A Clean Kill

April Woo #9

by Leslie Glass

Manhattan's Upper East Side isn't a neighborhood that NYPD detective April Woo and Precinct Captain Mike Sanchez associate with grisly crimes-until the wife of a celebrity chef is slashed to death in her fashionable townhouse. The obvious suspect is her long-time nanny.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Thriller

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 7, 2005

About the author

LESLIE GLASS's new book, the Mother Daughter Relationship Makeover is a memoir and exploration of the issues that drive mothers and daughters (and also sons) apart. Her experience as founder and editor of Reach Out Recovery, the online wellness and recovery magazine, inspired her to move beyond her beloved April Woo mystery series and focus on helping people by writing recovery books for people of all ages. Since 2011, she has produced two award winning documentaries, The Secret World of Recovery, and The Silent Majority and developed a website with followers from all over the globe wanting to know more about addiction, recovery, relationships, and health. Reach Out Recovery has more than 1500 original articles.

In her early career Leslie worked in publishing and has written for a variety of media. She was a journalist at New York magazine and a short-story and feature writer for Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Own in Great Britain. A playwright and the author of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring NYPD Detective Sergeant April Woo, Glass is also the author of Over His Dead Body, Sleeper, The Teen Guide to Health, Find Your True Colors in 12 Steps, The 8 C's That Help Me Be All Right.
She lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Series
* April Woo Mystery

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Maddy, a young trophy wife, is stabbed to death in her home spa. Was it the husband? the nanny? thy gym trainer? Lt April Woo is called in to consult on the case. Another young wife and friend of Maddy's is killed and discovered by her nanny. These rich wives seem to be ungrateful and definitely feel entitled but is that a reason for the kill?

This 9th book was published in 2005 and is apparently the last in the series. None of the libraries around me carry these books and I happened to find this one at a garage sale. It's not a real complicated whodunit. I like the character of April Wood and would be happy to read any of the earlier books in this series.

[Ryann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, the author’s heart really was not in this one at all. From weird plot holes and misspellings to a truly rushed and random ending, this was not was I hoped for the end of the series. Jason Frank wasn’t even mentioned, and the two main characters’ romance has more than fallen flat since the first couple of books.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

New York police procedural. Some interesting characters. No one's perfect. Some stereotypes. I'm going to request the first one in the series.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally laid my hands on the last one of the April Woo series. April and Mike are now married and trying to leave for a delayed honeymoon cruise, but first she's trying to wrap up the murder of a well known local chef's wife. Mike's asked for her to consult despite the fact that he commands a different precinct from where his wife works, adding to the delicacy of the situation. But wait! The murdered woman's best friend is murdered the next day! Who's killing these rich wives? Will April and Mike get on that cruise? Will April's new second in command prove to be worthy of trust?

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like her books. The main character is evolving and changing. Love Skinny Dragon Mother!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, unfortunately, the last book of the April Woo series, and I cannot find that she has written anything else since. That's too bad because Leslie Glass's books have a quirky way of looking at people, specifically April's mother. The earlier books in the series outline her weird relationship with her mother better than this one. April has made it through the NYPD ranks by this time, and has lots of responsibilities on her shoulders.

The book is about the uber-rich in New York City, which is always fodder for a good read. This is a quick book to get through, but the finale is well worth reading through to the end.

Now I've got to try to find the other books of the series that I have missed.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurbs on the back cover compare the April Woo series to Ed McBain's 87th precinct series, but this seems undeserved. I am a fan of the 87th, and I could not find many similarities, except that both are about police detectives. Lt. April Woo is a beautiful, "willowy," Chinese-American who could be a fashion model. Her immediate subordinate, Eloise Gelo, is a curvaceous blonde bombshell, and a TV reporter named Lily Eng could be a movie star. (In the 87th series Lt. Byrnes and Detective Steve Carella are not such beautiful people who could be models; they are hard-boiled detectives who do police work.)

I suspect the April Woo series was designed as a TV series with someone like Lucy Liu the star, and other beautiful people in the cast, but apparently no producer liked it enough to proceed.

[Connie G. Lyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love detective April Woo and Mike Sanchez

Leslie Glass writes from a different perspective than you uff usually see. Her in depth knowledge of the intricacies of police work and the politics involved makes for very interesting stories. The Chinese component added much interest as well. I enjoyed all 9 books in the series. I wish there were more.

[Kate McDougall Sackler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book without realizing that it is in the middle of a series. Wooden writing and no character development made for a slow read. Also, I guessed the perpetrator in the first third. Boring.

[Patsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manhattan's Upper East Side isn't a neighborhood that NYPD detective April Woo and Precinct Captain Mike Sanchez associate with grisly crimes-until the wife of a celebrity chef is slashed to death in her fashionable townhouse. The obvious suspect is her long-time nanny.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good way to end the year as A Clean Kill completes the narrative, and really does prompt a good house cleaning for the New Year. There's a cliff hanger though so you'll have a worm in your head :0)

Gosh, I wish there were more Sanchez and Woos.

[Drewe Friesen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half had me really invested but the ending was quite dumb... The killer barely had anything to do with the story and barely had a real motive.

If you're bored a good way to enjoy this book is to take a shot everytime the book mentions the main character's Chinese

[Deb Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sorry the series ended with this book. This is my second reading of the entire April Woo series.

[Pamela Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Fabulous Leslie Glass

Not much more to be said. I’ve read them all and always will. Can’t thank Kindle Unlimited for turning me on to this book series

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent series. Enjoyed every one of these books.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel. The characters are believable and well developed. The plot was well developed. Unfortunately, I read this awhile ago (somehow missed reviewing at the time) and don’t remember the details but do remember that I enjoyed the book.

[annodluvsbks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 9th book in the Detective April Woo series. Since it was written in 2005 I'm assuming that it's the last one as well. I've really enjoyed this series. Sure wish she'd write another one. I'd like to see what April has been up to the last few years. :)

[Georgia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not the best Leslie Glass book with April Woo that I have read.

[Gary Barrentine]

Lots of charaters that kept me guessing right up to the end.

[Hildy Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade: B

A fun exciting read with Detective April Woo.

[Shirley Midgett · Rating 3 out of 5]

So she wrote all these terrific mysteries with April Woo and then one day she quit and just writes chic lit. I can't forgive her for leaving April hanging.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good vacation type of book. Easy read.

[Patty Kendrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book.