Publisher – Poisoned Pen Press

Politicians are like piñatas, sometimes you have to beat them up to get what you want.

4 out of 5 stars

Greasing the Piñata is the third in the Cape Weather series by author Tim Maleeny.

The players:
Cape Weathers – former reporter turned PI
Sally – an Asian orphan that was raised and trained by the Hong Kong Triads and is a deadly force.
Rebecca Lowry – the Senator’s daughter that is searching for her missing brother and father
Chief Inspector Oscar Garcia – Mexican policeman, or is he?
Luis Cordon and Antonio Salinas – heads of opposing drug cartels in Mexico

In this installment, PI Cape Weathers is hired by a former Senator’s daughter, Rebecca Lowry, to find her brother and father. Her father disappeared a few days after her brother went missing. The news isn’t good, both her father and brother were found dead (and missing body parts) in Mexico and under suspicious circumstances.

What follows next is a web of lies and deceit by politicians, heads of drug cartels and even the Mexican police inspector. What is their plan? What are they trying to cover up?

While not having read the first two books of this series I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep up with the characters or understand their background. The author did a great job of filling in the background on the characters so that you were drawn into their lives within the story and could only wonder what more there was that hasn’t been revealed. Cape Weathers has a dry sense of humor that almost gets him killed several times, but he manages to sidestep that danger just in the nick of time. Sally is definitely a deadly force not to be reckoned with if you wanted to stay alive. The heads of the drug cartels have their own agenda and wouldn’t mind taking over the other’s territory.

This is an intriguing political thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what could possibly happen next and who was behind the deaths of the Senator and his son? Would they be brought to justice? And if so, what sort of justice? Of course the twist near the end of the story was not expected and that just brought up more questions for this reader.

This is definitely a must read for those that enjoy a story that has so many twists and turns that you feel like you are on a rollercoaster and aren’t sure what is around the next corner.

Reviewed for RebeccasReads (9/08)