book cover of Film Strip
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Film Strip

(2000)
(The third book in the Sierra Lavotini series)
A novel by

 
 
The Barnes & Noble Review
Exotic dancer and unstoppable sleuth Sierra Lavotini is back in the spotlight, and she's shaking her moneymaker to solve a mystery involving murder, mayhem, and the mob, in Nancy Bartholomew's Film Strip.

It's hard to survive in the entertainment business -- even when your breed of entertainer is a blonde dancer whose height is five feet ten in her stilettos, and whose bra size is 38 double D -- when she's topless. Sierra's the headliner at Tiffany Gentleman's Club on the northwest coast of Florida, and in an effort to help out the club she calls home, she proposes to invite some guest talent -- a porn star named Venus Lovemotion -- to share the stage for one night. Instead, the two performers end up sharing a bullet -- which kills Venus Lovemotion and leaves Sierra with a wound, ahem, just to the left of her G-string.

Sierra's boyfriend, Panama City homicide detective John Nailor, is on the case, and all signs point to Marla, a silicone-for-brains dancer at the Tiffany, whose gun went missing about the time of the murder. Although Sierra might not like Marla, who would like to steal the spotlight while Sierra is recovering, Sierra knows Marla's not the killer, and if Marla goes to jail, the Tiffany goes under. Just as things are heating up in her relationship with Nailor, Sierra has no choice but to go behind his back to solve the crime, before the evidence piles up too high against Marla.

Along the way, she gets help from a wildly imagined cast of characters, including her crazy neighbor, Raydean, who when she isn't seeing space invaders, sees darn near everything that happens in their trailer park; her overprotective brother, Francis, whom she passes off as her cousin; the mobster "Big Moose" Lavotini; and, of course, her vicious Chihuahua, Fluffy.

But things aren't looking good. A dangerous-looking "Italian Stallion" has been hanging around the club -- and not tipping the dancers -- and as soon as Sierra starts asking questions, it's clear she's getting too close to something someone doesn't want her to know. Threatening notes -- and miniature bombs -- are being delivered to her by flower delivery cars, and when a second guest porn star, Frosty Licks, is also murdered, Sierra knows she's in danger of injury to more than her derriere.

Sexy, romantic, and downright hilarious -- a dancer's pole, a smoke machine, and a wah-wah pedal couldn't be more fun than Nancy Bartholomew's latest. Throwing a spotlight on the seedier side of sleuthing, Film Strip is no tease. Step up and take a closer look at Sierra Lavotini -- this is the real McCoy! (Elise Vogel)

Elise Vogel is a freelance writer living in New York City.


Genre: Mystery

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