ALA Booklist

Seventeen-year-old Jasmine (Jas) has wanted to be a detective since first grade, but her nose for trouble, as well as her penchant for dusting for fingerprints with eye shadow, drives her father crazy. He forces her to leave a plum police internship behind to go to Las Vegas for the family's summer vacation, but the city turns out to be an EXCELLENT place to engage in amateur crime fighting. It isn't long before Jas and her three vacation-crashing friends are embroiled in a mystery involving a famous model, her family, and a three-legged cat. Jas, who narrates in breezy first person, is likable, quick-witted, and extremely funny. Her friends are dazzling, quirky quipsters; though they occasionally blend together, as their dialogue is limited to flippant comments, they provide amusing, if sometimes distracting, running commentary. Don't look for plausibility here--everything is irrepressibly larger than life--but readers able to check their disbelief at the door will have a great time.

Horn Book

In this madcap murder mystery, aspiring detective Jasmine finds herself embroiled in a celebrity scandal while vacationing with her family in Las Vegas. The preposterous plot glitters with pop-culture panache as Jas and her friends face villains, heartthrobs, and fashion dilemmas. Despite distracting, though witty, footnoted dialogue scattered throughout the text, this juicy novel is full of frivolous fun.

Kirkus Reviews

Jasmine Callihan, an irrepressible, accident-prone, 17-year-old aspiring police detective, is a trouble magnet. And trouble, in this frothy mystery thriller, is what she gets when she travels to Las Vegas for a family vacation. Inventive, witty and laugh-out-loud-funny in spots, Jas must cope with her troublesome family while trying to help an endangered eight-year-old boy and his famous mother, Fiona, a "yogi-slash-actress-slash-model-slash-scandal-haver." Fiona has been keeping a low profile since her husband's business manager was found stabbed to death, presumably by her husband, who disappeared after being accused of the crime. The plot heats to a boil when the mother and son pair vanish, and Jas's hunky but mysterious love interest is found unconscious in their room. Although readers may become weary of the constant life lessons, argumentative footnotes and the protagonist's voice, which sometimes grates yet is paradoxically the book's greatest asset, the story manages to hang onto its fizz until the enjoyably twisty ending. (Fiction. 12-15)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Quirky characters breathe energy into Jaffe's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Bad Girl, for adults) silly, if sometimes confusing, mystery novel. Wannabe detective Jasmine, who narrates, is on a family vacation at Las Vegas's Venetian Hotel. When a runaway cat attacks her, she finds herself in the middle of a real-life mystery involving a famous model/actress, her fugitive husband and a very handsome young man with a British accent. Jas seems to attract catastrophe (after the cat attack, she runs into a wedding, causing the cake—and the bride—to wind up in the pool). Other characters, including her fashion-savvy best friend, who drives a van called the Pink Pearl, and an unlikable cousin, who considers flavored lip gloss dessert, come along for the ride, offering assistance and often also ending up in trouble (Jasmine and her best friends also all offer a funny running banter in tinted sections at the bottom of many of the pages). As readers race along with Jas to unravel the mystery, following its many twists, they may find some plotting hard to follow. Also, the inevitable final confrontation seems more cinematic than authentic. Even so, it's hard not to like a book with a bow-wearing bodyguard nicknamed the Fabinator and a main character who grew up playing Barbie Crime Scene. Readers will likely find themselves quickly clawing their way through this fun novel. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Jasmine Callihan, her father, and stepmother are vacationing in Las Vegas at the posh Venetian Hotel. All the 17-year-old really wants to do is sunbathe by the pool, write in her journal, and attempt to be a "Model Hallmark Card" daughter, all the while avoiding her "perfect" cousin Alyson and her "Evil Hench Twin," Veronique. Her plans go awry, however, when a small boy and his cat make Jas a central character in a murder investigation. Soon Jas's best friends come from LA to join her adventure and all attempt to solve the murder of Len Phillips, business manager of world-famous photographer Red Early. Teens will enjoy Jas and her friends' hilarious dialogue and will be entertained by Jaffe's inclusion of footnotes to the plot twists on each page. While the story is somewhat convoluted and often defies credulity, the book does offer some fascinating characters and plenty of amusement for fans of this genre.-Kathryn Childs, Morris Mid/High School, OK Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Jas wants to be a detective in this part CSI, part chick-lit book from an adult market author. She is supposed to be taking a relaxing vacation with her family in Las Vegas when strange things start happening. She helps save a boy's cat, and suddenly people with guns are telling her what to do. A gorgeous guy seems to be flirting with her at times and at other times trying to kill her. Her posse of friends Polly, Roxy, and Tom come to help with their fashion advice and crazy pink van. Soon Jas is trying to figure out who is really in danger and who is really a bad guy before something happens to her. Most pages are cut in half with an IM conversation going on at the same time as the plot on the upper half of the page, making it difficult to follow even for multi-tasking teens who are used to it. This effect slows down the action considerably. Lots of elements are funny, such as Jas's homemade fingerprint finders and other CSI tools. Jaffe, who has a PhD in comparative literature, certainly knows how to craft language. She inserts nonstop funny descriptions and lines, but the result is more style than substance. Mysteries for teens are badly needed, but the tone here is more Scooby Doo than Willo Davis Roberts, limiting its appeal. It is nevertheless recommended for larger public libraries.-Amy Alessio.