return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
    Reader reviews of Greasing the Piñata

Read what people think about Greasing the Piñata by Tim Maleeny, and write your own review.

Greasing the Piñata

Greasing the Piñata
by Tim Maleeny
Published in USA Dec 2008,
247 pages.

Publication information


Critics' Opinion: 
Readers' Rating: 
About BookBrowse Rankings
Share: 
Buy This Book
Page 1 of 3 There are currently 14 reviews
for Greasing the Piñata
Select your view:
Order Reviews by:
Click Here To Write Your Own Review
Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Talya
Greasing the Piñata - Cape Weathers, PI
This is the third and in my opinion, the best Cape Weathers' Investigation novel. The characters are all very unique, including the reappearance of Sally, the beautiful trained assassin sidekick. The novel includes politics, drugs, the environment, and murder--everything to make a great crime novel. I hope to see more from Tim Maleeny and Cape Weathers.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Brenda
Fun but forgettable
I found this book to be a bit lacking. The story line is fun, but really needs to be tightened up. I feel that the author was trying to pack too many ideas into one story. There are a lot of characters and it became confusing trying to keep them all straight, I don't think they were developed enough as characters to care about them, with the exception of the main two. There were some really great "one-liners" in the book and that kept it fun. But... the short chapters, instead of keeping the book moving, I felt slowed it down for me. It skipped around too much, I would have to look backwards to try to figure out who we were talking about now, especially if I was picking it up a day or so after the last time I read from it.

I think there is real potential for a good fun read, but I don't think it was achieved.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Patricia
Greasing The Pinata
As a voracious reader of mystery stories, I was intrigued by the characters, a male PI and his female side kick, an Asian Martial Arts protector. The setting occurred in the US as well as Mexico and the theme naturally involved drugs. I found the author has a knack for very unconventional characters and this was somewhat off putting to me. I enjoy unconventional characters but not every character needs a strange trait.

The storyline was certainly current with a tie into the environment but much of the important parts of the story were developed through conversation as oppose to action. I guess I like my characters to do it the old fashion way, the gum shoe way.

The book was well written and very readable. The thesis was a new twist on the drug cartels but this book did not make my all time ten best list.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Henrietta
'Greasing the Pinate
Maleeny gives us a "slice of life" in Mob circles in this fictional account of revenge, torture, and murder. Balancing the violence and plethora of four-letter words, detective Cape Weathers brings wit and intelligence in brief reprieves. This story is a quick read, a fast-paced thriller with well drawn characters and vivid descriptions.
Cape and Sally, his Chinese ally, make an intriguing couple.

I would not recommend this book to either of my book clubs, however, because graphic torture scenes and bad language are not generally appreciated.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Jill
FUN, FAST AND EASY!
Anything can happen in Mexico. And pretty much everything happens to P.I. Cape Weathers in a mystery that starts with a couple of dead bodies in a golf course water hazard and doesn’t end until the Mexican Mafia, a Chinese Triad alum and a few U.S. politicians have made an appearance—and gotten a little sweaty, testy or dead.
All the while, Weathers keeps batting at the piñata that is his case: Who killed his client’s father and brother and why?
This Mexican party has Weathers getting fairly beaten around himself in a mystery that, chapter by chapter, will keep you reading at break-finger pace!
Enjoy this one on your own—while not a beach read by any stretch, this is a novel much more suited to personal enjoyment than a deep discussion by your local book club. Tim Maleeny’s Cape Weathers is a guy you want to savor on your own; and at your own pace. Like your first boyfriend, he probably won’t stand up to a lot of in-depth scrutiny, but he is a hell of a lot of fun!

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Gary
greasing the pinata
Cape Weathers, ex reporter turned P.I.,takes on a case involving politicians,mafiosi,and the drug cartel,for his client,which takes him from his home base of San Francisco to Mexico. Enlisting the aid of his friend Sally, he encounters adventures and plot twists to keep you guessing till the end! A very enjoyable read. A straight ahead P.I. mystery, Poison Pen Press really impresses with their quality reads. I might even join the mystery of the month club. With a line like,"the moon was a full as a drunkards bladder" how can you miss! read it!
  1 2 3   next »

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 18 
  •  May 16 
  •  May 15 
The Woman Upstairs
Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Jacket

The riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and betrayed by passion and desire for a world beyond her own.
How to Create the Perfect Wife
Wendy Moore

How to Create the Perfect Wife Jacket

Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Happier Endings
Erica Brown

Happier Endings Jacket

A wise and affirming meditation on living fully and preparing for death, written by a highly regarded spiritual teacher.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
A Short History of Chechnya
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Half the Sky
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
2. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
Anna Quindlen
3. Because of Winn-Dixie
Kate DiCamillo
4. Eagle Strike
Anthony Horowitz
5. K Blows Top
Peter Carlson
More...
Book Club Recommendations
The Gods of Gotham
by Lyndsay Faye
Paperback (Mar/13)
Forgotten Country
by Catherine Chung
Paperback (Mar/13)
Philida
by André Brink
Paperback (Feb/13)
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
Hardback (Jun/12)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
A Dual Inheritance
by Joanna Hershon
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
The Laws of Gravity
by Liz Rosenberg
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing (May 16 2013)
In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Do you mainly read newly published or older books?
Mainly newer books
Mainly older books
A mix of new and old books
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
Bring Up the Bodies

Online Book Club
More about
Five Days
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
The Pigeon Pie Mystery


Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I I M B T Give T T R"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us