TOO BIG TO MISS and THE CURSE OF THE HOLY PAIL

TOO BIG TO MISS by Sue Ann Jaffarian was read for the What's in a Name 4 Challenge.

From Amazon.com:

Too big to miss - that's Odelia Grey.  A never-married, middle-aged, plus-sized woman who makes no excuses for her weight, she's not super woman just a mere mortal standing on the precipice of menopause, trying to cruise in an ill-fitting bra.  She struggles with her relationships, her crazy family, and her crazier boss.  And then there's her knack for being in close proximity to dead people....

When her close friend Sophie London commits suicide in front of an online web-cam by putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger, Odelia's life is changed forever.  Sophie, a plus-sized activist and inspiration to imperfect women, is the last person anyone would ever have expected to end her own life.  Suspecting foul play, Odelia is determined to get to the bottom of her friend's death.  Odelia's search for the truth takes her from southern California strip malls to the world of live web-cam porn to the ritzy enclave of Corona del Mar.


THE CURSE OF THE HOLY PAIL by Sue Ann Jaffarian was read for the Just for Fun Reading Challenge 2011.

From Amazon.com:

Is the "Holy Pail" cursed?  Every owner of the vintage Chappy Wheeler lunchbox - a prototype based on the 1940's TV western - has died.  And now Sterling Price, business tycoon and a client of Odelia Grey's law firm, has been fatally poisoned.  Is it a coincidence that Price's one-of-a-kind lunch pail - worth over thirty grand - has disappeared at the same time?

Treading cautiously since a recent run-in with a bullet, Odelia takes small bites of this juicy, calorie-free mystery - and is soon ravenous for more!  Her research reveals a sixty-year-old unsolved murder and Price's gold-digging ex-fiancee with two married men wrapped around her breasts...uh, finger.  Mix in a surprise marriage proposal that sends an uncertain Odelia into chocolate sedation, and you've got an unruly recipe for delicious disaster.

I just love free books on Kindle!  I lucked upon these two, never having heard of them or the author before, and had so much fun reading them.  The stories were fun and the characters delightful.  I loved Odelia - she's smart and sassy and a champion for BBW (Big Beautiful Women) everywhere.  She somehow manages to find herself smack-dab in the middle of a murder and just HAS to start investigating herself.

These were the first two books in the series, and I'll be looking for the next four - hopefully free for the Kindle!