3.5 rounded down because I expected better but it's not bad--first of a series and I'm going on to the second but it reads like it was written way before 2007, maybe back when "human bean" was still a new joke. The Nicole character didn't seem to belong in the story. Maybe she shows up in future books and her introduction wasn't a mistake.

It had some 4 star observations and the characters were mostly amusing. I didn't guess "who done it" in advanced, so good enough plotting, though the murderer trying to kill an important character while the police were desperately looking for her has been done way too often and should be against the law.