When the Tiffany Gentleman’s Club hires nineteen-year-old Ruby to dance, Sierra decides to “adopt” her and take her under her wing. Ruby admires Sierra and is thrilled when they are both chosen to make a special publicity appearance in her hometown at the Dead Lakes Motor Speedway where they smile as their photos are taken with all the drivers and crewmembers. On her way to a well-deserved and solitary lunch, Sierra is surprised to see her policeman boyfriend John talking to an attractive brunette, and she is devastated when he leans over and kisses her.

Upset and unable to eat, Sierra approaches a dumpster to throw away her food. When she hears Ruby laughing with an unseen man behind the dumpster, she turns to leave and give them some privacy. Yet before Sierra gets very far away, she hears the distinctive sound of bone snapping, runs towards the dumpster and is hit and knocked out. When she comes to, John is standing over Ruby’s body, then surprisingly, he runs off before help arrives. She is stunned and angry to learn that John denies being anywhere near the scene of the crime, and their budding romance is dead in the water after his two-timing kiss.

Her life continues its downward trend when the morning newspaper identifies her as a witness and able to identify the murderer by his distinctive voice. Sierra concludes the police don’t give a darn about a dead dancer because they “figure one riffraff type got whacked by another riffraff.” Her loyalty to her dead friend plus the threat to her own safety gives her the impetus to follow the murderer’s trail.

Sierra is comfortable with her stunning centerfold looks and takes great pride in her talents. Both of these attributes give her a great deal of power over men and are a distinct advantage when she needs information from them. Yet she has inner beauty as well, consisting of a strong sense of right and good, an honorable moral code and an unfailing steadfastness to her family and friends. “Dumb blond” is far from being an accurate description of Sierra as her intelligence was fine-tuned by the nuns in her local North Philly Catholic School system while growing up.

What doesn’t always work for me in Drag Strip is the assumption that exotic dancers or their friends use bad grammar, especially double negatives -- although their speech is not always consistent. For example, Sierra says, “it ain’t right” and a few paragraphs later she says, “it isn’t good.” This manner of expression creates a choppy flow of words and an irregular jump in to and out of conversational styles, although the language in Drag Strip is much improved in comparison to the author’s first book.

Language aside, Ms. Bartholomew has created a wonderful set of lovable characters with touchingly human faults and noble attributes that form a close-knit family of friends. Sierra’s biological family is classic and able to drive her crazy one moment and coddle her the next, but they are always supportive in times of a crisis. The criminals have cunning and guile, and their crimes are worthy of Sierra’s clever detection skills. She approaches her investigation with tenaciousness, dogged determination, shrewd intelligence, and enough common sense to solve the case.

Most importantly, Ms. Bartholomew deserves a round of applause for producing so many original characters. In addition, a plot jam-packed with humor, unflagging action, high jinks and justice make Drag Strip a book well worth buying.

--Monica Pope