Dolores Cruz ("Lola" to her friends and family) is a private
investigator who is used to going undercover. But she never
expected "undercover" to mean that she'd be stripping down
to her underwear -- or even getting naked! The firm Lola
works for is hired to investigate who is sending
cheerleaders for the Sacramento Royals, the local basketball
teams, threatening letters. Lola's boss handpicks her to go
undercover as one of the cheerleaders, replacing a dancer
who has recently left the team.
Lola learns the routines and tries to find out as much as
she can about the individual women. She seems to be making
some inroads, all while trying to hide her undercover
assignment from her traditional Latino family and on-again,
off-again boyfriend. Suddenly, however, one of the dancers
is killed, and the investigation takes a different turn.
Lola discovers that Jennifer (the deceased dancer), was
leading a double life. What few people knew about her was
that she was a nudist. Selma, one of the other dancers on
the squad, is also a nudist and knew about this side of
Jennifer's life. When Selma discloses this information to
Lola, Lola knows she'll have to visit the nudist resort that
Jennifer and Selma frequented.
Once at the resort, Lola discovers a plethora of information
about Jennifer's other life, including an ex-boyfriend, a
cabin completely separate from her apartment in the city,
and a completely separate set of friends. Unfortunately,
Lola also discovers several suspects and motives. Can she
get this case settled before her family figures out she's
been spending her time either dancing in the spotlight in
front of thousands or taking her clothes off.
BARE-NAKED LOLA is humorous and the story is told in such a way
that did not cast nudists in a negative light while still
showing Lola's discomfort with the lifestyle. This is the
third book in the series, but the story-telling is done in
such a way that it could easily be the first book in the
series that readers pick up. The characters are all
relatable, although Lola's waffling relationship with her
boyfriend gets a little tiresome. As someone who knows
conversational Spanish, I did not mind that Spanish that was
sprinkled into the dialogue, and I believe that non-Spanish
speakers could figure out unfamiliar words from contextual
clues (some words are even translated).
Lola and her family are fun characters that I enjoy getting
to know, and I want to know more about them. Lola's boss is
a bit of stereotypical brooding boss who has tension with
her boyfriend, but it somehow works without being tiresome.
Her mom desperately wants her to settle down and have
children (and have a less dangerous job), which plays on
another stereotype, but, again, it somehow works. Overall,
the ensemble is fun without being overbearing.
Going undercover is second nature for Private Investigator
Lola Cruz, but she’s out of her league when the case of a
murdered Royals Courtside Dancer leads her to a local nudist
resort.
Parading around the sidelines of Sacramento’s
professional basketball scene in a barely-there cheerleading
outfit is one thing—but parading around in nothing but a
smile? If she has any chance of hiding this from her
traditional family and on-again/off-again boyfriend Jack,
she’s going to have a lot more than her duct tape bra and
killer dance moves to keep under wraps…
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