What do you think?
Rate this book
Cat Marsala Mystery #9
Hard Road: A Cat Marsala Mystery
While attending a centennial festival in Chicago to honor the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, journalist Cat Marsala becomes an eyewitness to the stabbing murder of the chief security guard and finds herself confronting a case in which all the evidence points to her own brother as the killer. 25,000 first printing.
- GenresMysteryMystery Thriller
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Barbara D'Amato
45 books27 followersAka Malacai Black
Barbara D'Amato has had a checkered career, working in the distant past as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and recently sometimes teaching mystery writing to Chicago police officers.
"Writing is the greatest job of all," D'Amato says. "I get to hang around with cops, go ask people questions about their jobs that I would be too chicken to ask without a reason, and walk around Chicago looking for good murder locales. Best of all, I get to read mystery and suspense novels and call it keeping up with the field."
She was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International.
D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on "Unsolved Mysteries," and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedies, The Magic Man and children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years.
Barbara D'Amato has had a checkered career, working in the distant past as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and recently sometimes teaching mystery writing to Chicago police officers.
"Writing is the greatest job of all," D'Amato says. "I get to hang around with cops, go ask people questions about their jobs that I would be too chicken to ask without a reason, and walk around Chicago looking for good murder locales. Best of all, I get to read mystery and suspense novels and call it keeping up with the field."
She was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International.
D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on "Unsolved Mysteries," and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedies, The Magic Man and children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 26, 2018
I understand why to write this and the tie-in, but after the first 8 short chapters...downhill in pacing and interest.
August 29, 2023
"Wizard of Oz" fans are the audience for this.
March 26, 2015
Hard Road, Cat Marsala, book 9 by
Barbara D'Amato
This is the last book in the Cat Marsala series. Makes me sad. It was originally published in 2001 and I think I read it then. I know the plot sounded very familiar from the get-go, and as I went along, I felt I recognized major portions of the book, yet I didn't figure out who-done-it until the same time the main character did.
Over the last couple of books prior to this, I felt that D'Amato was tying up loose ends in Cat's life. One boyfriend dropped off the written map, one faded away, and in this last book, only one is really mentioned or has any appearance (and, I think it was by phone!). But that situation was left open ended. I suppose, just limiting Cat to one romantic liaison is indicative of finality, but nothing is really said in the book about the nature or future continuity of the relationship. This storyline really didn't need it, however, so I guess D'Amato wanted to leave us with our own imagination! She doesn't suddenly become financially stable, nor does her career path change -- again, leaving us to assume she continues in her freelancing career. Her family situation continues to be messy, although the family drama that surrounds this particular storyline is cleared up, so, again, we are left to assume the future of Cat's relationship with her mother and other family members.
In this episode, Cat isn't on a job. Instead, she is taking her 6 year old nephew, Jeremy, with whom she shares an abounding love of the L.Frank Baum Oz books, to the first Chicago Oz festival. His father/her brother, Barry, is one of the organizers of the event. When one of the contractors at the event is fatally stabbed, evidence seems to point to her brother being the killer. As Cat and her newphew, plus one other woman Cat has gotten to know during the months leading up to the festival, are eyewitnesses. Cat takes her nephew away from the scene, to another part of the festival to distract him. The third eyewitness, Jennifer, comes to talk to Cat about what they saw, and as she walks away, shots ring out. Jennifer is killed, and bullets barely miss Cat and her nephew.
What follows is a harrowing chase through the festival and the Chicago underground tunnel system, with Cat and Jeremy running away from a rifle-toting killer. They escape, with a small marmalade cat who befriends them in the tunnel. Now Cat is on the job, although with no client, to clear her brother and to find out who the real killer is.
Good pacing, clever plotting, whimsical setting, good proofing and editing. Great read.
Barbara D'Amato
This is the last book in the Cat Marsala series. Makes me sad. It was originally published in 2001 and I think I read it then. I know the plot sounded very familiar from the get-go, and as I went along, I felt I recognized major portions of the book, yet I didn't figure out who-done-it until the same time the main character did.
Over the last couple of books prior to this, I felt that D'Amato was tying up loose ends in Cat's life. One boyfriend dropped off the written map, one faded away, and in this last book, only one is really mentioned or has any appearance (and, I think it was by phone!). But that situation was left open ended. I suppose, just limiting Cat to one romantic liaison is indicative of finality, but nothing is really said in the book about the nature or future continuity of the relationship. This storyline really didn't need it, however, so I guess D'Amato wanted to leave us with our own imagination! She doesn't suddenly become financially stable, nor does her career path change -- again, leaving us to assume she continues in her freelancing career. Her family situation continues to be messy, although the family drama that surrounds this particular storyline is cleared up, so, again, we are left to assume the future of Cat's relationship with her mother and other family members.
In this episode, Cat isn't on a job. Instead, she is taking her 6 year old nephew, Jeremy, with whom she shares an abounding love of the L.Frank Baum Oz books, to the first Chicago Oz festival. His father/her brother, Barry, is one of the organizers of the event. When one of the contractors at the event is fatally stabbed, evidence seems to point to her brother being the killer. As Cat and her newphew, plus one other woman Cat has gotten to know during the months leading up to the festival, are eyewitnesses. Cat takes her nephew away from the scene, to another part of the festival to distract him. The third eyewitness, Jennifer, comes to talk to Cat about what they saw, and as she walks away, shots ring out. Jennifer is killed, and bullets barely miss Cat and her nephew.
What follows is a harrowing chase through the festival and the Chicago underground tunnel system, with Cat and Jeremy running away from a rifle-toting killer. They escape, with a small marmalade cat who befriends them in the tunnel. Now Cat is on the job, although with no client, to clear her brother and to find out who the real killer is.
Good pacing, clever plotting, whimsical setting, good proofing and editing. Great read.
December 28, 2009
The only Cat Marsala I've read. Mystery was OK and I was never completely sure of the killer's motivation. What was weird is that 1/5 of the book was an essay on L. Frank Baum & Oz which tied in to the setting for the mystery but seemed excessive. Do all her mysteries have this much background material? I liked that essay much more than the mystery as it tied in well as fuel for a f2f discussion of Wicked compared to the original Oz books. 3 stars for the mystery, 5 stars for the essay.
May 29, 2016
This book is in two parts . The first part is a Cat Marsailles mystery centered around the Oz festival in Chicago. Cat clears her brother of the main suspect in a murder . The second part of this book is a hystory of the Oz series and the author Bond .
December 5, 2007
A treat for Wizard of Oz fans, as well as detective mystery stories set in Chicago.
May 5, 2013
nice history of Oz books intertwined in the story. makes one more interested in OZ stories and books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews