No Offense Intended

Munch Mancini #2

by Barbara Seranella

If only expert mechanic Munch Mancini could keep her life running as smoothly as the cars she repairs. A former substance abuser, Munch is doing her best each day to keep the sins of her past behind her, but it seems that there's always some old friend or temptation blocking her path. Like her ex-lover, Sleaze Garillo, a shady hustler who comes around looking for a favor. When Sleaze drops out of sight under troubling circumstances--possibly as the victim of a sniper attack on the freeway--Munch can't help but get involved. The cops are after her for answers. But Munch doesn't have any--yet. Unlike the police, she's the only one with the friends and connections to find the truth. Of course that means revisiting the lingering characters from her past--friend and foe--and dealing with them once and for all. She's used to battling drug smugglers, bikers, and the law, but this time, she's facing the hardest fight of her life--protecting the baby daughter Sleaze left behind.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Barbara Seranella was an American author known for her gripping crime novels. Growing up in Pacific Palisades, California, she ran away at 13 to San Francisco, joining a hippie commune and learning auto mechanics on the streets. Seranella later married Walter Haring and became a devoted mother to Michera Nicole Colella and Maryann Colella, raising both girls as her own. Drawing on her adventurous early life and sharp observations, she authored more than ten novels, including No Human Involved, No Offense Intended, and Deadman's Switch, blending crime, suspense, and realism. Seranella lived in La Quinta and Laguna Beach, California, and passed away in 2007 while awaiting a liver transplant.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

A workmanlike thriller. Though ostensibly set in 1977, there's nothing that marks the story as being of that period and several errors (the nuclear reaction statue in Santa Monica dates only back to 1991, but that's just one example). There's a distracting use of the word "lad" throughout, too. I read the Kindle version which was also rife with typos. The best part of the book is that the main character, a young woman, is a mechanic; really, the author only hits her stride when explaining how to fix cars, but those bits are pretty fun.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know much about Barbara Seranella, but she writes with a verisimilitude that seeps through every scene and every insight, infusing the story with a sense of casual intimacy. She barrels along, pushing the story in front of her until it's listing, threatening to pitch over its own feet and lose control and in the process, drag us down with it. The story almost forgets that it has to end and when it does, it happens with a sharp intake of breath and closed eyes, like it's afraid of what would happen if it looked too clearly at what was coming.

Seranella writes a whip smart protagonist (one who is blissfully not another cop or lawyer or PI) who is broken but striving to be better and it's hard not to root for her. I am enjoying this series.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Historical Fiction," as in a vivid step back in time to 1970's California. I'm re-reading the Munch Mancini series, and this is #2. Heroine Munch has been clean for a year, reporting regularly to a probation officer, and continuing to do good work as an auto mechanic, when old flame "Sleaze John" shows up asking for a favor: all he wants is for Munch to collect his infant daughter and transport the kid and her gear to his sister. Should be easy, but nothing in Munch's life is, and the book becomes a fast-paced romp through the underbelly of the San Fernando Valley. There are stolen weapons, drugs, biker gangs, and police informants. Munch remains a wonderful character, and Seranella's writing is crisp and clear. What a writer she was!

[Jeannette Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Munch Mancini is such a wonderful character. She'll always do right by those she cares about or those who are vulnerable and need protecting. It's so much easier to make a character who drinks, takes drugs and parties hard seem interesting than it is to show the hard choices and actions of someone who chooses a better life for themselves. Barbara Seranella makes the sober Munch the kind of person you'd want to hang out with.

This book gives you a sense of who Munch might have been when she was drinking and taking drugs and who her friends were. Det. Blackstone is a straight arrow and a great partner for Munch in this book.

[Sarah Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed the dective from the first book. I thought he might be in this one. However I did like Dective Blackstone. I also liked that Munch stayed true to giving up drugs and her loyalty yo her friends.

[Trine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1999. The second Munch Mancini mystery.

[Tenielle Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, suspenseful, interesting, but not my style.

[Kathleen Hagen]

No Offense Intended, by Barbara Seranella, a-minus,Narrated by Paul Boehmer, Produced by audible inc. and downloaded from audible.com.

This is the second in the series. Munch Mansini has, in the past year, put together a reasonably good life for herself. She is employed full-time as a mechanic, and is good at her job. But she does have one problem. People keep appearing from her old life, wanting a favor, to borrow money, to try to get her to use drugs or alcohol again. The latest in this run of old friends was a former lover, known as Sleeze who comes to her for a favor. He wants her to pick up his baby daughter, (the mother is dead) and take the baby plus her belongings to his sister. When Munch goes to pick up the baby, she finds the neighbors dead. Sleeze has been shot to death by a sniper on the highway. Munch hates to leave the baby with Sleeze’s sister who has children of her own which she isn’t raising very well. The FBI are involved as well, and Munch starts to believe that they deliberately set Sleeze up as a snitch, which he would not have done. So she decides to help the police find the killers, and she wants to take the baby who now is an orphan. She must deal with drug dealers and post-hippies, and hell’s angels to finally reach a solution.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new author to me copyright date 1999.
Former alcoholic 8 months into recovery, on probation with LA County, Miranda (Munch) Mancini works as a auto mechanic at a gas station in the San Fernando valley. An old friend from her past life stops by the station and asks Munch for a couple of favors. Wary of his continuing drinking she reluctantly agrees. By nightfall her friend John (Sleaze) is dead in a drive-by, leaving his infant daughter an orphan and in the care of his alcoholic sister and her husband is the person who set up Sleaze for his execution.
The story continues in the style of The Perils of Pauline, an early 20th century serial where the heroine frequently winds up in perilous situations and somehow manages to work her way through at the end of each episode.
I hope to find more volumes by this author. Writing is clear, unambiguous, and the heroine works through the mystery with admirable character and the right contacts at the right time.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never seen a bad review of a Seranella book, and I can't figure out precisely why this series does not work for me. Perhaps it's the constant feeling of impending violence, even though it mostly does not happen. I disliked the first Munch Mancini novel so much that I never finished it (and it's been years since I did that). This is my second try and I had to make myself finish it. Mancini seems a bit flat as a character for me, as do most of the book's other characters, the plot focuses heavily on drugs(which does not interest me much), and the writing is not engaging. I realize I am out of step, but this is my last read in this series. Really 2.5 stars.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Offense Intended - VG
Barbara Saranella - 2nd in series
It sounds simple enough: Just pick up Sleaze John Garillo's baby Asia from the neighbor who's been watching her while Sleaze has been, uh, busy, and deliver her together with her baby gear to Sleaze's sister Lisa Slokum. But nothing is simple when you're a recovering alcohol-and-drug abuser on probation, like Venice car mechanic Munch Mancini, and nothing is simple when it involves Sleaze, who can't even make it through the day he turns up at Happy Jack's Auto Repair without getting himself shot on the freeway.

Very well done

[Colin Conway]

This was a solid second outing for Seranella's Munch Mancini.

Although I didn't enjoy it as much as the first Munch novel, NO HUMAN INVOLVED, it was still an incredibly fast read. My diminished enthusiasm for this novel was due to the amount of other characters brought in which lessened the time spent with Munch. She's a fascinating character and I really wanted to spend more time viewing life from her perspective.

Outside of that, the story was good and the pace was quick. If you liked the first novel, it's definitely worth jumping into the story.

[Eunira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Munch Mancini is a ex-druggie, recovering alcoholic, who is trying her best to stay out of trouble when someone from her pas at comes back into her life. The rivalry between FBI and local law adds to her troubles.
Munch is a surprisingly smart heroine, an ace mechanic who knows Shakepeare. Overall enjoyable. (reread)

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consistent typos - substituting la for ki - throughout the book.
i.e.: Made the words kind and kid become land and lad respectively.
Stopping to translate drew me out of the story too many times.

The story itself is very good, continuing Munch's growth.

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 07.23.07

[Natalia]

Munch Mancini Crime Novel bk 2

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

I've read this for a mailing list discussion so I'll wait until that starts before talking about the book here. In a nutshell though, this series is fast becoming one of my favourites.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love this series, plain and simple.