New Releases
(March 1996)
from
The Women's Press
Bad Company by Sarah Dreher
Truth Or Dare by Anne Wilson
Angel's Bidding by Sharon Gwyn Short
Past Pretense by Sharon Gwyn Short
Other Women's Press Authors
(March 1996)
from
The Women's Press
Bad Company by Sarah Dreher
First British Publication The Women’s Press
Bad Company is the second novel to feature Stoner McTavish, an entertaining and likeable amateur sleuth created by Sarah Dreher. Stoner is intelligent, quirky, funny and at times insecure woman who, when pushed will fight for her hard won security, in this instance her relationship with her partner Gwen.
Stoner and Gwen are invited to a women-only hotel to investigate a number of minor incidents that leave the owner, Sherry Dodder worrying that the yearly play in rehearsal is being sabotaged. The incidents in themselves seem inconsequential enough - lost equipment, scripts misplaced, clothing ruined, but taken together Sherry's finding it hard to believe that there's nothing going on. Once Stoner and Gwen arrive things take a more serious turn but Stoner finds it difficult to pin down the precise cause of her concern. When her own relationship with Gwen begins to show signs of stress, it takes a while for Stoner to realise that she has also become a target of maliciousness. The sense of fellowship among the women is in danger of being shattered, and the story underlines how all too suddenly, minor eccentricity or tendencies in an individual can escalate into unpredictable and dangerous behaviour. What started as a simple investigation into petty mishaps suddenly turns into a desperate attempt to stop the culprit before murder is committed.
The pace and style of Bad Company is initially sedate and low-key. The emphasis of the novel is firmly on personalities, relationships and motivation. Concerns about everyday problems within the women's relationships builds a sense of security which makes the story all the more effective when Stoner is confronted with the real motivation behind events.
Bad Company is filled with appealing and often unusual characters. There's Stoner's Aunt Hermione who is a medium, and in common with one of the other women at the hotel, is a follower of the Wiccan religion (it's worth reading the book just for the fascinating descriptions of Wiccan principles and ceremonies - something I knew nothing of before this). Stoner's business partner's mother, Edith Kesselbaum, is a psychiatrist. The wonderful variety of characters give a warmth to the book, and there's a feeling of community and sisterhood among the women. But as Stoner herself points out, however tempting it may be, it can't be assumed that a group of women is immune to wickedness!
Original Publication from The Women’s Press
The pace of life in Chiswick is a little less frantic than in San Francisco, which is mirrored in the more reflective style of Anne Wilson's first novel. In the English tradition, her heroine is an amateur investigator rather than a high-flying lawyer or a smart-mouthed private eye. Sara Kingsley is a community counsellor, a divorced mother of two, who becomes obsessed by the apparent suicide of Caroline, an acquaintance who had turned to her for help that Sara couldn't provide. As she strips away the layers of Caroline's fast lane life as a journalist, recreational coke-head, rich man's wife and high flyer's mistress, Sara is increasingly sucked into a conspiracy of greed and respectability that ultimately threatens her own life. Wilson's style flows smoothly along, strong on the ambience of a community clinic and the pressures of life as a single parents, the narrator wryly humorous about her life and appropriately cynical about the people she encounters. As with many first novels, the plot tends to lack subtlety, but Anne Wilson more than compensates with a credible and interestingly drawn cast of characters. A distinctive debut.
First British Publication The Women’s Press
Cincinnati based PI Patricia Delaney, created by Sharon Gwyn Short first appears in Angel's Bidding. Here she becomes involved in her first major case when Elsa Kauffman visits her with evidence that her father is being threatened, and a trusted employee has disappeared, apparently taking $100,000 with him. The woman's insistence on protecting her father from the knowledge of the threats does little to help Patricia's case, as she finds herself involved in a story of strong family ties, betrayals and finally murder. Old secrets need to be buried deeply in the past, otherwise, of course they don't stay buried. An apparently harmless incident can bring them to the surface, ready to cause havoc.
Patricia's investigation gets too close to the truth behind the murder and she finds her own life in danger as she struggles to bring the murderer to justice.
First British Publication The Women’s Press
In Past Pretense, Gigi Lafferty's past life as a topless dancer in Poppy's Parrott Night Club comes back to haunt her. She is becoming obsessed with the idea that her rich, successful, exacting and ultimately cold husband will discover her secret past and dump her. Gigi (aka Loretta King) hires Patricia Delaney to find out as much as possible about her past life, reasoning that, if a PI can't find the truth, she's safe. It's an added bonus that Patricia herself used to work as a dancer and bouncer at the same bar all those years ago. Although Gigi's transformation from showgirl to respectable rich woman is so complete that even Patricia herself does not recognise her, Gigi needs to be completely reassured that no-one can dig up the truth.
Patricia agrees to take the unusual case, only to discover later the real identity of Gigi. When a body is found floating face down in Gigi's pool, Patricia's first instinct is to withdraw from the investigation, after all, Gigi deceived her right from the start, and with memories of her own past threatening to re-open old hurts, it certainly looks an attractive option. But of course it's not so simple. Once she recognises Gigi, she has no choice but to continue. She owes Loretta, if not Gigi, a massive debt. The tale from here is one of deception in all its forms. And the deceptions lead irrevocably to murder. There's no shortage of suspects and Patricia is often in danger herself, but with much courage and ingenuity, she makes it to the final, nail-biting climax.
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