When Bubbles' latest antics land her in a jail cell with Crazy Popeye, a loony-toons murder suspect who wants to spill the beans about the untimely demise of the beloved school principal she's accused of killing, what's a bona fide investigative reporter to do but take notes. As Bubbles is furiously writing down her exclusive interview, Popeye suddenly keels over -- dead. Now, those interview notes become the hottest item in Lehigh, Penn., as everybody seems to want them.

If being pursued by the cops isn't enough pain-in-the-butt excitement, Bubbles also has to deal with a plant-loving Polish Mafioso, a female podiatrist who goes missing and a judge who's fined her $100 a minute until she turns over her notes. Meanwhile, adding to Bubbles' stress level is sleazy ex-husband Dan, who's been dipping into the till at work and demands her help; daughter Jane, who's anxiously awaiting word on whether she's been accepted at Princeton; and deliciously sexy boyfriend Steve Stilleto, who wants her to pose as his fiancée so he can get out of an overseas assignment. When he presents her with a diamond the size of a rock, Bubbles has visions of a married life with Steve, but the imagined scenario turns out to be scarier than she once thought. What's a Lehigh Valley girl to do? When Bubbles is involved, it's anybody's guess!

Oh, boy, it felt like coming home as I once again immersed myself in the lives of all the characters Strohmeyer so eloquently creates in this series. Bubbles has a sense of humor that's infectious as she goes through life with passion, zeal and pure guts. This is no wimpy, whiny, scatterbrained bleach-blonde -- no matter what her façade may indicate. In the end, she gets the job done and comes out a winner. My kind of woman! As with the other novels in this series, I read it in one setting and had a ball doing so! I can't wait for Bubbles' next investigative assignment.

Book Summary

On her first day as a full-time reporter, Bubbles lands in jail with a murder suspect named Crazy Popeye, who grants Bubbles an exclusive interview shortly before keeling over herself. Suddenly, Bubbles’s interview notes are a hot commodity among a romance- obsessed police detective, a Polish Mafioso, and a podiatrist on the lam. Meanwhile, her longtime boyfriend, Steve Stiletto, asks if she’ll pose as his fiancée in order to stave off an overseas job transfer. When he plunks a Harry Winston rock on Bubbles’s finger, only the specter of an all-you-can-eat pierogi wedding buffet down at the Polish-American Club, the inevitable result if her mother LuLu finds out, stops Bubbles from blurting out "Yes!"

Once again our not-so-scatterbrained bleached-blonde flits between crime scenes with unflappable verve. Like us, Bubbles frequently messes up, but she always pulls herself onto her tottering high heels and heads back into the fray.