"Living the Vida Lola" is a first novel by Latina-by-marriage author, Misa Ramirez. Ramirez is a native Californian transplant to Dallas, Texas. This novel inaugurates the Lola Cruz Mystery Series.
Dolores Cruz is a 20-something PI working for the Camacho agency in Sacramento, California. She's a bit of a Stephanie Plum knock-off. The fact that Lola mentions Plum at one point makes it clear that the author has this Evanovich character in mind to some extent. They are similar in age, profession, and similar in the close ethnic family ties that they have. Cruz's 'hood is an older area of Sacramento where she grew up with her Mexican-American family and friends-- and a crush on a non-Latino guy from high school, Jack Callaghan, who is now a Sacramento Bee reporter.
Part of the plot line is the budding romance with Callaghan, and part getting ready for Lola's niece's quinceanera, and the business part is to solve the disappearance and murder of a local woman-- which she does with the help of Jack and a rival PI from her office, Sadie Metcalf.
The character of Lola grew on me, and by the end of the book I was looking forward to the next installment of this mystery series. I like the feisty-ness of this character, and her somewhat unusual value system for a PI. (She does not believe in carrying a gun.)
I did find the book was a little slow to get in to action and the characters got a little confusing at first so it was hard to concentrate on moving quickly from chapter to chapter. The text does not flow as smoothly as the works of more experienced mystery authors, but then, this is a first novel.
There is plenty here to like and to look forward to in future installments.
Liz Nichols
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