DOPPELGANGSTER: Esther Diamond Mystery #2 - Laura Resnick

From the back of the book: Meet Esther Diamond, a struggling New York actress with some unusual friends....

"Esther Diamond is the Stephanie Plum of urban fantasy! In Laura Resnick's DOPPELGANGSTER, the New York actress is 'resting' between roles by working as a singing waitress at a Manhattan mob restaurant because wiseguys tip well. Then duplicated gangsters appear, bullets start flying, and it's up to Esther and her friend Max the Magician to fight Evil by stopping a gang war before it starts killing the wrong people. And if she has time, maybe Esther can actually keep a hot date with her hunky detective friend Lopez, who doesn't believe in magic. Yet. Unplug the phone and settle down for a fast and funny read!"

Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author

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Esther Diamond is an actor between jobs, though she calls it resting. She finds out about a job at a restaurant she's used before as a fallback place of employment, a restaurant known to be visited by 'family' of the wiseguy persuasion. They love to hear Esther sing and she can crack wise with the best of them.

The doppelgangers, aka doppelgangsters (love this), start appearing and causing havoc as well as murder. Esther needs to find out how they are appearing since she witnessed a hit and might be on the list next and she knows something magically hinky is going on.

I love the characters in DOPPELGANGSTERS. The story is great, the mystery is intriguing, but the characters of Esther, Max the Magician, Alberto "Lucky Bastard" Battistuzzi, and Nelli, Max's familiar. I had fun reading the story especially when wiseguy speak was being utilized, translated and taught to Max. He is so literal and sort of out of touch and I kept snort laughing each time he was introduced to a new phrase.

If you haven't read this series, please do yourself a hugely excellent favor and get this book! If you can find the first in the series, DISAPPEARING NIGHTLY (my review), read it, but it's not mandatory to do so to enjoy this fabulously smart and funny urban fantasy.

Five because it's excellent and because it' Esther Diamond diamonds.....