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Cat Marsala Mystery #5
Hard Case
In novels like Hard Luck and Hard Women, award-winner Barbara D'Amato has thrilled audiences with the exploits of her journalist-turned-sleuth, Cat Marsala, who always squeezes life out of a deadly situation. Now comes Cat's most dangerous assignment, a truly Hard Case mixing medicine, mayhem, and murder...
Cat figures on some quick bucks doing a feature on the life-and-death drama of one of Chicago's largest trauma centers. What she doesn’t figure on is finding the director dead in the staff lounge, a lump of gauze stuck in her throat. Now Cat's story has a whole new slant. Not every staff member is dedicated to healing—and Cat's next tour could be of the morgue...
Praise for Barbara D'Amato
"Barbara D'Amato appears to be just hitting her stride—a vigorous, stylish stride that's attracting widespread attention and admiration."
—The Drood Review of Mystery
"D'Amato's evocation of the trauma center, its desperate patients and harried personnel, often heroic and always human, is by itself worth the price of admission."
—San Diego Union-Tribune
"Producers of TV's Chicago Hope and ER could do worse than buy—never steal!—an idea or two from Hard Case."
—Chicago Tribune
"One-ups Ellery Queen’s excellent The Dutch Shoe Mystery."
—Chicago Sun-Times
Cat figures on some quick bucks doing a feature on the life-and-death drama of one of Chicago's largest trauma centers. What she doesn’t figure on is finding the director dead in the staff lounge, a lump of gauze stuck in her throat. Now Cat's story has a whole new slant. Not every staff member is dedicated to healing—and Cat's next tour could be of the morgue...
Praise for Barbara D'Amato
"Barbara D'Amato appears to be just hitting her stride—a vigorous, stylish stride that's attracting widespread attention and admiration."
—The Drood Review of Mystery
"D'Amato's evocation of the trauma center, its desperate patients and harried personnel, often heroic and always human, is by itself worth the price of admission."
—San Diego Union-Tribune
"Producers of TV's Chicago Hope and ER could do worse than buy—never steal!—an idea or two from Hard Case."
—Chicago Tribune
"One-ups Ellery Queen’s excellent The Dutch Shoe Mystery."
—Chicago Sun-Times
- GenresMystery
233 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1994
33 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.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 14, 2015
Hard Case, A Cat Marsala Mystery (Book 5)
by Barbara D'Amato
With the finish of this 5th book in the series, I've caught up to the book I read in January (Hard Christmas, Book 6 in the series) that started me on my journey to reread the first 3 or 4 books in the series and to read for the first time books 5, 7, 8 & 9 in the series.
All the things I've said in my other Cat Marsala reviews still holds true. D'Amato's writing style is engaging, drawing the reader into her storyline feeling as though Cat is his/her new BFF. The descriptions of landscapes, buildings, interiors, people and scenarios makes the reader not only visualize the text and feel the emotions, but sometimes smell the odors and feel the breeze on Cat's face. The writing makes the reader lose track of time, suddenly looking up from the printed page and noticing that the entire morning has passed by. Characterizations are vivid and clear, and D'Amato doesn't clutter the plot with so many characters that the reader cannot keep track of who the important players are. Clues are liberally sprinkled, but not so obvious that the reader isn't kept guessing at the who done it till the very end. Research is well done and the information used freely and understandably throughout the episode.
This novel finds Cat doing an article on Trauma Units. Her editor is interested in whether they are worth the expense and/or are a better use of funds than ERs. Cat, of course, is more interested in the people who staff the units and what draws them to this highly stressful type of medical care. Her first day on the story, the Director of the trauma unit, is killed, and a couple of days later, another of the doctors is found murdered. As this is a very controlled environment, there is little chance of the killer having come in from outside of the unit. That means Cat must find who, among this dedicated group of doctors, nurses and medical students, has defied their Hippocratic oath.
Interestingly, I note that in this episode, we see none of John Banks, and very little of Mike -- the two romantic interests in Cat's life. I don't remember much mention of either in book 6, either, so it will be interesting to see what's up for Cat in the romance department as I move forward in the series.
This book was first published, I believe in 1994, so still before the age of the internet and the smart phone. As I've noted before, it is interesting to me to imagine how the plot might have been altered if today's technology were available when the book was written.
Quick and fun read.
by Barbara D'Amato
With the finish of this 5th book in the series, I've caught up to the book I read in January (Hard Christmas, Book 6 in the series) that started me on my journey to reread the first 3 or 4 books in the series and to read for the first time books 5, 7, 8 & 9 in the series.
All the things I've said in my other Cat Marsala reviews still holds true. D'Amato's writing style is engaging, drawing the reader into her storyline feeling as though Cat is his/her new BFF. The descriptions of landscapes, buildings, interiors, people and scenarios makes the reader not only visualize the text and feel the emotions, but sometimes smell the odors and feel the breeze on Cat's face. The writing makes the reader lose track of time, suddenly looking up from the printed page and noticing that the entire morning has passed by. Characterizations are vivid and clear, and D'Amato doesn't clutter the plot with so many characters that the reader cannot keep track of who the important players are. Clues are liberally sprinkled, but not so obvious that the reader isn't kept guessing at the who done it till the very end. Research is well done and the information used freely and understandably throughout the episode.
This novel finds Cat doing an article on Trauma Units. Her editor is interested in whether they are worth the expense and/or are a better use of funds than ERs. Cat, of course, is more interested in the people who staff the units and what draws them to this highly stressful type of medical care. Her first day on the story, the Director of the trauma unit, is killed, and a couple of days later, another of the doctors is found murdered. As this is a very controlled environment, there is little chance of the killer having come in from outside of the unit. That means Cat must find who, among this dedicated group of doctors, nurses and medical students, has defied their Hippocratic oath.
Interestingly, I note that in this episode, we see none of John Banks, and very little of Mike -- the two romantic interests in Cat's life. I don't remember much mention of either in book 6, either, so it will be interesting to see what's up for Cat in the romance department as I move forward in the series.
This book was first published, I believe in 1994, so still before the age of the internet and the smart phone. As I've noted before, it is interesting to me to imagine how the plot might have been altered if today's technology were available when the book was written.
Quick and fun read.
September 18, 2008
HARD CASE - G
D'Amato, Barbara - 5th in Cat Marsala series
Chicago freelance journalist Cat Marsala is investigating teamwork at a hospital trauma center when Dr. Edith Crosstant, Director of Trauma Services, is murdered, possibly by a "teammate".
It was enjoyable but I'm worried that these are getting a bit light for me.
D'Amato, Barbara - 5th in Cat Marsala series
Chicago freelance journalist Cat Marsala is investigating teamwork at a hospital trauma center when Dr. Edith Crosstant, Director of Trauma Services, is murdered, possibly by a "teammate".
It was enjoyable but I'm worried that these are getting a bit light for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews