is hired to protect author Lauren Silke, who writes vampire novels! Apparently someone beat the heck out of her, and she is worried about her upcoming book signing tour and more violence. What starts as a bodyguard job quickly turns into a murder investigation though - and the list of suspects is growing.
Enter The Camarilla. If you are into vampires, and role-playing then you would definitely be interested in this. But they too, are suspect in the murder.
From here the story takes a lot of turns. You can’t figure out who the murderer really is because everyone seems to have motive or opportunity. I really enjoyed that it was not plain to see, and frankly, I was a bit surprised when I did find out who it was.
Mimi isn’t investigating alone, she has to work alongside Nick. Nick is the lead detective on the case for the police department. Oh, and he is also her ex-boyfriend! This absolutely leads to some funny and interesting situations, and certainly enhances that whole snarky attitude she has quietly in her mind. I really liked the two of them interacting, but I tell ya – at times I just wanted to yell at them to get it on and get it over with already! He's such a....a.....a man!! (haha, men, don't hate me!) For some reason, Nick acts so aloof – barely even acknowledging Mimi as an investigator – let alone someone he has known intimately! There were definitely times I just wanted to smack him, that’s for sure. Nick and Mimi have a lot of sexual tension that is on a slow build.
All in all, I really enjoyed this story. It was fast pace and had an easy, almost conversational tone to the writing. The author did a fantastic job of misdirecting the audience when necessary, and introduced a very interesting cast of characters that weren’t just black and white. Definitely many shades of grey for this group! I look forward to seeing more from Jamie Lee Scott, and luckily this book is first in the “Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries” series. Oh, and even more exciting - there is talk of bringing this story to the tv screen. I will definitely set my DVR for that show! -
I enjoyed this first installment in the Gotcha Detective Agency series. The characters were engaging and often times entertaining, while the whodunit storyline kept stringing you along to other conclusions. Now, I will admit, I had my initial guess about who the killer was (turned out I was right) but I ended up changing my mind several times because the author did such a great job of casting doubt on all the players.
Mimi was the kind of character that I like. She's strong and has no problem standing up to people, but all of that covers a vulnerability she doesn't like to show. We saw her cover that vulnerability a couple times (some more successfully than others) but that made her more likable, in my book.
Mimi employees a cast of characters I can only hope we'll get to see more of in future entries into the series. Charles was my favorite as the gay technie guy who doesn't really appear to be gay yet dresses like he is. His bantering with Mimi (and Nick in some cases) was comedic and often times broke the ice during a tense situation.
The only character I didn't really like was Nick. I wasn't sure if he was written specifically that way...to throw readers off, but to me he had "dick" tattooed across his forehead. There were many times I had to wonder why Mimi was even having to fight an attraction to him because the minute he started barking orders and being condescending to me would have iced over my libido for good.
An excellent start to the series and one I look forward to reading more of. -
Mimi is the owner of the Gotcha Detective Agency and when a writer wants to hire her for protection she gets more than she bargained for when the writers assistant turns up dead. The woman is killed just like in a scene from the Lauren’s newest book. Mimi feels like she needs to try and figure out what happened and finds out there is this vampire role playing game and people really act like the characters and really get into it so did they go a little to far or is it something else.
Mimi’s ex-fling from her younger days ends up being the police detective on the case and she was surprised to see him as a cop because the last she remembered he was a professional ball player with some troubles. He is not real excited to see her either at first but it seems they both remember how them old days use to be.
Mimi is a good character she is former secret service and normally is dealing with cheating husbands than murder. I like the two that she has working with her Charles and Jenna. I am not a huge Nick fan right now but he could grow one me, but he was a good detective.
Let Us Prey was an interesting start to a series. I liked the mystery and the weird vampire role playing game as that was interesting.
I think cozy mystery fans will like it.
3.5 rating -
Even with a jammed schedule, this book kept me up reading late at night and I even got up out of bed just to read a little more. I'm a picky reader and it's been awhile since that's happened. Mimi, the main character who owns Gotcha Detective Agency, is funny from the start and gets in way over her head when she accepts a job as a bodyguard for an overly ambitious author. And to make matters worse, Mimi is thrown into close contact with a sexy cop, an old boyfriend who'd dumped her without a word. In a test of wits, they follow leads until they wind up in a vampire role-playing game. The characters, observations and situations are realistic and fun and I got totally absorbed in the story. The author, Jamie Lee Scott, has a great voice and I will definitely be watching for her next book. I saw where she's also writing this series as a screenplay and I would love to watch Gotcha as a television series. Fantastic read! Don't miss this one.
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I came across this book as a Kindle bargain and the reviews seemed pretty good. It is the first book in the Gotcha Detective Agency Series and I'll definitely be reading more of them.
The main character Mimi Capurro, owner of the agency and used to cheating spouse cases, finds herself involved in a homicide investigation centred around a famous author of vampire stories and a live role playing group of vampires. Unusual!
I found the book short but very well written, there are unfortunately a few mistakes which always seem to crop up in Kindle books but they don't detract significantly from the story. The plot and pace are good, I liked the characters but I found the investigation a little weak and the ending didn't feel like it really tied the case murder case up. Nevertheless I'm planning to read the sequel! -
I had a long, thoughtful review written but it didn't get saved. At this time I don't feel the need to rewrite it so I'll just get down to the point of it.
This is a 2 1/2 star book that was just ok. I had several issues with it (grammer, plot, logic, etc...) and wouldn't recommend it to my friends and will probably not even remember it in the morning. And I will not be reading another book in the series unless it's the only book I can get my hands on. And I have absolutely nothing else to do. And am really bored. -
This was a fun and breezy read for me, it was nice to just read a nice mystery! There were however two possibly problematic very small events in it, they sat slightly wrong with me, but I'm not honestly sure.... (Ha! how's that for a vague review ;)
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Dnf
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Light and fluffy. In desperate need of an editor or at least a copywriter though.
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Mimi is a local PI who also provides security details to people. Her favourite author Lauren comes to for help because someone has been threatening Lauren's life.
Mimi has a soft corner for a police officer with whom she shares a 'history'. The story goes on about how Mim solves murder with the police officers help.
Overall, very interesting read. -
So one of the things I disliked about this book were the main characters Lauren and Nick!! They are just soooo unlikeable. Nick is rude, arrogant, condescending, a bully. Etc. Lauren spends 1/2 her time hiding evidence from the police and the other 1/2 describing people’s body parts. At some point I stopped caring.
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It had a surprise ending and held my interest. I don't usually read mysteries but just might read the second book in the series!
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This is a cozy murder mystery that follows Mimi, P.I., from the Gotcha Detective Agency. Fast read, not many twists and turns, almost predictable, but entertaining. 3 Stars
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What a great series, and all except the latest audiobooks are available through Hoopla at your library. The books and are short, fast reads,ending that kept you wanting to read the next book in the series. Glad I found this series.
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I hesitated a couple of times when I first read the description of Let Us Prey before I decided to give it a shot, but I'm glad that I decided to read it. Let Us Prey is a fun murder mystery with a bit of romance thrown in. It's written completely in first person from the perspective of Mimi, a private investigator. While I wish the author had alternated perspectives of the first person, the story flows and I was able to easily follow along. The story starts very abruptly. We meet the investigator; she meets an author and her assistant; and a few hours later, the assistant is murdered. I would have liked a bit more depth in the story in the early scenes, but as the story moves forward, additional depth into the background of the victim is provided and the reader gets to know her better. After the initial chapter or two of abruptness, the story is well written, flowed well, and provides great detail into the scenes and storyline.
The story delves into an area of which I am not familiar - vampire mysteries and role-playing games. The author provides such elaborate details and descriptions of these aspects of the story that my lack of background didn't impede my ability to understand and enjoy the story. I found myself turning the pages faster and faster as the mystery deepened so that I could follow the clues that Mimi was following to determine who killed the assistant and was threatening her.
The author introduces a number of characters, including a former love interest, Nick, as well as members of Mimi's agency. We really get to know Charles, as he plays a critical role in the investigation of the assistant's murder. Charles is a delightful character with a fun personality. Nick is the other principal character in this story and the author does a nice job of developing a character with a troubled background and a history with Mimi which creates an amusing tension between them as this investigation proceeds. The murder story is wrapped up nicely by the end of Let Us Prey, but the author has definitely left open the possibilities of a budding relationship with Mimi and Nick, and further mysteries being solved with the help of Charles, Gemma, and Jackie. All in all, the author provides a fun murder mystery with a surprising villain, and lays the groundwork for future "Gotcha Detective Agency" stories, a developing relationship between Nick and Mimi, and future stories featuring the other members of the Gotcha Detective Agency. -
Kindle Copy for Review
Mimi Capurro a widower, private investigator and owner of Gotcha Detective Agency is hired to protect Lauren Silke a well known writer who was recently attacked at a paranormal conference. Things quickly changed when Lauren’s assistant is found murdered by Mimi and Lauren as she ends up investigating the murder.
While investigating the murder she runs across an old love Detective Nick Christianson who has recently moved back in the area. Nick does not want her investigating the case but finds himself helping her as she finds information.
The crime scene is a bit suspicious as it is a replica of a scene in Lauren’s upcoming book and Mimi starts to get threatening phone calls and notes to stay out of the investigating. Things are not all it seems as secrets are kept and role playing vampires are thrown in the mix.
Will Mimi and Nick rekindle their college romance or will they just remain friends? Who is the killer and what is their true motive? A nice paced story that moves along -
A Good Book...The series has legs, but room for improvement
Scott had a good story line, no huge surprises for the seasoned reader, but unique enough.
What I found lacking was character definition and sense of place. Ironically, she did quite well with the characters that will most likely not be reappearing in this series, but her cohorts at the Detective agency she owns and the man who might become her lover, we need just a bit more detail. We need to care about them. Especially lacking were her best friend, Jacqui, and her other employee who was so vanilla that I can't even remember her name. Also, her mother would be another great opportunity to show us more about Mimi.
Sense of place to, is important to a reader. Introduce us to Salinas. A creative abstract of the office or immediate vicinity. We need to see real people in a real place before we can really immerse ourselves and invest in a story.
I will read another from this series. -
I like to read self published stuff on my kindle. That being said, do self published authors not have friends who can edit their novels? A simple once over could have helped this story a lot,from the typos to the continuation of the story line.
That being said, I tend to not like most female detective stories. Too often the main character who is supposed to a strong female turns into a damsel in distress that has to be rescued. The main character in this book was a little annoying in my opinion, but less so than most. -
The main character, Mimi, owns a private investigative firm, complete with interesting employees. She is hired on to protect an Author who was recently accosted in a public bathroom. When they arrive at the author's house, they find her assistant, who was one of the leads in a Vampire game, sitting with her head in her lap, but not in a good way. Her head has been chopped off, and it's up to Mimi to find out how and why. Along the way, there are twists and turns, and Mimi rekindles something with an old love who just happens to be a detective now. I enjoyed the read.
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At first I didn't think I would really be able to get into this book. Slowly I was dragged in and wanted to know the truth about what really happened to Esme. I also felt a strange connection to Mimi because I think if I were in her situation I would have asserted myself into the case the same way she did....even if it meant putting my life in danger. Although not purposely of course.
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot. I will be reading the next book in this series to see if Jamie Lee Scott can keep up the trend. -
I guess in 2014 it was acceptable to assume that every Latin American character was incompetent, therefore you could call them "affirmative action" or a criminal. This did not sit well with me given that I am Latina, a successful person in my field (not affirmative action), and I am not a criminal. The book was below average with a "former secret service agent" who is incapable of doing anything right. She brings shame to the entire female population given that she rubs her boobs against men to get what she wants. Her and her a-hole ex deserve each other.
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I enjoyed this book about Mimi and her detective agency. I felt the author should have made her character stronger as she was ex-CIA but she still did a good job and made her likable and human. I also enjoyed the subject matter of vampires and the live game playing as it was a fresh idea. Only issue I had were some proof reading errors and hopefully the author corrected that problem in her next books as after reading I went and purchased the box set with more of the series.
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Despite a promising start of this little sleuth story, it never really worked for me. To be honest, I wasn’t taken with the whole premise of a successful writer of erotic vampire stories being threatened. I’ve never really adhered to the whole vampire hype to begin with.
What bothered me most about this book was the writing; the syntax and consequently the content of the dialogues. I thought it all sounded so phony. Not in any way did these characters feel real. -
This was actually an interesting little mystery. I can't say the suspect was a shock, maybe a slight surprise. The pieces fell together well. I think this was a delightful little read for a lazy day. There's nothing completely complex. The characters are witty and interesting. It was a cute little read. Doesn't hurt that it was free! It's a great way to start a series.
