Fiction-Net > Book Reviews > Something For The Weekend

Book Review Title Author Publisher Something For The Weekend Pauline McLynn Headline Fiction-Net Rating Buy It - Buy This Book Cover Story Leo Street is fed up. It's her thirtieth birthday and it's raining again. Her home town of Dublin is no 'New Barcelona'. Her job as a private investigator brings nothing but heartache and unpaid bills and Barry, her permanently resting actor boyfriend, treats her house like a free hotel, without giving her the benefits of room service. So she's rather relieved when a loathsome client sends her away to County Kildare to spy on his supposedly cheating wife. The one catch is she has to masquerade as a member of a cookery course and the only piece of culinary equipment Leo can handle is a tin opener - Weekend Entertaining Part One is daunting to say the least. As she strips away layers of marital infidelity - not to mention several other scandalous secrets - Leo battles with bread-making and brulee. But where will it all end - in triumph or tragedy? Pauline McLynn's infectious humour sparkles throughout this hilarious novel. Something For The Weekend introduces us to an irresistible heroine and marks the debut of a wonderfully talented comic writer. We Say Such is my fondness for Pauline McLynn's off-the-wall, warty portrayal of Mrs Doyle in the brilliant TV comedy series 'Father Ted' that I just knew that this would be the funniest book I had read in ages and indeed, funny it was. Unfortunately, that's all it was. Although Pauline McLynn has a talent for writing characters that make you laugh, the plot for this book reads like a predictable old school mystery after one too many pints of the black stuff. Leo Street, our female detective heroine, bumbles around the traditional setting of the old manor house making discoveries about people that many readers will spot a mile off. I defy anyone to be truly shocked by anything that happens. However, I can almost forgive this because the main character is so likeable, and yes, once again, funny. Overall, characterisation is the main strength of this book. The scenes with Leo's overbearing family are a scream and McLynn creates a fondness for the genuine cooking students on the course, with their different backgrounds and problems that they are trying to escape. The only weak link is Leo's useless boyfriend, Barry. The appeal of these hopeless but irresistible men, that some women just can't help putting up with escapes me, but then maybe it's meant to. I only hope that Pauline McLynn finds more original plots and settings in which to place this lively character in future books. Review by: Rachel Taylor Buy It - Buy This Book