Book Review: Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham (Veronica Mars #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great mystery as excuse to visit with old friends

Cons: None worth telling about

The Bottom Line:

Woman left for dead

But who was the attacker?

Marshmallows will love

Can Veronica Track Down an Attacker?

Somehow, I let Mr. Kiss and Tell sit on my book shelves unread for several years now.  I've been meaning to get to it.  After all, I was a big fan of the TV show Veronica Mars, I enjoyed the movie, and I enjoyed the first book based on the characters.  It took the promised Hulu revival to get me to finally pick up the book, but really, it was no surprise that when I finally picked up this book, I enjoyed it as well.

For those who aren't familiar with the series, the TV show Veronica Mars introduced us to a teenage detective played by Kristen Bell.  It never found the audience it deserved, and it was canceled after 3 seasons.  About 10 years later, we were able to revisit the characters via a fan funded big screen movie, which was followed with the two tie in novels.

Which leads us to the question, do you need all the background to completely enjoy this book?  Probably not.  Any background information truly needed is provided in the book.  Heck, I haven't rewatched any of my DVDs or reread the first book in three years, and I followed what happened here, okay.  But it is something that fans are going to enjoy the most.

This book finds Veronica Mars hired by the Neptune Grand to clear them of responsibility for an attack that left a young woman almost dead several miles away.  Before she was found, she was last in the hotel.  At first, she claims she can't remember what happened in the attack, but then she names someone on the hotel's staff.  With a client who wants Veronica to prove them innocent and a victim who thinks Veronica's only motive is to discredit her, can she find the truth?

Meanwhile, Weevil's trial is winding down.  Will the jury reach the correct verdict?  And will Veronica's father ever be able to use the stories he's found of the Sherriff department's evidence planting?

Okay, so that last bit is definitely something you'll need some background on since this is a plot thread that started in the movie and stretched across the first book to be resolved here.  I was surprised when no other books came out considering how much the fans loved them, but the authors obviously planned it this way since everything is wrapped up here, at least as far as this storyline goes.

And the main mystery?  It takes a few pages to get going, but once it does, I was hooked.  The plot leads us in some interesting directions before Veronica begins to figure out what really happened.  We also get to revisit our favorite characters and some minor characters from the series even pop up.  I loved that since I love these characters.  The climax is good and wraps things up appropriately.

What really surprised me where was how I felt about Veronica's relationship with Logan.  Honestly, I have never rooted for Veronica to wind up with this spoiled rich bad boy.  In fact, I've been rooting for pretty much anybody but Logan.  However, this book really developed Logan and their relationship, and I found myself rooting for them to find a way to keep making their relationship work.  I never thought I'd find myself saying that, either.

I said it when I read the first book several years ago, and I'll say it again.  My biggest complaint with this book is that it was written third person.  In the series and the movie, we always got a nice voiceover from Veronica, and I missed her perspective and snark here.  But that's a minor issue overall.

Mr. Kiss and Tell will appeal most to fans of Veronica Mars, but it does have a great mystery for anyone to solve.  And if you aren't a fan of this series, you really should fix that anyway, so you can enjoy this book.