From Publishers Weekly
In her second novel featuring the high-energy beautician/rookie reporter, Bubbles Yablonsky (after 2001's Bubbles Unbound), Strohmeyer successfully navigates the fine line between humorous stereotype and sympathetic amateur investigator. As the novel opens, the tube top-wearing, Camaro-driving, self-described last "Polish-Lithuanian Barbie doll in Lehigh, Pennsylvania" is taking the blame for jinxing the nuptials of her shy friend, Janice, a records clerk in the local police department. Janice has not only gone missing but the uncle with whom she lives is soon found dead in his gated retirement home. Bubbles retraces Janice's last steps, which lead to some shady doings in Amish country. Bubbles goes undercover, frantically (and hilariously) shifting between her role as a sexy reporter and her cover as an Amish widow. Despite her bumbling in a foreign culture, Bubbles manages to win the friendship and trust of this tight-knit community, and her own respect and growing understanding of the Plain folk is nicely conveyed. Bubbles's hunky beau, photographer Steve Stiletto, makes a steamy appearance, along with many other well-wrought oddball characters, including Bubbles's mother, Lulu, who's going through a Jackie O. phase. The over-the-top force-of-nature protagonist and the lovingly detailed descriptions of clothing and hair styles make up for some gaps in logic and a slightly rushed ending. Also delightful are the useful recipes (hangover cure, cuticle softener, etc.) all involving vinegar sprinkled throughout.Unbound won an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Bubbles Yablonsky is back, doing hair, moonlighting as a reporter for the local paper, and stumbling into a bit of amateur sleuthing. This time she's off looking for Janice, a friend who walked out on her own wedding, leaving her uncle's corpse behind. To track her, Bubbles must surrender her makeup and spandex and don Amish garb, for Janice is really Elspeth and has gone home to the heart of Amish country in Whoopee, Pennsylvania. Strohmeyer was on surer--and funnier--ground in Bubbles' first adventure, Bubbles Unbound [BKL Ja 1 & 15 01]. Bubbles "Plain" doesn't really work, even with shoofly pie as a murder weapon and a sweet homage to fellow Pennsylvania Dutch-themed author Tamar Meyer. Bubbles' relationship to her brilliant teen daughter and to the elusive but hunky photographer Stiletto helps carry one through. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
You know you're in for one sexy, hilarious romp in this follow-up to Sarah Strohmeyer's debut mystery, Bubbles Unbound, as soon as you read the opening line: "This is how Steve Stiletto, drop-dead gorgeous, globe-trotting photographer, finally got me, Bubbles Yablonsky, Pennsylvania hairstylist and occasional newspaper reporter, to break my chastity vow...."

The adventure begins when Bubbles -- the valentine red Wonderbra–wearing reporter with a fondness for leopard print and stilettos -- shows up at her friend Janice's wedding only to find that the bride herself is a no-show. Thinking she's to blame (she did drunkenly perform Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" at the bachelorette party the night before), Bubbles tries to find Janice and get her to the church on time. But she discovers only foul play: Janice has disappeared, and her live-in uncle, Elwood, has been murdered. Finding out what happened to the AWOL bride requires Bubbles to go undercover in the unlikely guise of a single Amish woman. Riotous antics naturally ensue.

Like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and the late Lawrence Sanders' Archy McNally, Bubbles Yablonsky may not seem like the sharpest tool in the shed -- but she's crafty and clever enough in her own right to get the job done. Bubbles in Trouble is a must-read for mystery fans who like their whodunits layered with a little bit of romance, a little bit of comedy, and a whole lot of fun. Tanya Chesterfield

FROM THE PUBLISHER

New York Times bestselling author Susan Andersen called Bubbles Unbound "rollicking good fun. Bubbles rocks!" The Houston Chronicle praised it as "riotous...a strong debut." And award-winning author Carolyn Hart crowned it "fizzy as bicarb, funny as Evanovich...should bubble right to the top of the bestseller lists." Now the spandex-wearing, cleavage-baring hairstylist-cum-journalist and sleuth from Lehigh, Pennsylvania, returns in another wacky, wisecracking mystery that offers a few priceless beauty tips along the way.

New troubles for Bubbles: Her friend, bride-to-be Janice, never showed up at the altar, and everybody's blaming Bubbles for singing Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" at the bachelorette party the night before. Now Bubbles has just found Janice's uncle Elwood dead on his bathroom floor-his skull bashed in and his Rolls Royce missing. The baffling murder could be her Big Break as Bubbles goes deep undercover in Whoopee, Pennsylvania (located between Intercourse and Paradise) as a "plain girl from Ohio" boarding with a local Amish family. That means no spandex, no showers, and...no makeup. When she's not helping out on the farm, Bubbles searches for clues-with the usual hilarious results.

Featuring a cast of characters that includes a chocolate-baking neo-Nazi; a shoofly pie-obsessed Dutchman; Bubbles' loony mother, LuLu; her precocious teenage daughter, Jane; and that love'em-and-leave'em hunk, Stiletto-along with selected Dutch country beauty recipes-Bubbles in Trouble is another rip-roaring adventure in a rapidly growing mystery series with "never a dull moment" (bestselling author Fay Weldon).

Author Biography: Sarah Strohmeyer is the author of Bubbles Unbound, the first novel in the Bubbles Yablonsky series. Find out more about Sarah, Bubbles, and being a BubblesHead at www.sarahstrohmeyer.com!

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In her second novel featuring the high-energy beautician/rookie reporter, Bubbles Yablonsky (after 2001's Bubbles Unbound), Strohmeyer successfully navigates the fine line between humorous stereotype and sympathetic amateur investigator. As the novel opens, the tube top-wearing, Camaro-driving, self-described last "Polish-Lithuanian Barbie doll in Lehigh, Pennsylvania" is taking the blame for jinxing the nuptials of her shy friend, Janice, a records clerk in the local police department. Janice has not only gone missing but the uncle with whom she lives is soon found dead in his gated retirement home. Bubbles retraces Janice's last steps, which lead to some shady doings in Amish country. Bubbles goes undercover, frantically (and hilariously) shifting between her role as a sexy reporter and her cover as an Amish widow. Despite her bumbling in a foreign culture, Bubbles manages to win the friendship and trust of this tight-knit community, and her own respect and growing understanding of the Plain folk is nicely conveyed. Bubbles's hunky beau, photographer Steve Stiletto, makes a steamy appearance, along with many other well-wrought oddball characters, including Bubbles's mother, Lulu, who's going through a Jackie O. phase. The over-the-top force-of-nature protagonist and the lovingly detailed descriptions of clothing and hair styles make up for some gaps in logic and a slightly rushed ending. Also delightful are the useful recipes (hangover cure, cuticle softener, etc.) all involving vinegar sprinkled throughout. Agent, Heather Schroder. (July 1) FYI: At this past May's Malice Domestic convention, Bubbles Unbound won an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews