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Iris Thorne Mysteries #2
Slow Squeeze
Iris Thorne survived the purge following McKinney Alitzer’s chain of scandals. The murders, money-laundering, and million-dollar embezzlement were front-page dirt—and rumor has it that Iris knows where the bucks are buried. Now she’s the firm’s highest-paid and most senior investment counselor. But happiness is a rare commodity in Iris’s private life—she and her LAPD lover are approaching a dead end.
Enter, on purple three-inch heels, the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow’s a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow ready to invest. She’s brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she’s a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing in her head, Iris heads for Sunset Boulevard and margaritas with Barbie and sexy office colleague Art Silva. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations, the squeeze is on—but it’s anybody’s guess who’s zooming whom. Then Barbie’s found dead in bed, with evidence that implicates Iris. But there are things the cops don’t need to know, so Iris is taking this case solo. In a city that thrives on scandal, a murdered client takes its toll on even the most ironclad reputation….
Enter, on purple three-inch heels, the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow’s a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow ready to invest. She’s brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she’s a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing in her head, Iris heads for Sunset Boulevard and margaritas with Barbie and sexy office colleague Art Silva. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations, the squeeze is on—but it’s anybody’s guess who’s zooming whom. Then Barbie’s found dead in bed, with evidence that implicates Iris. But there are things the cops don’t need to know, so Iris is taking this case solo. In a city that thrives on scandal, a murdered client takes its toll on even the most ironclad reputation….
354 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2017
I punted this one. There are only so many stereotypes I can take. (Businesswoman who hates the dog, has a rustic boyfriend, ex-wife with teenage daughter and the conflict, the stripper-to-rich woman client...) I also disliked the disjointed opening. Just not for me.
March 31, 2012
Having made it through the fallout from the scandals that rocked the investment firm where she works, McKinney Alitzer (Cold Call), Iris has risen to the position of senior investment counselor. She’s hit something of a slow patch of late in both her professional and personal life, however, and is looking for a jump start.
That’s probably why Iris doesn’t pay close enough attention to her gut instinct – and all those internal alarm bells going off – when wealthy widow Barbie Stringfellow breezes into her life out of nowhere. With a larger than life personality to accompany her fast talking and outrageous sense of fashion, the Atlanta transplant hits LA like a hurricane.
In fact, before she knows it both Iris and her coworker, Art Silva, are swept up by the power of Hurricane Barbie, who seems set on seducing both of them. By the time Iris realizes Barbie hasn’t delivered on her financial investment promises, and also seems to be asking a lot of strange questions about the money that went missing from McKinney Alitzer during the scandal, things have gotten extremely complicated in the three-way game of manipulation between Iris, Barbie and Art. When Barbie’s mentally unstable former lover hits the scene, however, that’s when things get downright deadly.
Slow Squeeze is a very different book than the first in the series, Cold Call. Though the mysteries presented in both are very entertaining, there is a noticeable step forward in Emley’s confidence in her writing in Slow Squeeze. Whereas the overall tenor of Cold Call was a little more light, fast and loose, things in Slow Squeeze are much darker and more intense, with Emley severely narrowing the playing field, squeezing it down to a core of four players. As each tries to manipulate, con, and outwit the others, the result is a highly charged, slightly claustrophobic environment in which the proverbial noose slowly tightens around the characters as each chapter unfolds. You’ll have to discover for yourself exactly who’s left hanging when all’s said and done.
A more than worthy followup to Cold Call, Slow Squeeze was proof positive that both Iris and her creator would be going places; Iris on to three more sequels, and Emley on to her LA Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.
That’s probably why Iris doesn’t pay close enough attention to her gut instinct – and all those internal alarm bells going off – when wealthy widow Barbie Stringfellow breezes into her life out of nowhere. With a larger than life personality to accompany her fast talking and outrageous sense of fashion, the Atlanta transplant hits LA like a hurricane.
In fact, before she knows it both Iris and her coworker, Art Silva, are swept up by the power of Hurricane Barbie, who seems set on seducing both of them. By the time Iris realizes Barbie hasn’t delivered on her financial investment promises, and also seems to be asking a lot of strange questions about the money that went missing from McKinney Alitzer during the scandal, things have gotten extremely complicated in the three-way game of manipulation between Iris, Barbie and Art. When Barbie’s mentally unstable former lover hits the scene, however, that’s when things get downright deadly.
Slow Squeeze is a very different book than the first in the series, Cold Call. Though the mysteries presented in both are very entertaining, there is a noticeable step forward in Emley’s confidence in her writing in Slow Squeeze. Whereas the overall tenor of Cold Call was a little more light, fast and loose, things in Slow Squeeze are much darker and more intense, with Emley severely narrowing the playing field, squeezing it down to a core of four players. As each tries to manipulate, con, and outwit the others, the result is a highly charged, slightly claustrophobic environment in which the proverbial noose slowly tightens around the characters as each chapter unfolds. You’ll have to discover for yourself exactly who’s left hanging when all’s said and done.
A more than worthy followup to Cold Call, Slow Squeeze was proof positive that both Iris and her creator would be going places; Iris on to three more sequels, and Emley on to her LA Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.
October 30, 2009
This 2nd book in series is really incredible! Con artists galore -- twisting plot -- incredible ending! Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews