What do you think?
Rate this book
Deadly Decisions: A Natalie North Novel
How does super sleuth Natalie North spend her days? Busting lying, cheating husbands. When she graduated with a master’s degree in psychology, she had grand ideas. With a photographic memory and a penchant for reading people’s actions, Natalie joins Norton North, her father, a retired LAPD police officer, in his private investigations agency, I Pry, Inc. Their specialty? Exposing adulterous husbands. Tired of aiding in the destruction of messy relationships, Natalie aches to work felony criminal cases, the grittier the better.
To all outward appearances, Blake and Vitoria Belmont portray an envious Beverly Hills power couple. When Victoria hires Natalie to catch the magnetic Blake Belmont, sole heir to the Belmont Beer fortune, with his billion dollar pants down, Natalie exposes his double life. She summons help from her best friend Crista Perales and her assistant, Amy Cobb, and attempts to stop the conniving Victoria from taking Blake for all he’s worth. Her goal? To prevent the breathing Blake from becoming a billion dollar corpse.
When Blake turns up dead, Natalie takes it upon herself to investigate the murder. Determined to solve the beer king’s homicide, Natalie’s competitive streak ramps up to an all-time high. She puts her detective skills to good use to crack the case before the Los Angeles Police Department beats her to it.
Natalie so aches to work murder cases that involving herself in one homicide isn’t enough. Her father accuses her of inventing murders so she can investigate and solve them. When Natalie hails a taxi and finds a gold bracelet and blood in the back seat, she suspects the driver, Alfonso Di Paolo, of being a hardcore crook. Unable to ignore her gut instincts, she snoops in his past and present, putting herself in perilous situations. Are her felony hunches on target or does she try to take down an innocent man?
Toss into the mix her complex relationship with her feisty Nonna Filly, and her attempt to manage two romantic interests, Darren McAllister, a Los Angeles County prosecutor, and Vincent Sherburne, an LAPD cop, and Natalie’s life becomes even more complicated. Can the gutsy PI juggle her many hats or does she jump in over her head?
To all outward appearances, Blake and Vitoria Belmont portray an envious Beverly Hills power couple. When Victoria hires Natalie to catch the magnetic Blake Belmont, sole heir to the Belmont Beer fortune, with his billion dollar pants down, Natalie exposes his double life. She summons help from her best friend Crista Perales and her assistant, Amy Cobb, and attempts to stop the conniving Victoria from taking Blake for all he’s worth. Her goal? To prevent the breathing Blake from becoming a billion dollar corpse.
When Blake turns up dead, Natalie takes it upon herself to investigate the murder. Determined to solve the beer king’s homicide, Natalie’s competitive streak ramps up to an all-time high. She puts her detective skills to good use to crack the case before the Los Angeles Police Department beats her to it.
Natalie so aches to work murder cases that involving herself in one homicide isn’t enough. Her father accuses her of inventing murders so she can investigate and solve them. When Natalie hails a taxi and finds a gold bracelet and blood in the back seat, she suspects the driver, Alfonso Di Paolo, of being a hardcore crook. Unable to ignore her gut instincts, she snoops in his past and present, putting herself in perilous situations. Are her felony hunches on target or does she try to take down an innocent man?
Toss into the mix her complex relationship with her feisty Nonna Filly, and her attempt to manage two romantic interests, Darren McAllister, a Los Angeles County prosecutor, and Vincent Sherburne, an LAPD cop, and Natalie’s life becomes even more complicated. Can the gutsy PI juggle her many hats or does she jump in over her head?
ebook
Published November 28, 2017
6497 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 10, 2021
‘So this exhibitionist stunt is old news?’ – welcome aboard a zesty thriller!
California author Nancy Mangano earned her BA degree in Communications and her AA in Criminal Justice and draws on the latter as she launches her new series Natalie North Mystery Series, of which DEADLY DECISIONS is the initial volume. Her previous novel, MURDER CAN BE MESSY, introduced the stylish Los Angeles super sleuth Natalie North in 2012. Nancy’s busy career includes fashion journalism, screenwriting, and her role as a beauty/fashion/style influencer.
The character and personality and sass of Natalie North are quickly established in the opening lines: ‘She sensed someone following her. Natalie glanced over her shoulder; nobody there picked up her pace through the full Beverly Center Mall parking structure, a Macy’s bag in her left hand, her purse strap slung over her shoulder, a loaded gun inside. Something’s off kilter. She slipped her right hand in her handbag, gripped a .38-caliber revolver. Up ahead she spotted a parked security cart. “Hey, miss,” a man’s voice said. Natalie wheeled around. A white male ran up, shaved head, trench coat. No pants, no shoes, black socks with coat unbuttoned, Oh boy, here it comes. “How’d you like some of this?” The idiot ripped open the coat, buttons popped off, his manhood ready to salute the flag. Natalie looked straight in his eyes, held a stare. This flasher messed with the wrong girl.’
It is rare for a central character to be so identifiable so quickly, but this degree of astute presentation is once of the many reasons this novel works so well. The plot is tight and well summarized by the author: ‘Super sleuth Natalie North is tired of catching cheating husbands with their pants down, then worse, having to report to the wives what they hired her to find out, photos and all. Quick on her feet and smart in her head, Natalie aches to use her training to solve real crimes, criminal cases, the grittier the better. When her client Victoria Belmont's billionaire husband is found dead, Natalie puts her life on the line to find the killer, determined to beat the Los Angeles Police Department at their own game. Toss in Natalie's unsettled love life, torn between Darren McAllister, a prosecuting attorney, LAPD officer Vincent Sherburne and a mysterious taxi driver, Alfonso Di Paolo, and explore what happens when betrayal, greed, passion and murder collide.’
In this initial installment of her series, Nancy Mangano establishes one fine female super sleuth who demands attention! Watch this lady soar!
California author Nancy Mangano earned her BA degree in Communications and her AA in Criminal Justice and draws on the latter as she launches her new series Natalie North Mystery Series, of which DEADLY DECISIONS is the initial volume. Her previous novel, MURDER CAN BE MESSY, introduced the stylish Los Angeles super sleuth Natalie North in 2012. Nancy’s busy career includes fashion journalism, screenwriting, and her role as a beauty/fashion/style influencer.
The character and personality and sass of Natalie North are quickly established in the opening lines: ‘She sensed someone following her. Natalie glanced over her shoulder; nobody there picked up her pace through the full Beverly Center Mall parking structure, a Macy’s bag in her left hand, her purse strap slung over her shoulder, a loaded gun inside. Something’s off kilter. She slipped her right hand in her handbag, gripped a .38-caliber revolver. Up ahead she spotted a parked security cart. “Hey, miss,” a man’s voice said. Natalie wheeled around. A white male ran up, shaved head, trench coat. No pants, no shoes, black socks with coat unbuttoned, Oh boy, here it comes. “How’d you like some of this?” The idiot ripped open the coat, buttons popped off, his manhood ready to salute the flag. Natalie looked straight in his eyes, held a stare. This flasher messed with the wrong girl.’
It is rare for a central character to be so identifiable so quickly, but this degree of astute presentation is once of the many reasons this novel works so well. The plot is tight and well summarized by the author: ‘Super sleuth Natalie North is tired of catching cheating husbands with their pants down, then worse, having to report to the wives what they hired her to find out, photos and all. Quick on her feet and smart in her head, Natalie aches to use her training to solve real crimes, criminal cases, the grittier the better. When her client Victoria Belmont's billionaire husband is found dead, Natalie puts her life on the line to find the killer, determined to beat the Los Angeles Police Department at their own game. Toss in Natalie's unsettled love life, torn between Darren McAllister, a prosecuting attorney, LAPD officer Vincent Sherburne and a mysterious taxi driver, Alfonso Di Paolo, and explore what happens when betrayal, greed, passion and murder collide.’
In this initial installment of her series, Nancy Mangano establishes one fine female super sleuth who demands attention! Watch this lady soar!
October 21, 2024
To all the readers that enjoyed Deadly Decisions - A Natalie North Novel, thank you! I so enjoyed writing this book!
January 21, 2021
Natalie north wants a real case she works for her fathers private eye business called I-Pry and she is frustrated with the with the cheating spouse cases she has been getting. That is until she gets a client named Victoria Belmont. This woman really presses her buttons and not in a good way. Once you find what Victoria already knew was true that Blake Belmont is cheating she’s glad the case is over… That is until Blake is found dead. Will Natalie be able to solve the case or will she long for the cheating spouses cases she was used to. This book is so good, I absolutely loved it can’t wait for book number two and if you love mysteryS then you’ll be absolutely over the moon for this one and I haven’t even mentioned for Natalie‘s love life and that of her lonely divorced and semi-depressed father who owns the PI businessI-Pry. I highly recommend this book it is so so awesome!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews