I can sum up Sofie Metropolis in one sentence. My Big Fat Greek Wedding – Starring Stephanie Plum. Actually, Sofie is not quite as accident prone as Stephanie, and she is more competent at her job as a private investigator (well, slightly more competent). She is quite an engaging character, who in this book is caught in a story that takes forever to get started.

Sofie Metropolis is 26 – ancient for a Greek woman – so when she planned to marry Thomas Chalikis, her happy parents showered them with presents including an apartment house. But when Sophie caught Thomas having sex with one of the bridesmaids right before the ceremony, in the church no less, she dumped him and kept all the presents, including the apartment building where she now lives.

Rather than go to work in her parent’s restaurant, Sofie works at her uncle’s detective agency. One day, a Mr. Suleski asks her to follow his wife Carol, whom he thinks is having an affair. Sofie’s mother’s friend Mrs. Kapoor wants her to find her missing dog Muffy, and Rosie from the office thinks a man she knows, Mr. Romanoff is a vampire and wants Sofie to check it out.

When Sofie goes to shadow Mrs. Suleski, she gets caught in a shoot-out. She finds the wrong Muffy, and then her neighbor, the totally hot Australian Jake Porter, starts showing up. Sofie has sworn off men since the Thomas episode, but Jake is beginning to make her want to re-think her vow.

Did you know the word “meander” comes from Greek? The river Meandros was known for its winding path and the name was applied to anything that winds and twists. The plot of Sofie Metropolis meandered all over the place to the point where I got very impatient at time. It’s not that I don’t appreciate local color – I like it very much but I wanted to know what happened. You don’t have a shootout early in the book and then make the reader wait till practically the end to find out what happened – not this reader anyway!

The best aspect of the book is Sofie herself. She’s extremely likable, smart, and doesn’t let herself be pushed around. She’s not perfect, but I appreciate a sensible girl with sass and vitality. I liked her very much. Everyone else, especially hunky Jake Porter, is there only to support Sofie. There’s quite a cast of colorful characters and I can see them being more fleshed out in later adventures.

Sofie should have been introduced with a stronger story. Had the authors, for instance, dropped the mystery plot and gone with a straight story, I’m convinced Sofie would have been better served. As it is, the mystery kept meandering around in the book, and when we finally found out the solution, I didn’t care anymore.

I liked Sofie Metropolis the character very much indeed, but Sofie Metropolis the book needs some work. Its mixture of Chick Lit, Mystery, and local color was just too much for one book. Maybe next time, they authors can settle on just one of those elements and produce a much better book. They have the characters for it.