Veronica Mars: Mr Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Veronica Mars: Mr Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham is the second in a two-book deal of Veronica Mars books. I reviewed the first book here. Although the mysteries are technically self-contained, the books do follow sequentially from the TV show, movies and each other. I would not recommend reading Mr Kiss and Tell without having consumed the previous cannon. A central part of the story harks back to the season 2 episode "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" and the events that culminate in "Donut Run" (also season 2). I had the soundtrack of the former episode playing in my head for a disturbing amount of Mr Kiss and Tell.

The Neptune Grand has always been the seaside town’s ritziest hotel, despite the shady dealings and high-profile scandals that seem to follow its elite guests. When a woman claims that she was brutally assaulted in one of its rooms and left for dead by a staff member, the owners know that they have a potential powder keg on their hands. They turn to Veronica to disprove—or prove—the woman's story.

The case is a complicated mix of hard facts, mysterious occurrences, and uncooperative witnesses. The hotel refuses to turn over its reservation list and the victim won’t divulge who she was meeting that night. Add in the facts that the attack happened months ago, the victim’s memory is fuzzy, and there are holes in the hotel’s surveillance system, and Veronica has a convoluted mess on her hands. As she works to fill in the missing pieces, it becomes clear that someone is lying—but who? And why?

I had mostly stylistic objections to the first book, which you can read about here, and while they still apply to this second book, I think the prose became a bit smoother and less jarring. Of course, that could also be a combination of fewer characters needing to be introduced for the first time and my getting used to it, but I think there was actual improvement. The only writing thing that particularly bothered me was the prologue which was very tedious to read. It featured a random guy finding the unconscious victim and very strongly followed the trope of random by-standers finding a body that is so common at the start of crime shows. It was never a thing in the Veronica Mars TV show, though, so it bothers me a bit that it has become a thing in the books (the first book also had people discovering a crime had been committed, but since there was no body it felt less noticeably like a trope).

There are a few other differences to the first book. First, there are some chapters from Keith Mars's point of view, who is off on a side quest relating to the sheriff elections held at the end of the book (he's not running in them, though, so it's not quite a season 3 finale all over again). We also see more of Logan, who was physically absent for the whole first book but is now back on shore leave. Both of these — the focus on other events in Neptune and the stronger focus on other areas of Veronica's life — add to the emotional impact of Mr Kiss and Tell in a way that was absent in Thousand Dollar Tan Line. The nostalgia surrounding the victim (as in, the fact that her and Veronica's paths have crossed before) also helped with that. There were some great lines where said character tells Veronica what she was thinking when certain TV events took place, which we only ever saw from Veronica's point of view in the show.

The book ended in a way that really makes me want more Veronica. I don't particularly care in which medium that takes place. I'd settle for another book (right now there are no book deals on the horizon, as far as I can tell) or happily take another TV series or movie, so long as whatever it is follows on sequentially from Mr Kiss and Tell. Give us more Veronica!

In my review of Thousand Dollar Tan Line, I recommended the book to Veronica Mars fans and also non-fans who enjoy crime/mystery books. A similar recommendation stands for Mr Kiss and Tell, although I'd strengthen it a bit and say fans will probably enjoy it more. If you like Veronica Mars but were a bit turned off by the first book, definitely still give this one a go.

4 / 5 stars

First published: January 2014, Allen & Unwin (Australian edition)
Series: Veronica Mars, book 2 of 2 books (and a move and 3 seasons of TV)
Format read: Paper!
Source: I think I bought it in Target because it was so cheap.

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham is a direct sequel to the Veronica Mars movie, picking up the story about two months after the end of the movie. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've consumed something that continued the cannon in a completely different medium. (I know Whedon did that with comics after Buffy/Angel and Firefly/Serenity, but I haven't actually read those.) It was a strange experience, especially since many of the characters came with actors pre-visualised in my mind. Note that this review contains spoilers for the movie and minor spoilers for the TV show.

Ten years after graduating from high school in Neptune, California, Veronica Mars is back in the land of sun, sand, crime, and corruption. She's traded in her law degree for her old private investigating license, struggling to keep Mars Investigations afloat on the scant cash earned by catching cheating spouses until she can score her first big case.

Now it's spring break, and college students descend on Neptune, transforming the beaches and boardwalks into a frenzied, week-long rave. When a girl disappears from a party, Veronica is called in to investigate. But this is no simple missing person's case; the house the girl vanished from belongs to a man with serious criminal ties, and soon Veronica is plunged into a dangerous underworld of drugs and organized crime. And when a major break in the investigation has a shocking connection to Veronica's past, the case hits closer to home than she ever imagined.

It was a strange experience switching media, but even with that the characters and dialogue (including Veronica's inner monologue, though this was less distinct than in the show/movie) were spot on. And continuity-wise, everything was perfect — and I say this as someone who has practically memorised the TV series, I've watched it so many times.

The setting of Neptune is the darker, grittier setting we encountered in the movie, rather than the slightly less depressing setting of the TV show. But this also makes sense since we're thrown into Veronica's life only two months after the end of the movie. On the other hand, I found some of the descriptive passages a bit jarring and ended up semi-involuntarily skimming over them as I got into the book. For a start, describing characters I already know the appearance of from seeing them on TV was dissonant; while not inaccurate, they were generally not how I would have described the same characters, so it was off-putting. There was approximately the same amount of description for every character we meet, which was also a bit weird. I personally don't think appearances are terribly important in books in most circumstances. I tend to forget them as soon as I read them which, admittedly isn't relevant in this case. But generally, beyond knowing who Veronica is talking about when she spies dirty blond dreadlocks amid the crowd, I just don't think it's important. The fact that it was the same amount of description each time just felt so formulaic as well.

The only time I thought the description came close to being appropriate was when places were being described. Especially when it came to the kinds of settings that Veronica had to pay close attention to, such as the hotel room she was searching for clues. That said, there were still a few times when I thought the setting description also veered into too-much territory.

If this wasn't a Veronica Mars book, I definitely wouldn't be tempted to pick up the next one. The writing just wasn't up to stylistic scratch compared with what I normally read. However, it is a Veronica Mars book, which means it comes with built-in affinity for the characters and their stories. Also the snarky dialogue we've all come to know and love. So it's from that perspective that I will be reading the next book while the characters are still fresh in my head. If I hadn't bought the next book already and was forced to either wait or decide to fork out money right now, I also might not have bothered, but here we are. I recommend The Thousand Dollar Tan Line to fans of Veronica Mars and, separately, fans of crime/thriller books who aren't familiar with the show. For fans, reading the book without having seen the movie would be a risky prospect. For non-fans, there might be a few missed references, but as far as I noticed most references to past events were explained succinctly on the page.

3.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2014, Allen & Unwin (Australian edition, obviously)
Series: Veronica Mars, first book of two so far, sequel to the TV show (3 seasons) and movie. Sort of stands alone but definitely reads better if taken as a sequel.
Format read: Paper! *gasp*
Source: A physical bookshop