A Killer's Kiss
A Victor Carl Mystery
William Lashner
William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-114346-4 (0061143464)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-114346-5 (9780061143465)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): There's nothing easier—or more
dangerous—than falling into bed with an old lover. Especially
when you're Victor Carl.
Once upon a time, Victor was engaged to a woman named Julia. She was
beautiful and elegant and not the kind of woman to end up with a
second-rate lawyer on the edge of insolvency. Victor always assumed
she'd burn him, and she did. Now she's back, trailing an expensive
perfume that reeks of trouble.
Julia's husband has been murdered, her fingerprints are all over the
crime scene, and $1.7 million in cash is missing. Julia is suddenly in
desperate need of a fall guy. Is that why she turns up on Victor's
doorstep on the night of the murder, with her lipstick fresh and her
heels high? It's all enough to make Victor doubt the healing power of
love.
But in Victor's world lust trumps reason seven days a week. As he
reaches for his old lover, he convinces himself that Julia truly wants
to make amends for the past, that they might have a future together,
and that the Beatles were right—all you need is love. Until two
cops troop into his apartment and start fingering Victor for the murder.
Suddenly, Victor Carl, a man who has spent a lifetime making bad
decisions for the worst reasons, is no longer fighting to rekindle a
lost love. He's fighting to save his life.
Review: The seventh mystery in the Victor Carl series, A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner, is one of the most entertaining novels of the year ... and a first rate mystery as well.
"Who was that?" She stood there, trim and tawny, long legs falling
out of a towel wrapped tightly around her body. To see her standing in
my living room was to see a future devoid of want and strife, all my
dreams satisfied, all my hopes fulfilled. She was a worker's paradise
in one stunning figure. I stared for a moment, I couldn't help myself.
"It was the cops," I said finally. "Really, what did they want?" I
looked at her for a moment longer and then turned back to the window.
"They came," I said without turning around, "to tell me that your
husband's been murdered."
What a terrific way to start a book. Philadelphia
attorney Victor Carl finds himself in the middle of a murder
investigation in which he is intimately involved. The husband of an
ex-girlfriend, someone with whom he is still desperately in love, has
been murdered, and if he's not the prime suspect, Julia, the victim's
wife, is, and therefore he is too by association. Victor has to figure
out a way to prove that not only is he innocent, but Julia as well.
Only he's not quite sure Julia is innocent. Then there's the missing
money. One point seven million dollars. Julia doesn't have it and
apparently knows little about it. But several people are looking for
it, and finding the money seems to be more important than finding the
killer.
It's hard not to like Victor Carl. He's sarcastic and quick with a verbal comeback but he's also charming and witty. He's not above negotiating when he's clearly in no position to do so.
He cares deeply for others but not at the expense of neglecting to look
out for himself. And he's devious. His maneuvering to get all the
principal parties together in the same place at the same time toward
the end of the story is quite clever. Better yet, the unexpected final
plot twist makes for an apt conclusion to this exceptional book.
Unfortunately, A Killer's Kiss will be the last of the Victor Carl mysteries for a while. In a postscript, the author states he and his character are going to take a break. Until he returns, Victor will be sorely missed.
Special thanks to Authors on the Web for providing a copy of A Killer's Kiss for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Hostile Witness
HarperCollins (Hardcover), March 1995
ISBN-10: 0-06-039146-4 (0060391464)
Veritas
HarperCollins (Hardcover), February 1997
ISBN-10: 0-06-039147-2 (0060391472)
Fatal Flaw
William Morrow (Hardcover), May 2003
ISBN-10: 0-06-050816-7 (0060508167)
Past Due
William Morrow (Hardcover), April 2004
ISBN-10: 0-06-050817-5 (0060508175)
Falls the Shadow
William Morrow (Hardcover), April 2005
ISBN-10: 0-06-072156-1 (0060721561)
Marked Man
William Morrow (Hardcover), May 2006
ISBN-10: 0-06-072155-3 (0060721553)
A Killer's Kiss
William Morrow (Hardcover), August 2007
ISBN-10: 0-06-114346-4 (0061143464)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-114346-5 (9780061143465)
Omnimystery keywords for A Killer's Kiss ...
Location(s) referenced: Philadelphia.