Renee began the Throwback Thursday meme on her blog, “It’s Book Talk” to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books published over a year ago. Sounded like a good reason to join! My TT posts will not come from current ARCs or new releases. Means I’ll be going back over some of my oldies but goodies, my favorite authors, and some of my favorite stories from authors you might not have previously experienced. Hopefully, you’ll find either a story or author that interests you and you’ll check them out.
Originally posted December 4, 2013
Just the Pits – Hetta Coffey Mystery, Book 5
Book Blurb: As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant for oddball—read: shady—projects, Hetta Coffey has a history of inviting trouble. But now that she’s been hired for a legitimate mining project in Mexico’s Baja, it looks like smooth sailing ahead…until she discovers that people and pesos are disappearing faster than you can say, “This job is the pits!” And Hetta Coffey as a sleuth? Goodness knows she’s nosy enough, but her detective skills leave a lot to be desired. Luckily for her she gets help from her best friend, Jan, and a mysterious Velveeta thief.
Review: Just the Pits – Hetta Coffey discovers that in order to attract a yacht skipper, she must have a yacht. She is a civil engineer with an interesting history of affairs and by the end of Book One of the series has a 45′ yacht she names Raymond Johnson, after a beloved dog. I knew I was going to love this series when Hetta rescues a dog she promptly names “Po Thang.” While his origins might be mysterious, there is nothing mysterious in the way he adds interest and fun to a plot already brimming with snappy patter, characters with miles of personality, and lots of female daring-do.
Hetta is a single female engineer who tends to get in over her head after being hired to investigate what appears to be over-whelming expenditures on an already expensive mining operation. That she quickly begins confronting problems is apparently not wholly unusual, but she has a super network of friends (including gorgeous and perky Jan) who are ready and willing to come to her aid including a long-distance boyfriend, Jenks, somewhere mysteriously off on his own classified missions.
Among the comical sub-plots is her struggle to come to terms with turning the big 4-0 and granting her BFF Jan the lavish male attention her stunning long-legged, blonde good looks garners without rancor. Once she manages to rescue Po Thang, she discovers his major force in life is to find and devour his next meal.
Her obvious love and appreciation of the Baja location and population stems from her extensive real life experiences while piloting a 45′ yacht she calls home.
The mine that is the subject of the plot is but one of many in the area and her failure to see any masculine dominated industry or activity as being a challenge includes a hilarious description of her maneuvering a monster dirt hauler in the middle of some serious seismic activity. She wraps it all up in witty and downright laugh-out-loud dialogue and concludes with a satisfying ending. The shtick can get campy sometimes, but is all part of the fun and these books are a quick read.
Recommended for any who want to have some laughs, get a different kind of mystery from an unusual venue and get it all in a “clean,” contemporary novel.
The Author: Award-winning author Jinx Schwartz is the author of eleven books, including eight in the award-winning Hetta Coffey series, including the one above (and in the series order):
Just Add Water, Just Add Salt, Just Add Trouble, Just Deserts
Just the Pits, Just Needs Killin’, Just Different Devils, Just Pardon My French
A ninth-generation Texan, Jinx has lived and worked all over the globe. “She spends as much time as possible afloat in the Sea of Cortez and pulls many of Hetta’s adventures from her boating experiences there. When not in Mexico, Jinx finds herself high and dry on the Arizona border.” Follow Jinx on Twitter here: http://bit.ly/peOlj6 FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jinx-Schwartz-Author-Page/232750223433855?fref=ts or sign up for her newsletter at http://jinxschwartz.com
More Throwback Thursday Blogs:
Renee at Its Book Talk
Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe
Rebecca at The Book Whisperer
Lynn at Fictionophile
©2017 Virginia Williams 
Rosepoint Publishing 
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