• Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss

  • By: Kyra Davis
  • Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
  • Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,667 ratings)

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Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss  By  cover art

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss

By: Kyra Davis
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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Editorial reviews

Mystery novelist Sophie Katz is a tart, peppery vodka gimlet of a gal, gadding about foggy San Francisco, sleuthing crimes in a chic, papery coat. Like any hard-boiled dame worth her smelling salts, however, withering Sophie guards a mushy heart. "Anatoly knew the details of me," she gushes, when her dishy Russian private eye suitor remembers her fussy coffee order to the letter. Even at 31, Sophie gets goose bumps when she's jittery and is peevish with her two-year-old nephew. She's petty and rams through small talk. She is likeably damaged.

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss is audiobook four in the Sophie Katz mystery series, though each volume stands alone as easy, breezy escapism, so you can skip downloading sequentially. This is foremost a whodunit and author Kyra Davis plots Lip Gloss around the stagy killing of blue-blood Oscar; his creaking Victorian mansion, snapped up by Sophie; her bad egg ex-husband, and current realtor, Scott; his chilly swizzle stick girlfriend, Venus; and the quirky Specter Society, which holds séances to channel "disembodied spirits".

Gabra Zackman is the hypnotic narrator of Lip Gloss. As Sophie, she creeps a scratchy world-weariness into her inflections, hinting that the trademark Katz sass might be half-invented. Zackman instinctively connects with her characters, wiring Scott's boyish charisma to a chatty pace while attaching terse Anatoly to gnashing pauses. It's risky for an audiobook narrator to spin through nearly two dozen characters plus a plot hooked to the paranormal to claim believability. But Zackman teases out subtle voice distinctions and accents (Italian, Russian, Yiddish) until the prospect of communing with the dead seems slightly more believable than Sophie landing a fully renovated, three-bedroom house in Ashbury Heights. Prime real estate, after all, trumps ghosts. Nita Rao

Publisher's summary

Mystery writer and dabbling recreational sleuth Sophie Katz is head over heels in love - with a three-bedroom Victorian. She's just got to have it, despite a few drawbacks. Her slimy ex is the realtor. The rich, creepy seller wants her to join San Francisco's spirited Specter Society. And her first tour of the house reveals, well, a lifeless body clutching a cameo with a disturbing history of its own.

There's no way Sophie is going to give up the ghost on her dreams of stained glass and original woodwork, though--even when things become officially weird. A Society member is found with a slashed throat, and Sophie's house might as well be yelling, "GET...OUT!" She's hearing footsteps, lights are turning themselves off and her stuff keeps moving inexplicably. To top it off, boyfriend Anatoly thinks it's all in her head.

Sophie is 99 percent sure her problems are caused by someone six feet tall instead of six feet under, but the only way to be sure is to track down the killer - before he pushes her kicking and screaming to the other side.

Solve another case with Sophie.
©2009 Kyra Davis (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Slurs aplenty

The other books in the series so far were ok for light entertaining listening, although the underlying message that anyone concerned about social justice is a radical wacko wears thin pretty fast. But the MC is half black, the author continually insists. Issues like a racist Justice System don’t effect her, and therefore they don’t exist! The boorish, macho BS the MC puts up with from her BF is likewise irritating, but I could basically ignore it.

I could sort of ignore the shaming “othering” treatment of “Furries” in another book, but Davis lost me with her bigoted, tone deaf treatment of transgender people. She uses very offensive language to refer to one of the characters, and portrays her as stereotypically unbalanced and dangerous. I lost all sympathy with the MC when she couldn’t wait to out the trans character and mocked her relentlessly. Sadly, I don’t think the author’s intention was to write her MC as an anti-hero or a flawed but basically good person. Pretty sure this is just the author’s idea of normal.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sophie Katz Rules!

I admit to being an ardent Kyra Davis fan and have all of her titles in my audio library.
The first three titles were also narrated by Gabra Zackman. Usually I love her voice and the unique way she captures all of the individual characters, their little foibles and nuances etc...but I have to agree with the previous reviewer who also noticed that Gabra's treatment of Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss was not as consistant in that she had a tendency to do this little 'up speak' thingy which after a while became quite distracting, if not a little annoying at times (sorry Gabra...nothing personal!)
Having said that, Gabra is one of my favourite narrators and she portrays Sophie Katz et al brilliantly. This latest Sophie Katz mystery is a little different..we see a more settled and mature protagonist. A woman in love and as ever, courting danger with her lovable but slightly 'Kookie' friends coming to her rescue. Highly entertaining and always intriguing. I devoured it with a voracious appetite and can't wait for Kyra's next book.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

an amusing listen, in keeping with the series

I've listened to all of the books in the series and enjoyed them all. They are each diverting and funny. In this one, however, the narrator tilts her voice up at the end of sentences, frequently and in some odd places, which was a bit distracting.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Not all that interesting

This is my first and will be my last of this series. I just couldn't warm to the main character and found little charm in the story (which seemed forced) but I did laugh occasionally.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

New listen for me in this series

UGH!!! Well not completely. The story line was good. Plot ok, kinda slow... but I think for the most part the READING was ANNOYING!!!! To say the least. Not sure if its just me, but the reader drove me INSANE. Nice voice, but there was an influx or rise in tone at the end of almost every sentence... I wanted to pull my hair out. I liked the book, for the most part- but not sure if I will get more from this series. I think I will have to try another. I have listened to Sophie Kinsella, and Charlaine Harris. Love Chic Lit, and for the most part have been satisified with books until now. Sorry; I would suggest to preview first to see if you can tolerate the reader, and then go from there.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Didn't want it to end..

Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss is another great book in the Sophie Katz series. I loved this one just as much as the others, Sophie is back..stumbling into some sort of mystery that she just must solve and I love the quick wit that makes you laugh out loud while reading. I like that her and Anatoly relationship is progessing nicley with each book. The paranormal side had me wondering how she was going to solve it without believing in ghosts, but knowing Sophie (who is to practal for that) I knew there was a way, I just couldn't see it. And that is what I love about these books..I don't have them figured out within the first few pages and it always provides a laugh. Marcus is one of my favorite characters -I laughed so hard at the restuarant scene and his shoes ;-) I have to agree with another review I read on here, after reading these books I just had to go out to starbucks and try a frappuccino! I can't say I'm a fan of them but I am a fan of Kyra Davis and Sophie Katz.
Gabra Zackman is one of the best narrators I have ever listened to. She does the voices for the characters perfectly.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Fun Listen

I have swore to myself I will not critize any narrator of purchased books. I so appreciate the work they do. This is fun book. I felt the storyline captured you. For some reason I just had trouble getting through it. I really like the ending.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful Story, Wonderful Narration

Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss is another great book in the Sophie Katz series. I loved this one just as much as the others, Sophie is back with her stellar sleuth skills and quick wit that makes you laugh out loud while reading. Many times while reading this book I got the “is that lady crazy look” for busting out laughing in public. Anatoly is sexy and sweet as ever and I was so happy with the way these two are progressing in their relationship. The paranormal side of the story keeps it very interesting and gives a twist to the type of mystery going on. Marcus is one of my favorite characters and he is back for the fun, even if it is unknowingly. You also get a better insight on Sophie and her fathers relationship before he passed away, which develops the character of Sophie even more making you love her even more. I counted down the days between Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate and this book and I will do the same for the next Sophie Katz mystery. The only thing I would warn about buying this book is the amount of money you spend at Starbucks, every time I read a Sophie book I have to have a frappuccino!
Gabra Zackman is one of the best narrators I've listened to. She gets the voices for the characters perfectly.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Lust,Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss

I just loved it, if you enjoy Janet Evanovich books you will like this one too.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

They are all nuts

Ms Davis is very good at coming up with oddball characters. A bit over the top, but I guess that's what makes them fun. The narrator is good, but there seemed to be a few times she got bored.

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2 people found this helpful