Let’s Face the Music and Die
Sandra Scoppettone
—
From Publishers Weekly
Hangin’ with Lauren would make an apt subtitle for Scoppettone’s (My Sweet Untraceable You) latest engaging entry in her series starring Manhattan PI Lauren Laurano. The central tension in this tale occurs mainly in Lauren’s personal life, and many of the story’s pleasures lie in what we learn about this heroine’s life as hunter (tracking a murderer), as hunted (tracked by a horror from her past) and as lover (uneasily straying from monogamy’s narrow straits). Lauren’s friend Elissa is the prime suspect in the stabbing death of her widowed aunt, Ruth Cohen. Police like the fact that Elissa inherits Ruthie’s millions. If she’s the murderer or she herself dies in the very near future, the money goes to a mysterious cousin whom neither Elissa nor Ruthie had ever met. Lauren is distracted in her investigation by her faltering long-term relationship with her lesbian lover, Kip Adams, and by the lures of another woman. She must also cope with the immediate dangers posed by Charlie West, who raped and left her for dead years ago. Now out of prison, Charlie lets Lauren know-by phoning, e-mailing her and trashing her office-that he’s back to repeat, and this time finish, the job. Madman Charlie raises the suspense marginally (does anyone imagine he’ll succeed?), but Scoppettone fans will most appreciate the chance to know game and complex Lauren better; a deft touch is the closing cliffhanger as Kip surprises Lauren in an awkward moment.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Scoppettone scores big time with the latest Lauren Laurano mystery, which is that rarity, a serious, multilayered novel of crime that recalls Graham Greene’s Third Man and Brighton Rock, with their questioned allegiances, notions of personal honor, and possibilities for redemption. In it, Scoppettone ponders the slippery slopes of fidelity, honesty, and integrity at every juncture as, with dazzling wit and humor, she leads Lauren and readers through a labyrinth of deduction, loss, sorrow, and pity. Coming to the aid of an old friend accused of murdering her aunt, lesbian heroine Lauren untangles the gnarled threads of the case just as she is compelled to come to grips with the unraveling of her own longtime relationship and with her growing fascination with Alex Thomas, a gorgeous, sexy woman wooing her through the Internet. When rapist Charlie West starts stalking Lauren, all forces converge to make this a must-read for crime-novel fanatics. Whitney Scott –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
‘A MUST-READ FOR CRIME-NOVEL FANATICS . . . That rarity, a serious, multilayered novel of crime that recalls Graham Greene’s Third Man and Brighton Rock.’
–Booklist
All is not well in the life of Greenwich Village lesbian P.I. Lauren Laurano. She and her lover are drifting apart. There’s a psychopath watching her every move. Her friend Elissa’s rich aunt has just been brutally murdered–and the police suspect that Elissa is the killer.
Lauren knows better. So, using her unique combination of street-savvy detecting and on-line know-how, Lauren sets out to prove Elissa’s innocence. But exonerating her friend rapidly turns into a perilous assignment.
Stalking and being stalked, Lauren Laurano is forced to use resources she never knew she had–just to stay alive.
‘ENGAGING . . . A deft touch is the closing cliffhanger.’
–Publishers Weekly
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Details
| ISBN | 9781860493188 |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Copyright Date | 1996 |
| Publication Date | 1997 |
| Publisher | Virago Press |
| Format | Mass Market Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 249 |
| Series | Lauren Laurano Mystery |
| # in Series | 4 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| Subject | Fiction |
| BookID | 7321 |
