Book Description
The bestselling author of Gettin' Buck Wild and The Sisters of APF gives new meaning to the term "office party" in this exhilarating and boldly erotic novel about the passion of business -- and the business of passion.
Most corporations hand out bonus checks or gift certificates for Christmas, but Wolfe Industries hands out drama. Skyscraper chronicles the week before the annual Christmas party at Wolfe Industries, an African American-owned automobile manufacturer.
The week leading up to the Wolfe Industries annual Christmas party is unforgettable, as the lives of four people who have barely interacted with one another in the past begin to cross paths in the most disturbing ways. By the time the party is over, they will be lucky if the skyscraper is still standing.
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"Most corporations hand out bonus checks or gift certificates for Christmas, but Wolfe Industries hands out drama. Skyscraper chronicles the week before the annual Christmas party at Wolfe Industries, an African American-owned automobile manufacturer. Chico, a nineteen-year-old mail-room clerk who still lives with his overprotective mother, is the typical young man when it comes to sex. He doesn't turn it down. So, when Zetta Wolfe, the wife of CEO Tomalis Wolfe, attempts to seduce him, he jumps at the opportunity. Meanwhile, Anastasia, a twenty-five-year-old secretary, along with her best friend and coworker, Shakia, spends her nights in the secret penthouse maintained by Wolfe executives for partying and wild sex. She has higher aspirations though -- she wants to be the next wife of the CEO. Tomalis has never actually participated in the in-office sexual activities, but Anastasia plans to seduce him by the end of the year. Diana, a thirty-five-year-old single mother is frustrated with her current position as an executive assistant. Every time she approaches her boss, Bradford, about the possibility of a promotion, he makes her promises that he never keeps. Meanwhile, Edmund, a parking-garage attendant, has the hots for her, but she won't give him the time of day. That is until two of her girlfriends drag her to a holiday cabaret and she discovers another sexier side to this blue-collar man. The week leading up to the Wolfe Industries annual Christmas party is unforgettable, as the lives of four people who have barely interacted with one another in the past begin to cross paths in the most disturbing ways. By the time the party is over, they will be lucky if the skyscraper is still standing. "
Customer Reviews:
Erotica? Well..........2007-02-13
Zane, Skyscraper: A Novel, New York, Atria Books, 2003.
289 pages
The narrative of this novel is not told by a single voice, but unfolds in the words of these four main characters:
Chico, a twentyish street-smart highly libidinous kid, unmarried, with a two-year old daughter he idolizes, introducing tension between Chico and the child's mother, McKenna. Chico and his two friends have left behind their careers in fast food to work in the mail room of automaker Wolfe Industries, where they fantasize about the women in the company's secretary pool, namely, Shakia and ...
Anastasia, the second of this buxom pair of secretarial sirens. Shakia and Anastasia supplement their secretaries' salaries by providing additional after-hours "services" for their boss and his associates in the company penthouse. Anastasia has her own plans to better her station by seducing away from his wife her enamored ...
Tomalis, CEO and all-knowing owner of Wolfe Industries. Tomalis has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to create his company and become wealthy, but he is now cynical and disillusioned, particularly due to the innumerable sexual shenanigans of his wife Zetta with other employees and who knows who else. (Tomalis knows, thanks to Phil, his wife's driver.)
Diana is another voice, and another of the women in the secretarial pool. Unlike her coworkers, she is a bit prudish, a sorority girl, jaded by her failed marriage that produced two sons; she is "so pretty, men avoid her." (Does this happen in real life?) She has avoided men as well after her abandonment several years ago by her slacker husband, until she becomes enamored of Edmund, the garage attendant, when she discovers the nature of his second job. This subplot adds nothing to the main storyline, and would not have been missed if left out.
The story is set rolling with Zetta's seduction of Chico. It builds to its climax at the company Christmas party, where Tomalis has some surprises for his happy crew. The story should have ended with the finale of the party; the effort to tie up all the loose ends on "Christmas Eve the Following Year" is anti-climactic. With its back-cover description as an "exhilarating and boldly erotic novel about the passion of business - and the business of passion," the book is disappointing as an entry in that genre. This is unfortunate; although the characters are shallow and somewhat stereotypical, the book is a fluid and quick entertainment if one avoids erotic expectations. Sorry: the use of the words "f___" or "a__" in every alternating sentence does not erotica make.
Following the novel is a "Bonus Section" of four "Christmas Presents from Zane." "Sex Games from A to Z" is sophomoric, and the list of 40 "nice to naughty" "Stocking Stuffers" could have been devised by anyone.
The final presents, two short stories, "Tattoo" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas," are the highlights of this book, gems among a collection of otherwise plain rocks. The former, a woman's tale of her pursuit of a handsome young man to his tattoo parlor in Chinatown, is closer (not quite there, but who cares? It's good enough) to genuine erotica. "I'll Be Home for Christmas," despite its overworked premise, is a moving story of redemption and forgiveness upon the return home of a prodigal daughter. Zane shows with these two stories that she can write well without the "erotica" pretence.
Is there anything lower than an zero rating..........2007-01-30
This book was horrible. I mean, really, really horrible. The characters were foolish and unrealistic and the plot was ridiculous. Zane writes such ridiculous material I am trying to figure out why anyone would enjoy such crappy writing. Save yourself some money if you must read Zane and borrow it from a friend.
Sky.......2007-01-13
This book was good. The only thing I hate is in the beginning there are so many names it takes a while to remember who is who. This book was interesting with great twist and turns. I love all of Zane's books.
I Loved it!.......2006-12-30
This book was great! It was about the workplace in the eyes of different characters.....and what was going on it was chaotic! but interesting! I look forward to reading many more Zane books!
*Pris*
Skyscraper of Lust.......2006-06-03
"Skyscraper" was an exuberating novel about the dirty things that go on at the work place. In this Skyscraper of lust you'll be flabbergasted by the naughty, erotic, tasks the workers partake in. Be thrilled as you learn the job duties of the mail carrier to the CEO. Wouldn't you like to climb your way up the corporate skyscraper of lust?~LeBlanc author of "Characters of Lust"
Book Description
A Novel of High-Stakes Romance and Betrayal, Set During the Race to Finish the World's Tallest Building
In Empire Rising, his extraordinary third book, Thomas Kelly tells a story of love and work, of intrigue and jealousy, with the narrative verve that led the Village Voice's reviewer to dub him "Dostoevsky with a hard hat and lead pipe."
As the novel opens, it is 1930-the Depression-and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men erecting the building high above the city is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in America and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper's ascent from her houseboat on the East River, Briody's life turns exhilarating-and dangerous, for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld.
Their heartbreaking love story-which takes place both in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Bronx and amid the swanky nightlife of the '21' Club--is also a chronicle of the city's rough passage from a working-class enclave to a world-class metropolis, and a vivid reimagining of the conflict that pitted the Tammany Hall political machine and its popular mayor against the boundlessly ambitious Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Colin Harrison, in The New York Times Book Review, called Kelly's The Rackets "A well-paced, violent thriller, [and] an elegy for the city's old Irish working class." In Empire Rising, Kelly takes his work to a new level: telling of the story of the people who built the "eighth wonder of the world," he makes old New York the setting for a rich and unforgettable story.
Customer Reviews:
When the Irish syndicate was king.......2007-08-12
Hop aboard as Thomas Kelly rolls out another Big Apple white-knuckler. Leading readers to the gaping Manhattan cavity left by the demolition of the old Waldorf Astoria, we meet Michael Briody, late of Cavan Town in Ireland, who drives the first rivet into the first steel column placed at the Empire State Building site. Cigars glow, flash bulbs pop, backs get slapped and Irish dandy Mayor Jimmy Walker smiles the smile of a man who gets a kickback, a commission he calls it, on every construction project in New York. Yet the winds of reform swirl. Its 1930 and the feds are on to miscreant Walker---Jimmy knows his time is short.
Walker runs New York under the guise of benefactor and patron to the city's immigrant poor and teeming masses. Behind his dapper, populist front lurks a man who controls Tammany Hall, arguably the most ruthless and corrupt political machine in American history. Walker's silky smile and engaging manner belie the pyramidal network of crooked cops, judges, assassins and thugs of every ilk who execute the misdeeds of the Tammany machine. American-born Irish like Walker and his right-hand `judges and jackhammers' man, Johnny Farrell, pull the strings while immigrant Irish like Briody fight to rise out of the gutter, keeping one foot in the aulde sod and one foot in their adopted America. Michael Briody served time in Curragh prison for anti-Free State, republican foot soldiering after Ireland's 1916 Rising. A man possessing knowledge of explosives, Briody curiously joins the British Army and fights in World War I before coming to America. He remains a staunch Irish republican.
Under Mayor Walker money talks and illegal liquor flows in the speakeasies, or speaks, as they're called. The Market crashed in 1929 and former big-time players peddle apples in the streets. A smart, tough Irishman can rise up in this environment and become wealthy if he knows who to pay homage and money to. He can also wind up in a grave if he backs the wrong horse. As the Empire State Building and city rise metaphorically in tandem, we find Briody as he connects with Bronx-born Tough Tommy Touhey, a homicidal brute who owns a few speaks and a piece of the Empire State project. He's a former childhood friend to Walker's Johnny Farrell, but takes umbrage as Farrell disdains his lower-class Bronx roots.
Tough Tommy coaxes Briody into entering a cops-only boxing match. That Briody is not a cop is no stumbling block to him beating his cop opponent to a pulp. In attendance at the match is our Johnny Farrell, who squires Grace Masterson, a fatally-flawed femme fatale. She takes a liking to Briody, and him to her, when they meet in a speakeasy after the fight. She's an artist and late of Cavan herself, having lost heart, two sons, a husband and her faith on the trail from Ireland to Spain to Cuba, to Florida and finally New York. She's also mistress to the married Farrell---infidelity's seemingly a requisite to Hall membership. Grace also performs as bag woman to Farrell, to wit, she makes money drops at banks around town. Ill advisedly, Grace occasionally siphons a little pre-deposit money off the top.
Clan Na Gael, the arm of the Irish republicanism in New York, hovers in the background. Michael Briody is a natural recruit for Clan Na Gael, having demonstrated his willingness to kill for a cause. As his relationship with Grace burgeons, Briody enlists and partners with Clan Na Gael, participating in gun and explosives running to Ireland----and worse.
Inching its way to the forefront is the Italian syndicate and the sadistic `Dago', of whom Tough Tommy Touhey says, "He wants what we got," meaning the rackets, speaks and protection payoffs. Observing a soft spot in the Tammany machine, the Dago glad hands and threatens Farrell into working with him to acquire a piece of the action. As the reform movement gathers steam in Albany and Washington, the world of our players turns upside down. A judge formerly on the take suffers an untimely demise after demonstrating reluctance to adhere to a machine directive. The philandering Farrell discovers that his pilfering girlfriend Grace is unfaithful. Touhey disappears and turns up dead. But is it really him? After a moment of epiphany, Briody decides that killing only begets more killing and suffers a dangerous falling out with Clan Na Gael. Hoohah! I just had my own moment of epiphany. It's best to turn the rest of the tale over to Thomas Kelly.
The author takes readers on a wonderful ride through the gritty urban landscape that was New York City during Prohibition. Tales of power, greed and corruption get mixed in with liberal doses of violence in Empire Rising. Along with his previous novels, Payback and The Rackets, Rising is a must for readers fascinated by crafty historical fiction.
A Fine Historical Novel And Thomas Kelly's Best.......2007-08-10
As a chronicler of the dark, gritty underworld of New York City's working-class labor, Thomas Kelly has definitely become its poet laureate in his novel "Empire Rising", among the finest novels I have read of Depression-Era New York City (It actually deserves 4.5 stars from me and I wish Amazon.com had the option of bestowing an additional half star.). This is a dramatic, vivid, and richly-textured, no-holds-bar examination of New York City in 1931, as seen through the eyes of recent Irish immigrant Michael Briody, who works by day building the Empire State Building, and then, by night as both a boxer and an unrepentant soldier of the Irish Republican Army. In New York City he soon meets another, more worldly, recent Irish immigrant, Grace Masterson, and falls in love with her, even though he knows that she is the "concubine" of powerful Tammany Hall leader Johnny Farrell. This is indeed far from a romantic look of the Empire State Building's construction, since Kelly depicts his characters being immersed in a dark, often bloody, underworld of Tammany Hall political intrigue, Irish-run organized crime, and Irish Republican Army strife. Without question, "Empire Rising" is not only Kelly's best work of fiction, but also among the finest I have seen from the latest generation of Irish-American writers residing here in New York City.
Very good historical novel.......2006-07-24
Combine Depression era Manhattan, Irish nationalism and the workings of Tammany Hall, all in the ever growing shadow of the construction of the Empire State Building - Add well portrayed real and fictional characters in a plot line that ties the above together and the result is an entertaining read and a very good novel. The only fault I found with this book is that the author, at times, steps into the story to "explain" his characters, which is not necessary. This may sound like a nit but the rest of the writing is so good that these "intrusions" were somewhat jarring. That being said this book is still highly recommended.
You Gotta Be Tough.......2006-01-19
This is not the type of book I have a reputation for reading. It's a hard-core, bare-knuckles, get-to-the-top kind of fictional tale, set in Depression-era New York City, and it features among its fine cast of characters a number of real life personas, including future President Franklin Roosevelt, and New York's irrepressible "born for office" governor, Al Smith.
Empire Rising tells the story of New York City at all levels of society during this tough time, and uses the construction of the Empire State Building as a backdrop and metaphor. As Kelly pulls no punches in stating, it is the Irish, those first, second, and third generation rough-souled immigrants who make New York City function. Not only is it the Irish who run the city at both the street level and into the halls of power, but it is Irish working men who provide the backbone of the labor force that is building New York's most prized showpiece, the Empire State Building. (Think it's a coincidence that construction on the project began on Saint Patrick's Day?)
The character of Michael Briody, who has gone from a terrorist group's hitman to a soul in love with the dream that is the skyscraper he's struggling to see completed, is Kelly's best figure in this novel. He seems a very realistic individual, leagues removed from the stick-figure stereotypes so many other authors would have employed here in this sort of situation.
I enjoyed this novel, even if it was definitely at times a little cold and lacking in human kindness. I think it shines light onto what is both a forgotten and mysterious period in American history, and it also gives a reader an excellent plot that never slows or grows tiresome, and which reaches masterful heights in its climactic moments.
Get it Read it Now.......2006-01-11
This is one of the most engrossing novels i have read in some time. in an era where the novel has become nothing more than a hodge podge pastiche of cleverness Kelly delivers good story, good characters and a great backdrop. Everything that makes a great novel is here. get it read it now!
Average customer rating:
- It didn't look interesting...
- Great Book, Great Author
- A Little Bit Different
- This is one of those rare books you are likely to read again
- How does he do it?
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The Gold Swan : A Novel
James Thayer
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0684862867
Release Date: 2002-10-22 |
Amazon.com
James Stewart Thayer, a former attorney turned thriller writer who keeps getting better with every new novel, offers a provocative story about an extraordinary new Hong Kong tower--the Gold Swan of the title--whose success or failure will affect the geopolitical ambitions of the Chinese government and make or break the fortunes of architect John Llewellyn, a maverick in the Frank Gehry tradition whose one-time college roommate is now China's Premier. Meanwhile, former FBI agent Clay Williams, head of security for the project, is approached by intermediaries for a powerful Triad leader whose grandson's kidnapping seems linked to the imminent collapse of the Swan--as well as to the murder of Clay's father. Some readers may want to skim over Thayer's detailed description of the engineering challenges involved in the construction of such an innovative building, but they don't slow down the plot or get in the way of his deft characterizations, especially of Llewellyn. The Gold Swan is a slick, smart read. --Jane Adams
Book Description
As James Thayer's stunning new thriller begins, a self-confident China is about to erect the word's tallest and most dramatic building. It is intended as a celebration of China's 5,000 years of civilization, and the communist government wants to be sure that the new structure cannot be topped, that it will never be topped.
The tower resembles no other structure in the world. It is in the form of the moon in its first quarter, a grand swoop, and its midpoint, which is 1,250 feet above grade, is fully 500 feet off the vertical alignment between top and bottom. Like New York's Seagram Building, it is completely clad in bronze. The tower has razor-sharp convex and concave edges in the shape of a sickle. People prefer, however, to see the structure as resembling a long and graceful swan's neck, with the viewing platforms and restaurants on top as the bronze head. While the official name of the tower is the Fifth Millennium China Tower, Hong Kong citizens have taken to calling it the Gold Swan.
As James Thayer's novel begins, the Gold Swan is nearing completion. The architectural press is almost unanimous: the tower is the eighth wonder of the world. It is bold and magnificent, graceful and lyrical. It is architect John Llewellyn's masterpiece.
And it may be about to collapse.
In a thriller that sends Llewellyn's chief security man, Clay Williams, and Llewellyn's girlfriend, young architect Anne Iverson, plunging into the world of Chinese politics, Thayer spins a knockout yarn in which murder, power, and incalculable amounts of "face" are at stake as Clay and Anne uncover the dreadful truth about Chinese colossal monument to its own past -- and future.
Customer Reviews:
It didn't look interesting..........2006-07-04
I was given this book. I started it and stopped. I wasn't that interested in reading a book about china and building a building. Several months later I picked up the book and began reading. Once I got into the book I became engaged. I began to care about the people and almost identified with them. Would I make those choices? If not...what would happen? I was confounded.
Great Book, Great Author.......2003-02-18
I would like to say that I discovered a great new author, but I can only say that I discovered a great author. He is not new, because GOLD SWAN is his 12th book, and I am very unhappy that it took me so long to find him. I do not understand why he has not already been on the bestseller list 12 times.
I was lucky enough to read one of Thayer's WWII novels a few weeks ago. I enjoyed that paperback so much that I immediately went looking for it in hardback, as well as trying to find all the author's other books. I managed to get a new hardback copy of GOLD SWAN, and I immediately read it as fast as I could. It is a wonderful thriller that is almost completely different from the WWII books, except for the outstanding writing.
GOLD SWAN is a marvelous, fast paced story, with many interesting characters. I enjoyed it thoroughly, while learning more about Hong Kong than I did in my 10+ trips there. I love fiction that teaches me things, at the same time that I get a great story. Both of Thayer's books that I have read do that for me, but Gold Swan taught me about Hong Kong, Chinese politics and gangsters, architecture, construction, and police work, and it increased my respect for the work of the CIA. This book was exciting from beginning to end, fun, interesting, educational, and very well written.
I now have 10 more books to look forward to reading.
It is my understanding that the WWII book has been optioned for a movie that should be as exciting as the book, because of the star who is involved. Buy this author's books now, because he will soon be so well known that copies of his old books will be hard to get.
A Little Bit Different.......2003-02-04
James Thayer has managed to create another intriguing, deeply-layered story that takes the reader into a setting foreign to most of us. He transports us into the middle of Hong Kong, China where Clay Williams, chief of security for the architect of the tallest, most beautiful building in the world, acts as narrator and guide.
Clay is an engaging, likeable character who has lived in Hong Kong for ten years while the Gold Swan ( nicknamed for its sickle shape resembling the gentle curve of a swan's neck ) was being built. Through Clay, Thayer is able to describe Chinese society and culture and the glaring differences between their closed society and the freedom of an open society like the United States.
Thayer's ability to successfully compare the two systems within a thrilling mystery and a variety of sub-plots is a testament to his obvious writing talent. As the solution to the mystery is revealed amid the debris of a fallen icon, Thayer's talent as well as the reasons for gratitude for freedoms in the United States becomes readily apparant. The GOLD SWAN is an enjoyable and thought-provoking novel and is highly recommended for those looking for something a little bit different.
This is one of those rare books you are likely to read again.......2002-12-08
The Gold Swan is the nickname of a fabulous building being constructed, fictionally, in present-day Hong Kong --- more precisely, on a man-made island in Hong Kong harbor. The nickname comes from the unique, curving shape its architect has given to the structure, which is best described in the author's own words: "It was the tallest structure ever created by man and made of steel and bronze, those metals that are the very embodiment of solidity and it was a massive thing. Yet it was also slender, with delicate edges and was one long, elegant curve that some architecture critics were calling feminine. It was solid and inert, planted out there in the middle of the harbor, yet it was also soaring, more than seven hundred feet higher than the Peak, reaching skyward in a fluid, rounded motion, touching the clouds. And it was a chameleon, its bronze casing throwing back the gold of the sun and also reflecting images of passing clouds and the restless water of the harbor, endlessly changing as the day unfolded."
Clay Williams is a former FBI man approximately in his 40's. He has been working for ten years in Hong Kong as a security agent for international projects and has been one of three security men on the Gold Swan project from the beginning. Clay's visiting father is killed in a fall from the 20th story balcony of Clay's apartment at the same time that an eleven year-old boy disappears from his next-door neighbor's apartment --- and the plot is set in motion. The Hong Kong police say the father's death is suicide and they plant a couple of ridiculous clues as proof, but Clay knows better. It doesn't take the boy's grandfather long to find Clay and to discern a connection between death and disappearance and, thus, an unlikely but colorful and productive alliance is formed.
Clay is well connected. He has a best friend who is a police officer and he has other friends in the CIA and State Department. He's quiet, capable, thoughtful and
unassuming --- an appealing character whose heroic qualities are present in a muted key. After ten years in Hong Kong, Clay still sees the city with the eyes of a stranger who just happens to know his way around and he shares that vision constantly with us. He also educates us about the changes that have occurred since the British returned Hong Kong to China a few years ago. Ah yes. The plot thickens with those changes. John Llewellyn, architect of the Gold Swan, went to college with the (fictional) leader of China, who of course is based in Beijing; the fabulous building is
a way for Beijing to put its stamp on Hong Kong, to reclaim that city and its international prestige and wealth for the whole of China. Beijing-Hong Kong tension looms large.
Eventually it develops that Clay's father was killed and the little boy was kidnapped as part of a conspiracy surrounding the Gold Swan. It is a conspiracy so huge that, like the building itself, it's hard for the mind to grasp. Clay begins, secretly, to work with the CIA. At the same time, he's working with the boy's grandfather who is in an amazing line of business. He also has his own job to do, as the Gold Swan nears completion. It's a sort of triple-agent scenario that Clay juggles quietly and smoothly, even as he manages to nurture a friendship with a difficult woman.
Thayer handles his large story well, particularly in the way he brings Hong Kong alive on his pages. This is one of those books you can fall into and, when you come out of it, feel as if you've truly spent many hours in another place. It's about as close to a vacation in Hong Kong as most of us will ever get.
The characters, especially the little boy, his friends and his family, are vividly drawn. There are few clichés here -- with the notable exception of a certain henchman of enormous size, who seemed to have come from a Bond movie and whose guardian angel qualities were improbable all around.
The plot unfolds somewhat unevenly, but realistically -- life itself never unfolds at an even pace, particularly around big events; there are always hitches and glitches. This is a thoughtful book best read for the whole scope of what it has to say, not as if it were a print version of a summer blockbuster movie. Tension builds here slowly but inexorably, both in the ever-widening conspiracy surrounding the Gold Swan and in Clay's own personal life. The denouement, when it arrives, is huge, catastrophic and
totally believable.
THE GOLD SWAN is a poignant, sensual read that is likely to stay with you long after you close the pages of the book. It is, in fact, a keeper -- one of those rare books you are likely to want to read again.
--- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day
How does he do it?.......2002-11-25
This is the fourth James Thayer book I have read, and each one is completely different: different setting, era, professions of main characters, etc. And he does his homework. All of the details are well studied and accurate. I also think he does an excellent job of writing believable female characters. Many male authors of mysteries and thrillers create female characters who are like the male characters but with higher voices and better grooming. Thayer gets the women right.
The Gold Swan is one of those mysteries where the reader can see it coming, but can savor the way the story plays out to the characters. This is very American in its style -- Phillip Margolin writes this way too. Unlike the classic British mystery writers, who like to keep you guessing to the very end (and sometimes beyond).
Thayer also nails the cultural differences between the Chinese and the gweilos (non-Chinese) in the middle of an increasingly tense construction project in Hong Kong.
This book will hold your interest. You may be late for a meal or two while you read to the end of a chapter.
Average customer rating:
- Loggerama Comes To Alpine
- Too predictable
- Hollywood comes to Alpine
- Light but filling
- A Sequel that works
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Alpine Betrayal (Emma Lord Mysteries)
Mary Daheim
Manufacturer: Fawcett
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0345379373
Release Date: 1993-03-22 |
Book Description
"Editor-publisher Emma Lord finds out that running a small-town newspaper is worse than nutty--it's downright dangerous. Readers will take great pleasure in Mary Daheim's new mystery."
Carolyn G. Hart
Sequel to THE ALPINE ADVOCATE.
When a local girl, Dani Marsh, returns to Alpine a star to shoot a Hollywood film, the tension in the air is so thick it crackles. Then at the annual Loggerama, Dani's former husband, Cody Graff goes berserk with an axe and is later found dead. Reporting on on all the goings-on as the editor of the ADVOCATE, Emma Lord begins to suspect that neither she nor the sheriff, laconic Milo Dodge, is getting the real story. Why are there such strong feelings among those who knew Dani back when? Why so few tears for Cody Graff? Whence the impenetrable mystery that enfolds Alpine like a shroud? Emma's nose for a story leads her straight into trouble....
Customer Reviews:
Loggerama Comes To Alpine.......2004-04-13
It's Loggerama time in Alpine. All the contests, sales and special events want to advertise in Emma Lord's paper, the Alpine Advocate.
Plus, Emma's son, Adam, who has the brains of a turnip has left college in Hawaii and gone to Alaska to work and now wants to go to college in Fairbanks.
On top of that small town girl makes good, Dani Marsh is coming home after five years to do location shooting on her new movie, with her new fiancee, movie heart throb Matt Tabor and director Reid Hampton.
Dani had run away to Los Angeles after the SIDS death of her baby and divorce from husband Cody Graff.
Emma doesn't know much about this story, but gets filled in on the old information from her employee and confidant, sixtyish, Vida Runkel, whose niece Marje is now engaged to Cody Graff.
What Emma doesn't understand is why everyone seems to hate Dani, including her own mother. Cody Graff even announces to everyone that he thinks she should be dead.
Unfortunately, for him, it's Cody Graff who ends up laying dead on a country road. Posioned by an overdose of a prescription drug he was taking.
Emma is surprised at how many people refuse to believe he was murdered. Dani, her mother, Patti, Cody's brother Curtis all think he took the overdose himself.
But Emma and the local sheriff Milo Dodge believe it was murder and that it had something to do with both Baby Scarlett's death five years ago and then the death of the young deputy, Art Fremstad, who was investigating the baby's death. It was ruled that he had committed suicide, but Milo had never belived that, and it now looks as though he had also been murdered.
Emma was determined to find out the answers, before the killer could kill again.
I like several things in this book. Emma is vey likeable.
Vida is a hoot, reading about this sixtish year old woman, accidentally entering the wet T-shirt contest at Mugs Ahoy and then going through with it because, afterall, she signed her name to the contract is very funny.
I really like Milo Dodge, who gets himself a girlfriend, Honoria Whitman, an artist from California. Emma spends a lot of time convincing herself she doesn't care, because she wouldn't want Milo as a boyfriend anyway. Milo is worried that he's going to lose his re-election to his UFO spotting opponant if he doesn't find the killer.
She has improved a character who really irritated me in the first book. Ad salesman, Ed Bronsky, who refused to sell ad space if he could talk the customer out of buying. He still grumbles and complains about color ad's and anything where he can't use clip art, but at least is doing his job.
Now for what I don't like about this book.
Tom Cavanaugh, who is the married man she had an affair with that produced her son, Adam. Tom married money, got Emma and his wife pregnant at the same time, stayed with his wife and never helped support or even meet Adam, which he should have done, even if Emma said she could do it herself.
She's still in love with him. Tom is determined now, that he has a looney wife and his two kids are a mess that he wants to become daddy to twentyish Adam.
Emma, her brother, a priest who calls from his new parish and Vida all think Tom is a great guy. He's such a Prince Charming that in his one phone conversation with Emma in this book, he tells her he wants to do things for Adam and then says, "Thanks, Chuck, I'll get back with you in a few days," before slamming the phone down when his wife comes into the room.
Emma needs to be looking at Milo instead of looking into the past.
Except for this one problem, I am really enjoying the Alpine books. Alpine Christmas is next.
Too predictable.......2002-03-05
I liked this book, but I guessed both the identity of the murder and two basic plot twists (I won't tell you which ones so I don't spoil it for you) before I was even halfway through with the book...
Hollywood comes to Alpine.......2001-10-24
Alpine native, Dani Marsh, returns to her hometown to make a movie. Shortly after she arrives, her ex-husband is found dead. Does her return tie in with the murder? Was her movie star boyfriend jealous? Emma Lord, owner of the local newspaper, works on this and other possible motives in her effort
to track down the murderer. Her friend, Milo, the local sheriff, has a new girlfriend, but despite this, he and Emma work together to uncover the killer. This is a good addition to the series.
Light but filling.......2001-08-02
If you need a light fun read this is definitly the series for you. This was a hard book to put down. If you live in a small town you see your own local characters popping up on the pages. The Alpine books are a great escape from heavy fiction. I'd recommend the complete series.
A Sequel that works.......2000-06-22
If you liked Alpine Advocate, Betrayal will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf. Emma Lord is fresh and intellegent protaganist, who has insight and character flaws making her as real as your next-door neighbour. A mystery that surprises and characters you'd like to have a drink with. All one can ask for. Definitely worth your time.
Book Description
Welcome to Alpine, Washington, where murder and mayhem is all in a day’s work!
Sassy, intelligent, single mother Emma Lord has always wanted to own a newspaper. And when she inherits half a million dollars from an ex-boyfriend, she is able to do just that. She buys The Alpine Advocate, local paper of the sleepy town of Alpine, Washington. Unfortunately, there’s not much to write about in a small town. But then the murders start, and Emma finds that not only does she have front-page stories to write, she also has killers to uncover!
In this volume, the first three Alpine Advocate novels are included in their entirety. Whether you’re already a fan of Emma Lord and the residents of Alpine, or this is your first visit to the Cascade Mountains, you’ll love the quirky characters, surprising plot twists, and fast-paced writing that exemplify this series. Welcome to Alpine!
In
The Alpine Advocate, family drama reaches a fever pitch when rich old Neeny Doukas’ handsome grandson Mark Doukas is found murdered. Evidence suggests that Mark’s brother Chris, the black sheep of the Dooukas clan, may be to blame, but suddenly everyone in the family is acting suspicious. Emma and her trusted assistant Vida, who knows everyone in Alpine and is related to most of them, are on the case!
Next in
The Alpine Betrayal, Dani Marsh, who left Alpine years ago to become a Hollywood movie star, returns home to shoot her latest movie. Soon after her arrival, her ex-husband Cody Graf goes berserk with an axe, and is later found dead on a deserted back road. Emma covers the story for the local paper, but she and her friend Milo, the local sheriff, don’t think they’re getting the whole story. Why does everyone in town seem to hate Dani? Did Cody Graff really overdose, or was he murdered? Emma is determined to find out!
Finally there’s
The Alpine Christmas. Winter in Alpine is picturesque, with deep snow, Christmas trees, frozen lakes, and carolers. But the beauty is tarnished when a woman’s severed leg is found in the lake, and another woman’s dead body turns up in the forest. Emma Lord is joined on the case by her brother Ben, an irreverent priest visiting from Arizona. Can they find the killer before more women wind up dead?
Product Description
The editor and publisher Emma Lord is duty-bound in a small town in the foothills of Wahington's Cascade Mountains
Product Description
Set of 4 paperbacks by Mary Daheim from her Emma Lord Mystery series: The Alpine Obituary, The Alpine Advocate, The Alpine Nemesis, & The Alpine Betrayal.
Product Description
5 massmarket paperback Titles in Emma Lord Series - The Alpine Advocate - Alpine Betrayal - Alpine Decoy - Alpine Escape - Alpine Fury
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The Alpine Betrayal
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books | Authors, A-Z | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | General | Large Print | Mystery | Police Procedurals | Thrillers | Writing
ASIN: 9994024892 |
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