Agent In Old Lace by Tristi Pinkston

Hurray for Tristi Pinkston! I’m a big fan of her personally and have great respect for Tristi’s writing ability. So, when she asked if I would like to review her new book Agent in Old Lace all I could do was give a little happy dance and electronically shout *gimmeee, gimmeee,. gimmeee!* at her. I embarrass myself sometimes.

Tristi has a deep spiritual and intellectual side, but her basic personality is warm, bubbly, and fun. Now, I have enjoyed Tristi’s previous historical fiction, but it was just, so, so, serious. . . I wondered when she’d let her personal nature shine through in her work. Let me just say that she really did that with Agent in Old Lace. To me, it felt like she’d finally given herself permission to just have fun with her creative talent and that made the story really shine for me.

When you pick up Agent in Old Lace you’ll find a compelling story in which Shannon’s boyfriend suddenly switches from loving, “Let’s get married” mode to “I’ll just kill you instead” mode. Suddenly you’re off and running with Shannon biting your nails and trying to figure out how in the world she’ll get out alive. Turns out she does, else it would be a very short book. But, staying alive is a far cry from being out of danger. The FBI makes plans to protect her by giving her an undercover live in companion. The only problem is the best woman for the job just happens to be a man. Not only will he have to be undercover, but also under wig, slip, skirt, and support hose (well, okay maybe they’re more like tights) as well. The make up lessons Shannon gives him are hoot and I loved their heart to heart talk about true beauty, it’s priceless.

I can honestly say that no matter what genre is your favorite: suspense, romance, or comedy, you’ll find a lot to love about Agent in Old Lace. It’s a quick, easy read that’s perfect for a day in the sun. Make sure you add it to your summer reading list.

I also take pride in the fact that there is a “whatshername” Palmer in the book. I know, I know, it’s a lame attempt at telling myself I’m famous. Hey, when you have such cool friends you try to claim that connection anyway you can. :)

Okay, so you don’t think I’m totally biased, I would have liked Shannon to have a moment when she looked back on her relationship with the ex-boyfriend and the lights went on about a weird behavior towards her personally. Not something that would have tipped her off that he was a psycho at the moment, but the lights would go on when she got to thinking about it afterwards. It would have been appropriate for her pick up on that and feel she should have seen the clues that he wasn’t as perfect as he appeared. Nobody’s that good of an actor all the time.

Now, here’s my biggest whine about the book: I loved the cover, but when I got into the story I quickly figured out that the image I had of Shannon in my mind from the cover was totally not what Tristi describes her looking like. I know she had no control over the cover art and it does its job of drawing the eye, but it also caused a little jolt for me when I had to replace my image of the heroine. I haven’t watched soap operas since I was a young teenager and hung out with someone who watched them. But, it kind of reminded me of what would happen when one actor would leave the show and they’d pull in someone else to play that role. All the other characters act like Sara has always been a tall red head, when last week she was a petite blond. It was just a “what happened to the other girl?” moment. :)

Tristi will be gallivanting all over the web this month on blog tour promoting Agent in Old Lace, track her down and see how she’s doing from www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com.