Dare to Au Pair [Large Print]

by Mike Nettleton and Carolyn J. Rose

Caf au lait, career epiphanies, and love triangles. Just a typical day at your summer job. When recent business school grad and meticulous ten-year planner, Kat McLauren, takes an unplanned au pair position in the French Riviera to schmooze a future employer, she haphazardly upholds her reputation while rejuvenating a local tourism magazine, grappling with three unruly kids, and avoiding a romance with the host family's eldest son. But if...

• Format: Paperback
• Large Print: Yes
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0744310350
• ISBN13: 9780744310351
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Camcat Books
• Length: 532 Pages
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

30 years later, laughing till it hurts

The print is narrow and the page margins are minimal but I quickly decided to live with the eyestrain. Reading this book is like jumping on a trampoline or watching an old Marx Brothers movie. It's fun, and laughing gives your stomach muscles a workout. THE HARD KARMA SHUFFLE is not so much a mystery as a drop-in on some drop-outs, 30 years after Woodstock. Paladin, the protagonist, is a rich man's son who pumps around Portland, Oregon as a pony-tailed bicycle messenger, scrounging for meals and hand-me-down clothes. Paladin is a great character, and so are his old friends. There's Twirling Girl, now a real estate broker who wears power suits and calls herself Brenda. There's Polly, whose proudest possession is a photocopy of her war protest letter to Lyndon Johnson, on which LBJ had scribbled "get this broad off my back." And then there's Suzy Spiderweb ... We also get a murder and stock manipulation, all related to some valuable computer disks. I can't say that computer disks roil my blood as motives for murder. I like woman-scorned, man-betrayed, and other gut-wrenching motives. But too much gut wrenching just wouldn't fit here. Nettleton and Rose have a fine eye for the absurdities of contemporary life. Here's Paladin standing in line at the post office: "I growled at a blue-haired woman in a pink mohair coat and black galoshes and claimed my spot in line with all the sullen grace of a wolverine. The man in front of me smelled of mothballs and bourbon. The line moved forward half a step. A fat woman behind me began to sneeze on my back. Like a chain gang we moved another half step. The woman sneezed again and I decided coming back later was a notch above catching swine flu." Later, on the lam and disguised as a banker, Paladin goes to dinner with Brenda. He orders grilled chicken breast: "It looked like someone had run over it with a tractor, heated it with an acetylene torch, tossed a pile of grass clippings on top and laid it over a smear of potatoes." Brenda tells him that the green stuff is seaweed, which is loaded with vitamins. Paladin says, "I don't care if it's loaded with uncut diamonds ... I'm not eating something that fish wipe their butts on." This one's a whole lot of fun.

Grabs your attention - and keeps it

The authors of Hard Karma Shuffle know what they're doing when it comes to mystery writing. It was a treat to discover their taut plotting and savvy way with words. But most of all, it's the humor and the characters that have stayed with me. There are a ton of mysteries out there, some good, some you wonder how they ever got into print. Trust me: This is the good stuff.

The Hard Karma Shuffle

THE HARD KARMA SHUFFLE authors: Mike Nettleton and Carolyn Rose publisher: Deadly Alibi Press, Ltd. 2003ISBN:1-886199-23-Xreviewed by Pari Noskin TaichertOh, man, if you're like, into the 60s, THE HARD KARMA SHUFFLE is goingto be your bag.This breathless ride of a mystery introduces Paladin--that's his only name now--a gray-haired and pony-tailed love-child who has grown up and opted out of mainstream life for nearly 30 years. He's got no social security number, no driver's license, and has never paid a cent to theIRS. Now in his forties, Paladin takes care of his minimal needs through barter and payments under the table for delivering packages on his bicycle in the weather-cursed city of Portland. One ugly afternoon, Paladin is sent to deliver an envelope to a software company and then ordered by the sender to "undeliver" it. Upon his return, Paladin finds his client--a good friend--dead. What happens to this counterculture and innocent soul, and the envelope in his possession, is the stuff of the mystery.Paladin's voice--wry, intelligent and way-groovy--is right on. His world is peopled by fringe characters--a homeless tuba player, an immigrant small business owner, a former free-lover, and computer nerd gen X'ers. Because of his ultra liberal views and lifestyle; more conservativereaders might not relish his observations and descriptions of people who go to work every day, drive cars, or hail abstinence as a virtue. For those of us who secretly buck the establishment, he's copacetic. There's a sparkling speed to THE HARD KARMA SHUFFLE, from the wonderful chase scenes pitting a bicycle against a car to the mercurial ups and downs of Paladin's fortunes, that renders this short read great fun. This book is for anyone who is nostalgic for the 60s or stillkeeps a tie-dyed tee-shirt in the darkest corner of his or her closet.