Deadly Sting by Jennifer Estep

This story wastes very little time getting deadly. Gin and Finn go shopping for a party dress, so that they can attend the biggest fling in recent Ashland history, the unveiling of the art treasures which used to belong to Mab Monroe, before The Spider removed her from the land of the living. It almost feels like Estep got a little impatient about properly setting the stage for any mystery in the story; she begins by using a violent confrontation in a dress shop to reveal that many of the giants who work security in Ashland have suspiciously left their posts, but lets us find out why a couple of dozen pages later, when it turns out they have all been recruited by a giantess criminal mastermind, Clementine, to rob the Briartop museum of its art, as well as Mab's collection.

While the giants are about their dirty deeds, they take the fortuitous opportunity to kill Gin Blanco, the infamous Spider, as well, keeping her from interfering with their plans and also making some of Ashland's underworld figures very very happy. Will rumors of the Spider's demise be greatly exaggerated? Will Gin be only "mostly dead" all day? I think we all know that Estep isn't quite ready to kill off her heroine just yet, so it will not come as a major spoiler to say that the Spider is more than happy to spoil all of the giant gang's plans, in the most spectacular and bloody of fashions.

Funny, once again, to see Gin manage to totally trash a dress worth thousands of dollars as she takes on all comers. Of course, Gin's former lover, Owen, is at the big party when the giants crash it, as well, and most of her other friends are attending, too, so she gets to deal with the emotional rift between them while slicing and dicing giant gizzards. Matters remain still mostly unresolved on this front - you know Gin's not allowed to be deliriously happy for long.

All's well as end's blowing things up, and this is a really quick, fun read for all you regulars at the Pork Pit.