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Carol Ashton Mysteries #9
Chain Letter
To Whom It May Concern: You are a chosen one. Your name has been selected to receive these instructions. Follow them exactly and you will have great good fortune. Fail, and this letter will bring you death. You have forty-eight hours. Do not break the chain...
While investigating the murder of a fellow police officer, Australian Detective Carol Ashton believes she has discovered a bizarre link between this case and several other unsolved homicides -- each victim received a chain letter promising death if the instructions are not followed. When her hunch leads nowhere, Carol figures it was just a coincidence. Then, someone very close to her receives a letter...
While investigating the murder of a fellow police officer, Australian Detective Carol Ashton believes she has discovered a bizarre link between this case and several other unsolved homicides -- each victim received a chain letter promising death if the instructions are not followed. When her hunch leads nowhere, Carol figures it was just a coincidence. Then, someone very close to her receives a letter...
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Claire McNab
42 books52 followersCLAIRE McNAB, 1940-2022
Claire McNab died on June 30, 2022, after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She also wrote under her real name, Claire Carmichael, an outpouring of children's literature, textbooks, self-help books, and plays. She became (and remains to this day) a renowned author of children’s books in Australia.
Claire McNab is the pseudonym of Claire Carmichael. She was born in 1940 in Melbourne, Australia. While pursuing a career as a high school teacher in Sydney, she began her writing career with comedy plays and textbooks. She left teaching in the mid-eighties to become a full-time writer. In her native Australia she is known for her self-help and children's books. She moved to Los Angeles in 1994 after falling in love with an American woman, and now teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Writers' Extension Program. She is best known for three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She is the recipient of the 2006 Alice B. Medal.
From the publisher's website: Claire McNab has written over 50 books and is known in her native Australia for crime fiction, children's novels, picture books, self-help, and English textbooks. Her first mystery, Lessons in Murder, was published in the U.S. in 1988. Now a Los Angeles resident, she teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is the author of three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She has served as the president of Sisters in Crime and is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles and is working on the finale of the Carol Ashton series, Lethal Care.
Claire McNab died on June 30, 2022, after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She also wrote under her real name, Claire Carmichael, an outpouring of children's literature, textbooks, self-help books, and plays. She became (and remains to this day) a renowned author of children’s books in Australia.
Claire McNab is the pseudonym of Claire Carmichael. She was born in 1940 in Melbourne, Australia. While pursuing a career as a high school teacher in Sydney, she began her writing career with comedy plays and textbooks. She left teaching in the mid-eighties to become a full-time writer. In her native Australia she is known for her self-help and children's books. She moved to Los Angeles in 1994 after falling in love with an American woman, and now teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Writers' Extension Program. She is best known for three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She is the recipient of the 2006 Alice B. Medal.
From the publisher's website: Claire McNab has written over 50 books and is known in her native Australia for crime fiction, children's novels, picture books, self-help, and English textbooks. Her first mystery, Lessons in Murder, was published in the U.S. in 1988. Now a Los Angeles resident, she teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is the author of three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She has served as the president of Sisters in Crime and is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles and is working on the finale of the Carol Ashton series, Lethal Care.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 7, 2019
I am biased by the fact that when I am sick (I am dying from a flu-like thing ATM) I want to read mysteries and I was in a lonely, pathetic want some lesbian romance type mood so this perfectly hit the spot. Objectively it possibly has lots of flaws for example the predictability (more thriller than mystery which normally I wouldn't go for) and how irritating Madeline is (I cope with her better than I would a sleazy male character though). There are cliches...I mean a pedophile ring.
But I am sick and I wanted a lightweight read when I got too tired to do the work I was supposed to but was coughing too much to sleep. This was it. Sybil is a sweet love interest for Carol. I doubt it will last but I can read this dykey feel-good soapie and just surrender to not thinking.
I feel like I should feel guilty for that or something.
But I am sick and I wanted a lightweight read when I got too tired to do the work I was supposed to but was coughing too much to sleep. This was it. Sybil is a sweet love interest for Carol. I doubt it will last but I can read this dykey feel-good soapie and just surrender to not thinking.
I feel like I should feel guilty for that or something.
April 23, 2022
Ninth in the series of police procedurals in Australia. I found it a very absorbing storyline. Little mystery to it but still was very interesting to follow as a series of murders are uncovered with various MOs after each had received a chain letter promising death if they did not forward the chain letter to ten more. Detective Carol Ashton gets pulled in when one of the deaths involves a fellow police officer who is stabbed to death.
October 16, 2023
DI Carol Ashton #9 (1997)
Carol, Mark, and the rest of the team investigate murders that appear to be connected to chain letters that the victims received prior to their deaths. Jeffery, Sybil's cat, ends up getting sick, which brings Sybil back into Carol's life. Well-written mystery story.
Carol, Mark, and the rest of the team investigate murders that appear to be connected to chain letters that the victims received prior to their deaths. Jeffery, Sybil's cat, ends up getting sick, which brings Sybil back into Carol's life. Well-written mystery story.
October 15, 2017
This was a straightforward story but it felt prolonged somehow. Perhaps a bit more story into this length, or even a shorter book?
September 20, 2023
go away Sybil
February 26, 2013
A good McNab read! Enjoyable but not super special.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews