Peep Show, Leigh Redhead. Book 14

Leigh Redhead is a bit of a legend. She's done a hell of a lot of pretty cool things - a few of which I don't think I would ever have the courage to do and am probably a poorer person because of it.

Trying to go over her life in detail would take up a hell of a lot of space so I'll try to condense. She spent a lot of her youth moving around due to a mother who was a hippy/activist/groupie/conservationist.

Peepshow is a lot of fun to read. They're trashy and honest. I do wish I'd gotten Leigh to sign my copy when I had the chance to once, but I was too busy being in awe of her. Anyway, the main character, Simone Kirsch is sassy, sexy and not afraid to get down and dirty with Melbourne's crime and sex scene. Leigh's experience in stripping makes this book fascinating. It gets into what happens in the clubs and behind the scenes.

Basic premise is that a local club 'boss', Frank Parisi is found murdered in the bay. Simone's best friend, Chloe, is suspected by the brother of the dead man. Simone, who has just gotten her PI licence, begs for the chance to find who did it when they come to top Chloe. They agree to let Simone try for two weeks, but kidnap Chloe as insurance.

So Simone has to go undercover into the night life of Melbourne to discover who did it. On the way, she finds crooked cops, hot hot hot raunchy sex with a rather handsome guitarist, trannies, S&M queens, and red icypoles. I applaud the way Leigh manages to write Melbourne into her book. It's done naturally and she sticks to local places around St Kilda. There's no effort to include apparently famous landmarks (that no one outside of Victoria, Australia gives a toss about) and Simone visits the Greyhound Hotel regularly, hangs out at the Espy and local restaurants. She does it cleverly and without effort. Simone gets into a lot of tight situations and keeps a dry and clever wit throughout.

Her honesty about herself as a character makes her convincing. The other characters are equally real and well-written. Chloe has some one liners and scenes that are frikken hilarious. This book won the Reader's Choice at the David Awards in 2005 from Sisters in Crime - a high accolade for any writer.

I recently lent this book to my boss after my read for this review. She read it in one night and absolutely loved it.

If you're up for a well-written, trashy, full of wit, raunch, and tongue-in-cheek one-liners, then this one's for you. (and I do mean

'trashy' in a good way)