Jane Rubino Message Board
Ami posts on 12/28/2011 8:59:23 AM
You take The Sopranos but make the main character in the family a woman w/6 older brothers. You make everyone smart, scrappy & bright and the bad guys dark or Elmore leonard dumb & add a great NJ shore setting and this is what you get.
Six books - what I like is that the relationships develop thru the seies as the mysteries pile up. The last one was really a shocker - you have Cat finding out the truth behind her husbands death. Wish there were more to this seres
John McC posts on 12/22/2011 4:52:35 PM
Liked Cat. A real woman for a change. Spent a few summers down Ocean City, NJ and liked it as a setpiece. Good locale. Snappy dialogue was a big plus.
Elisha posts on 12/19/2011 3:08:50 PM
Am surp[rised to see a forum for this writer because i also came to her late. There was a library web site that had 'read-alikes' and had her name with 'if you like Janet Evanovich'. I liked Evanovich (tho got a little tired of her around book 6 or 7) and was looking for something else snappy and 'Jersey'. Tried Rubino who i found second hand (shes not on Kindle that i know of) and got hooked right off. Cat and Victor are and Italian and Latino version of Nick and Nora.
Arline W posts on 11/18/2011 6:11:42 AM
Rubinos Cat and Victor series is one of the few that got better as they went on. I loved Death of a DJ but by the time I got to Plot Twist I was so hooked on how great this series was. Part of what I like in mysteries is what the motive is and there is something about Robinos take on human nature that is just a little deeper and more original - I also like James Lee Burke, Jan Burke, Thomas Perry and Aileen Schumacher - would put Rubino in that class even with some bad typos in the hardcover books.
Cathie posts on 11/1/2011 7:53:24 AM
I was a fan of writers like Earlene Fowler, Sarah Strohmeyer, Sparkle Hayter, Janet Evanovich and looking for something in the same line that was funny but with a little more weight. Found Rubino on one of those if-you-like-this-you-will-like-that sites and Rubino was listed under Evanovich readalikes.
All I can say is what everyone else said here - these are the mystery characters you will remember but especially (since I am a woman) Victor. Victor! What a knight! I rarely fall in love with a book character except for Darcy, Scarlet Pimperneland now Victor Cardenas!
Lindsey Ann posts on 10/7/2011 3:15:02 PM
Not to get the feminists or the metros up in arms but Victor Cardenas is a REAL MAN. So tired of the sensitive types that practically drove me back to bodice rippers to find a man who is masculine, smart and knows how to treat a lady.
Point #2 is the dialogue. You read some of those conversations and at last someone gets it - you dont have to be sarcastic or snarky to sound witty and smart. Love the dialogue esp between Cat, Ellice, Victor and his detective unit.
George W posts on 10/3/2011 7:50:31 AM
First the cons:: Whoever did the editing on these books needed to run it through one more time. Like most small press books there are editing errors that should be fixed. Unfortunately these days it is not just a small-press issue because I am catching a lot of them in 'Big 6' novels.
The pros: Just about everything else. The official cop and the amateur is not new but this series makes them fresh in every way from the dialogue to the way the plot develops not just in the book but from book to book with some things carrying all the way through this too-short series. Four stars - five for the book with a deduction for the editor.
Thea J. posts on 9/14/2011 12:20:56 PM
I like the idea of the literary sleuth - Cat is a Jane Austen fan and Victor is a Sherlock Holmes fan - and together they make for some great sparks and verbal fencing. Great dialogue. The progression of the relationship as the series of mysteries crop up is well done - absolutely read the series in order. Plot Twist is a neat idea the way it 'reboots' Death of a DJ.
Wish Jane Rubino kept up this series. I loved every last one of the characters.
Paula Grogan posts on 9/8/2011 8:46:30 AM
Also a fan. Living in the Philly 'burbs I go for a lot of the Philly and Southern Jersey settings and Jane Rubinos is the best - was there anything after Raise the Dead in 2005? Because she really left us hanging with Victor popping the question.
And a word about Victor. He is SEXY. Goshbygolly. And it came to me that strong Latino males are rare in mysteries - none have really been intersting since Del Shannons Luis Mendoza and that was ages ago. Like the idea of a TV movie but who would play Victor? I cant come up with an actor who could pull off that sexy, sensitive, dark character.
Ellie posts on 8/13/2011 8:41:49 AM
Hey Toby - the show is called Against the Line or Against the Wall - a family of cops with a bunch of brothers and then the youngest in the family is a girl. You bet it sounds familar. Also the girl is very close to the youngest brother just like in J Rubinos series.
The series is not good - some of the acting is okay but it looks too much like that series Chicago Code. Should be called By The Numbers. Now its moved to a new night only a few shows in not a good sign.
Why not just buy the Cat Austen Victor Cardenas series?? Would have been a MUCH better route esp for a channel like LifeTime
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