Super In the City by Daphne Uviller

Amazon.com:

In this off-the-beaten-sidewalk debut, native New Yorker Daphne Uviller reveals the secrets of a sexy, story-filled Big Apple, where a mystery lurks behind every apartment door—and a savvy but slightly lost young woman unexpectedly finds herself holding the keys.

In a city brimming with opportunities for heroism, twenty-seven-year-old Zephyr Zuckerman has often fantasized about committing acts of bravery that would make front-page news. Now she may get her big break—though it may require plunging a few toilets. When the superintendent of her parents’ Greenwich Village brownstone is led away in handcuffs, unemployed Zephyr takes over his post and unleashes her inner sleuth: discovering titillating secrets about her tenants—from a smoky-voiced Frenchwoman who entertains throngs of unsavory visitors to a moody musician who just has to be hiding something—and realizing that her new reality is far more intriguing than her imagination.

Soon Zephyr has sussed out wrongs that stretch from losers on the Internet to art fraud and an international crime ring. The mob thinks she’s in the FBI, and the FBI thinks she’s in the mob—a predicament she needs to clear up fast. But perhaps not before the cute, surly exterminator helps her solve the mystery of what to do with the rest of her life….

I would classify Super in the City as a sort of Chick-Lit Mystery, I thought it was a great combination! From the Chick-Lit side we have a great group of friends with interesting personalities and occupations, an obsession with an ex-love, and a mysterious potential new love. On the mystery side we have a bunch strange and mysterious residents and a former Super with two sides to him, among other things (don't want to give anything away).

I thought for the most part this combination worked really well. I enjoyed Zephyr as a character and could identify with her uncertainty about becoming an adult. I thought her voice was rather humorous as well, she was just a lot of fun to read about. I also really liked her potential romance with the exterminator, who just doesn't look like an exterminator according to everyone. For having so many secondary friend characters in the book, I thought they were handled very well, each with their own personality so it was easy to tell them apart.

I also thought the mystery was rather fun, it wasn't really at the forefront of the story but it was a great part and slowly became more and more important to the plot as clues were discovered. I definitely was excited to find out the mystery of Zephyr's building. I'm also always a sucker for books set in New York City, it provides a lot of opportunities for interesting encounters that's for sure!

All and all something a bit different for the Chick-Lit genre, humorous, mysterious, and a lot of fun! I definitely hope there is another book in Zephyr's adventures!

Super in the City was released January 27th 2009.

4/5 Stars
ARC provided by LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program