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raucous's review
4.0
I typically don't read much mystery but this one was recommended to me because of the Tai Chi angle. The Tai Chi in the book felt surprisingly authentic as, of course, did the dog training aspects. Good boy! I was a bit put off by the way that the main character manipulated the suspects as part of her investigation and some of the coincidental meetings were hard to believe (this is NYC!), but that may just be me not knowing the genre or the city. Overall I still really enjoyed the book.
archergal's review against another edition
3.0
This is the second book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash mystery series.
Rachel is called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a tai chi teacher. Apparently this involves Rachel stepping totally into this other woman's life, sleeping in her apartment, wearing her clothes and jewelry, and stepping into her spot as apprentice to the main teacher at the tai chi studio where Lisa (the dead woman) trained.
I thought all that was a little creepy, honestly. I kinda didn't buy how fast she progressed in tai chi and various other physical pursuits she undertakes. But maybe that's because I've never been very athletic, and the one time I tried a tai chi class, I learned S-O S-L-O-O-O-O-W-L-Y that I never really mastered even the basics. :(
And then, when she had her answers, she just ... drops it all. Ok. Ooookay.
It just seemed weird to me, in an uncomfortable way. And Rachel really doesn't seem to care for Akitas. (Full disclosure: I owned an Akita in the 80s. She was A Good Dog.)
Not really bad, but not my favorite so far. And yes, I read the 1st, 2nd, and 7th books pretty much back to back in about 4 days.
Rachel is called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a tai chi teacher. Apparently this involves Rachel stepping totally into this other woman's life, sleeping in her apartment, wearing her clothes and jewelry, and stepping into her spot as apprentice to the main teacher at the tai chi studio where Lisa (the dead woman) trained.
I thought all that was a little creepy, honestly. I kinda didn't buy how fast she progressed in tai chi and various other physical pursuits she undertakes. But maybe that's because I've never been very athletic, and the one time I tried a tai chi class, I learned S-O S-L-O-O-O-O-W-L-Y that I never really mastered even the basics. :(
And then, when she had her answers, she just ... drops it all. Ok. Ooookay.
It just seemed weird to me, in an uncomfortable way. And Rachel really doesn't seem to care for Akitas. (Full disclosure: I owned an Akita in the 80s. She was A Good Dog.)
Not really bad, but not my favorite so far. And yes, I read the 1st, 2nd, and 7th books pretty much back to back in about 4 days.
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