[.uk] Murder on Naked Beach: A Lucy Ripken Mystery (Lucy Ripken)

Book Description:
30-something, single, and struggling to make it as a photographer in New York City, she's smart, tough, and fiercely protective of her friends and her privacy. Lucy wants to meet the right guy, but she's got to be free for a life of travel and adventure, and she finds both in Murder on Naked Beach, the first novel of this sizzling new mystery series. It's the ugly side of winter in Manhattan and Lucy is itching to escape to a warmer climate. She manages to talk her way onto a press junket to Jamaica to photograph a posh new resort. Once her photo shoot is done, she'll have plenty of time left for windsurfing and catching up with her traveling companions. Instead, Lucy finds one of them dead in the hot tub on the resort's little island, known as Naked Beach. Although everyone claims the writer died of a heart attack, Lucy smells mischief and is determined to find out what really happened. But her curiosity leads her way off Jamaica's beaten tourist path, and straight into danger, drug smuggling, and the bed of an undercover DEA agent. With Murder on Naked Beach, author J.J. Henderson introduces us to a sassy and sexy new sleuth in this suspenseful and sharply funny novel.

Worst Vacation Ever!:
This is a travel writer's dream come true of press junket mystery in the caribbean. Unfortunatly for a lay person this holds no fascination what so ever. What happens to Lucy Ripken is nothing more than some wistful daydreams of someone who wished something more was happening when nothing really is. The premise starts off weak as Lucy is in the airport preparing to leave New York in the middle of the cold winter and head to the warm tropics to see a new hotel. The excruciating detail about waiting to leave the airport is to be missed by anyone who has ever flown on a plane. Next we are in the warm tropics and it's nothing a second grader couldn't have told us about. But then wait, a man dies out on the nude beach and for some reason the girl that finds him is all freaked out about it and leaves the island to go home early. So for some reason it is apparent to all that he just had a heart attack in the hot tub, but to our would be sleuth, certainly there must be Murder on Naked Beach! The book countinues like this for some time alternating between psuedo mystery novel and a dsescriptive narritive from a travel pamphlet. This is a dull read that is more work than pleasure and I would advise not to book this trip. Happy Reading

A Must Have Vacation Read!:
I highly recommend Murder On Naked Beach. It's a fun, captivating thriller and a perfect book for any mystery buff. I can't wait to see what Lucy's up to next!

great read!:
Smart, funny beach mystery. Thoroghly enjoyed the fast paced action and hilarious description of journalists on press junket. Highly recommend!

No Problem, Mon:
Once again the sharp tongued, sharp witted Lucy Ripken gets to the bottom of the mystery with her unique blend of personal flare and nosiness. On assignment photographing a new resort in Jamaica, Lucy stumbles upon murder, drugs and, possibly love. Lucy Ripken's fun-to-read adventures are filled lush and vividly detailed locations (no doubt inspired by Henderson's travel writings) and peppered with colorful secondary characters, but the real cornerstone is Luce herself. A plucky, strong-willed modern heroine with a realist job and personality, Lucy is immediately likeable and accessible. Her courage and no-nonsense demeanor are quite admirable, and her insights fill an already fun read with dark humor and appeal.

Great Book, Lucy is divine!:
I am not a very avid reader but this book kept me intriuged from start to finish. I would recomend this book to any one looking for a good story. And you don't need a PHD to read it! _Chas B.