Double Bluff

Carol Ashton Mysteries #7

by Claire McNab

TV star Madeline Shipley is being stalked, but is she really the prey of a psychotic fan? Investigating the suicide of businessman Hayden Delray’s wife, Carol receives threats that could be meant to lever her off the case. As she becomes more involved, the danger widens to include her family.

Genres: Lesbian, LGBT, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Queer, Lesbian Fiction

172 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

CLAIRE 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.

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

#7 in the Detective Inspector Carol Ashton mystery series. An apparent suicide of media mogul Tala Orlando and a crazed fan stalking Madeline Shipley are on the plate for Carol. While Sybil is still away and her relationship with Madeline bubbling over Carol has her hands full and that is just her personal life. Carol finds herself in the same position that Sybil was in, being the behind the scenes girlfriend, and she does NOT like it. As she tries to sort her feelings out for Madeline and Sybil she is feeling the pressure from the higher ups to close the case of Tala Orlando but Carol isn't convinced it is suicide at all or for that matter an accident like the family suggests. Found with tranquilizers and alcohol in her system Tala over taken by the noxious fumes of her car in the locked garage. As Carol investigates she finds that there are more motives than suspects and everyone seems to have had a reason to see Tala dead. As if Carol's nerves weren't frayed enough she now has to deal with the seemingly innocent stalker of Madeline Shipley. It started with love letters, then threats, then letters to others threatening action, then the active attacks. First it was acid in her car, then it was poison in her lunch, and then the stalker makes it even more personal for Carol as he not only invades her life and home he threatens the one person she loves the most in her entire life: her son David!! With no time to waste and suspects brimming over the edge of her too full cup, Carol must find out who the stalker is and she is becoming more and more convinced that the stalker and the murderer are one in the same, actually they may be a two in the same. Before the end, Carol will find her last nerve shaken only to find out that beyond the threats there is a truth that she cannot hide from anymore: is it Sybil or Madeline she wants to be with?

[Rick Dunlop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid mystery that was easy to read. There were > a dozen characters and the author seemed solid on character development and many were suspects. I wasn't sure in the end if the guilty party had the strongest motive but maybe it was just the greatest willingness. I did like the way Carol kicked some ass in the end. The toughness added to her character.

One question. I didn't figure out where the title came from.

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was intense... those stalker letters were quite something

[Wayne Spiceland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mystery/police procedural. Typical Inspector Carol Ashton fare. Solid enough mystery, and, as usual with McNab, proficient, though uninspired writing. I'm really ambivalent about Ashton; i don't actively dislike her, but she's not particularly likable, either. As for her occasional lover Madeline Shipley, a self-centered and largely fake personality, I admit to taking an active dislike. Since Ashton's domestic partner, Sybil, is MIA for this particular entry in the series, Mark Bourke, Carol's police partner, and her aunt are the only characters providing any life to this otherwise pedestrian story.

[Freyja Vanadis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only real gripe about this book, and McNab's series in general, is the editing. Katherine V. Forrest is the editor, and she lets too many errors slip through. For instance, instead of saying "one and the same", she says "one in the same". I don't know if McNab made that error herself or if it was Forrest's faulty editing, but that's one mistake that's like fingernails on a blackboard to me.
But really otherwise, I enjoyed the book.