Final Cut by Lisa Haddock

Final Cut

Lisa Haddock

Newspaper editor Carmen Ramirez and graduate student Julia Nichols seem like the perfect couple. But two years into their loving, committed relationship, temptation – and trouble- arrive in the form of charming, seductive Antoinette (‘Toni’) Stewart. Four years earlier, Carmen and Toni were a little more than friends and a little less than lovers – until Toni devasted Carmen with an inexplicable act of betrayal. Despite her efforts to resist, the highly moral Carmen soon finds herself torn between her deep love for Julia and her intense passion for Toni.

One night she receives an unsettling call from Toni, a call cut abruptly short. Toni disappears, only to turn up again a week later – dead. Evidence mounts against Leonard Martin, an outspoken member of Julia’s own gay and lesbian student coalition. Leonard begs Carmen to help him and, against her better judgement, she agrees. Uncovering the secrets of Toni’s past and present, Carmen discovers how little she really knew the murdered woman, but comes no closer to understanding the nature of that last desperate phone call.

Then another body is found, drawing Carmen into a dark labyrinth of hatred and cruelty….a labyrinth from which she might not escape!

Lisa Haddock is the author of the best-selling mystery Edited Out.

From Publishers Weekly

In her second outing (after Edited Out), lesbian newspaper editor Carmen Ramirez finds intolerance in the heartland. Frontier City, Okla., is Bible-belt country–not the easiest place to be openly gay, even on a university campus where Carmen and her grad-student lover, Julia, have managed to carve out a life for themselves. The normally faithful Carmen finds herself in a difficult situation, however, when an old friend, Antoinette (Toni) Stewart, comes back into her life. What begins as a simple romantic dilemma turns into something much uglier when Toni is murdered. The prime suspect, a combative man in their lesbian and gay group, pleads with Carmen to find the real killer. Although not convinced of his innocence, Carmen reluctantly agrees. When the body of a gay man turns up close to where Toni was found, it seems likely that someone is targeting lesbians and gays. Haddock does a credible job with the feisty Carmen’s complex character, but other cast members are stiff, either too abrasive or too good to ring true.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Youthful copy editor and amateur sleuth Carmen Ramirez lives in Frontier City, Oklahoma, with her graduate student lover Julia. Carmen’s former close friend pops in and threatens their domestic tranquility by tempting Carmen and antagonizing a member of Julia’s gay and lesbian coalition. The friend disappears and two weeks later turns up dead. Police jail the antagonized gay, who pleads for Carmen’s help. Lightweight plotting, shallow characterization, and graphic sex make this a marginal selection for appropriate collections.

Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


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Details

ISBN 1562800884
Genre Mystery
Copyright Date 1995
Publication Date Jul-95
Publisher Naiad Press
Format Trade Paperback
No. of Pages 189
Series Carmen Ramirez Mystery
# in Series 2
Language English
Rating NotRated
BookID 3955

Author: LFWBooks