Professional Reviews for On Location Rita Farmer
Mystery #3 by Elizabeth
Sims
From Kirkus
Reviews – June
2010
"Feisty Rita Farmer (The
Extra, 2008, etc.) adds hatchet-brandishing to her repertoire.
Between law school exams during a lull in her so-so acting career, Rita starts
worrying about her big sister Gina, who hasn’t called. Two days go by, and Rita
is sure Gina and her boyfriend Lance de Sauvenard
have gotten lost scouting locations around Harkett, Wash., for Lance’s brother
Kenner’s art film. Rita, her son, Petey, and her best
friend, Daniel, head north to find Gina. First they find lots of rain and
little cell reception. Then they come upon a guy named Joey nearly drowned
under a cliff. [SPOILER REMOVED]
Meanwhile, Mrs. de Sauvenard asks p.i.
George Rowe, who’s been investigating a financial boondoggle, to go find
Kenner, who seems to have vanished. So George heads north toward Rita. To get
to Kenner and Gina, they’ll have to outwit renegade loggers, a task that
requires Rita to impersonate a Native American wielding a hatchet, George to
warble like an ornithologist, Daniel to hike miles back to dry land and young Petey to draw a picture that puts everything in focus.
Like George, you just have to love Rita, who’s a great mom, a devoted sister
and a helluva actress, even if Spielberg hasn’t cast
her yet.
Deftly plotted,
often droll,
but so rainy throughout that you might want to read it with a pair of dry socks
by your side."
From
Publishers Weekly –
June
2010
“Sims's
smart third Rita Farmer mystery (after 2009's The Extra) finds Rita savoring
some stability as an L.A. law student and single mom after years of angst with
an alcoholic ex. Then the disappearance of her sister, Gina, thrusts the former
actress into her most dramatic role to date. When days pass without word from
just engaged Gina and her wealthy fiancé, Lance de Sauvenard,
who's scouting locations in the storm-lashed Washington State wilderness for
his filmmaker brother, Kenner, headstrong Rita resists reaching out to PI
George Rowe, her erstwhile beau, and instead enlists her game six-year-old son,
Petey, and gay TV actor friend, Daniel, in the hunt.
Raging rivers prove to be among the lesser perils these babes in the wood face
in a forest primeval harboring scoundrels ready for
their Coen brothers closeup--and
just maybe a murderer. Sims orchestrates the action--and occasional comic
relief--for maximum impact, with characters you hope will survive to enjoy
another day. “
From Booklist – July 2010
“Sisterly love fuels Rita Farmer in
her third outing (after The Actress, 2008, and The Extra, 2009). Even though she’s younger, Rita—a divorced single
mom and sometime actress now studying law—has felt protective of her sister,
Gina, since a traumatic childhood event. So when Gina and boyfriend Lance de Sauvenard take off for the wilds of the Pacific Northwest
to scout locations for his brother Kenner’s independent movie, Rita worries;
and when she doesn’t hear from Gina, she takes off on a search, along with her
six-year-old son, Petey, and his best friend, Daniel.
Meanwhile, PI George Rowe, hot-tempered Rita’s on-again-off-again lover, is
hired by Seattle matriarch Bertrice de Sauvenard, who now runs the family lumber business, to
check suspicions about her late husband’s right-hand man. As Rita and George
connect and their concerns intersect, they find more to worry about in the
wilderness than the elements. Sims’ plotting and dialogue are brisk and
sharp, and the characters of Rita and George—both interestingly
introspective—raise this well above the genre norm. Crime fiction as smart as
it is compelling.”
—
Michele Leber
From Harriet Klausner – July 2010 (syndicated)
“Los Angeles law student and single mom Rita Farmer feels the worst is finally over after a seemingly century of dealing with her alcoholic former spouse. However, the ex actress is stunned when her sister Gina along with future brother-in-law wealthy Lance de Sauvenard vanish in the wilds of Washington State during a nasty storm. Lance was scouting for an ideal on-site locale for his filmmaker brother to make a movie.
In her gut Rita knows she should turn to her boyfriend private investigator George Rowe to help find her sibling, but does not. Instead she rounds up the posse of her six year old son Petey and her gay friend Daniel the actor to search the wilderness filled with beasts that very loosely might be categorized as human who stalk the seemingly helpless trio.
More a thriller than a mystery, the third Farmer tale (see The Actress and The Extra) is a fabulous novel as Rita's independent streak leads her and her two compatriots into trouble reminiscent of Dickey's Deliverance. On Location is a winner that does not need a Byrd to tell fans that this entry is terrific.”
From The Seattle Times – August, 8 2010
"Location, location, location ...
Elizabeth Sims' hot-tempered, independent actress/heroine Rita Farmer has already appeared in two previous mysteries ("The Actress" and "The Extra"), but you needn't have read the preceding books to appreciate the third ("On Location"). In this fast-paced, atmospheric mystery, Rita is hot on the trail of her scatty sister Gina, who has disappeared while on an ill-prepared deep-woods camping trip with her boyfriend. When Gina fails to report back and doesn't answer her cellphone, Rita fears the worst, mobilizing her friend Daniel and her impossibly chipper, obedient and gifted 6-year-old son to trace the campers.
The dense Olympic Peninsula forests and the rising floodwaters make the search more difficult. Rita's investigator boyfriend, George, is meanwhile hot on the trail of related misdeeds. Telling the story through several separate points of view, Sims assembles almost her entire cast of characters in a portion of the wilderness that at times suggests the movie "Deliverance."
Sims shines in her deft characterizations, and in the descriptive passages that call the gloomy Northwest skies "stomped-newspaper gray" and the Puget Sound waters "slaty and ominous." The rains are so vividly depicted that readers may find themselves reaching for a warm jacket ... even in midsummer."
— Melinda Bargreen
From The Richmond Times-Dispatch – August, 9 2010
"Sisters in peril
Actress-turned-law-student Rita Farmer has always been protective of her older sister, Gina. And in "On Location" (384 pages, Minotaur Books, $25.99), the third book in Elizabeth Sims' series, Rita has good reason.
Brothers Kenner and Lance de Sauvenard are heirs to a timber fortune. Lance is dating Gina, and the connection has persuaded Rita and her friend Daniel to help with a movie Kenner is making.
When Gina and Lance head from Los Angeles to Washington state to scout locations, Rita makes Gina promise to call every day. When several days go by with no word, Rita, Daniel and Rita's 6-year-old son, Petey, head north to look for them.
Meanwhile, de Sauvenard matriarch has hired Rita's boyfriend, private investigator George Rowe, to look into possible financial skullduggery in the company. And when everything converges, more than one life is in peril.
Unlike its predecessors — "The Actress" and "The Extra" were mysteries with a dash of thriller — "On Location" is primarily thriller — with a twist — combined with adventure. It confirms Sims' skill and demonstrates her versatility in heart-pounding, page-turning style.
"
— Jay Strafford
