Past Pretense

Patricia Delaney #2

by Sharon Short

Investigating an unusual request to learn the truth about her client's own past, Patricia Delaney learns that the woman is actually an old friend and former stripper for Poppy's Parrot, an Ohio River club. Original.

225 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 31, 1994

About the author

Sharon Short is the author of sixteen published books.

Her newest, Trouble Island, is historical suspense and will be published by Minotaur Books on December 3, 2024.

As Jess Montgomery, she writes the historical Kinship Mysteries set in the 1920s and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff.

Sharon is a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest, for which she writes the column, “Level Up Your Writing (Life)” and teaches for Writer’s Digest University.

She is also a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio).

When not writing, Sharon enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, swimming, and occasionally hiking.

Reviews

[Charles Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Private investigator Patricia Delaney is hired by Gigi Lafferty to take on an unusual case – Lafferty, after having called Delaney and asking her to investigate her husband to see if he’s cheating, arrives late for their appointment and announces that she actually wants herself investigated. An expert in using the computer to ferret out information, Delaney reluctantly takes the case. She finds nothing unusual, but when she finds Lafferty murdered at her house, she learns that her client is actually an acquaintance from her past – Loretta King, a former exotic dancer at a club where Delaney had worked as a dancer. Unfortunately, the police suspect her as the killer, and she now has to prove her own innocence.
Past Pretense by Sharon Short is a spellbinding tale of murder, intrigue, and secrets that I received a free copy of in exchange for an unbiased review. I found myself totally captivated from page one, and couldn’t put it down until the end. Short is a master at weaving a tale of suspense, with rich description of people and places that draws the reader into the world she’s created. Her use of the third person enables us to see everything that’s going on, but she skillfully plants clues that force the reader to pay careful attention. I found myself rooting for Delaney from the outset, captivated by her merging of computer skills with good, old-fashioned gumshoe work, as she sets about not only solving Lafferty’s murder, but as she delves into her own past to solve an old crime that she’d long since forgotten.
Past Pretense sets a new standard for the genre, and I look forward to Short’s next offering

[Tony Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

1993, Cincinnati, OH; Gigi Lafferty (wife, former exotic dancer, aka Loretta King, Regina Marie Neumann) made an appointment to see Patricia Delaney (investigative consultant, PI, former bouncer, eGumshoe).

She was late for the appointment. It was not your usual request for a private investigator. Gigi wanted Patricia to investigate her past.

Gigi & husband Neil Lafferty who owns Lafferty Products (organic household, personal roducts) lived in the Maplewood Estates (8563 Montgomery Crossings Boulevard). They of course belonged to the Maplewood Country Club.

Neil had an ex-wife Belinda Sue Jamison Lafferty. They had 1 son Allen Lafferty (IT) who worked for dad, & lives with them on occasion.

So far Gigi’s background was squeaky clean. Case closed. Or was it?

Gigi & Patricia met at Gigi’s house to come to terms of the original contract (information/fee).

Patricia arrived to find a dog running loose, the front door open & Loretta King lying on the floor. Jessica Taylor (Lafferty Products, IT) had drowned in the pool.

Detective Nancy Grey (Montgomery PD) & Detective Jack Rubrick (Montgomery PD) interrogated Patricia.

Jay Bell (band, Queen of the River) is Patricia attorney.

The 2 Detectives came to visit with Neil. Gigi past was spelled out for him. Patricia goes to see Joey Poppy Jones all the girls’ former employee Poppy’s Parrot (strip club). He now runs Sacred Light Sanctuary of Hope (homeless shelter/worship hall).

Previously; low/behold out of nowhere Patricia gets a call from a female. They are to meet Thursday night at 10P.M. at Yeatman’s Cove Park near Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati Reds).

Why was Jessica Taylor really killed?

Patricia Delaney continues her investigation. What will she uncover?

CD player (stereo), computer diskette CD-ROM disk, answering machine & .50 cents for a cup of coffee wow how quickly times/technology change.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written murder mystery crime-filled book. It was very easy to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make great crime movie, or mini TV series. 1 you must read to the very end. For the doggie & kitty lover. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free book (Smashwords)
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

PAST PRETENSE (PI-Patricia Delaney-Ohio-Cont) - G
Short, Sharon Gwyn - 2nd in series

From Fantastic Fiction: Investigating an unusual request to learn the truth about her client's own past, Patricia Delaney learns that the woman is actually an old friend and former stripper for Poppy's Parrot, an Ohio River club.

A short, enjoyable read. Liked that it was set in Cincinnati, which is unusual. Very light; maybe too light.

[Twilightwatchers · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the technology is dated in the book, the underlying problem, greed is timeless. The protagonist is a very well written strong, witty, smart detective with emotional trauma issues. The change of P.O.V. seemed a little lacking and unnecessary for the story to progress.

Overall a good story, liked the characters and would recommend for a light read.

I received this book free for a review from Story Cartel.

[Elsbeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthy sequel to Angel's Bidding: A Patricia Delaney Egumshoe Mystery. I loved it just as much!
Thank you, Sharon Short, for sharing this!

[Cynthia Pauwels]

Patricia is my kind of 'investigative consultant.' I get a kick out of reading about her high-tech computer work as I realize how far we've come in just a few short years.

[Michiko Katsu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Past Pretense is based on a hackneyed plot where someone’s past comes back to haunt them and in their attempt to undo what can’t be undone they are..well…undone. Added to the overdone plot, Past Pretense doesn’t deliver on anything that hasn’t been done and redone a million times before. This is also an update to the original published in 1994 and the antiquated computer references make that obvious. Given there is no value to keeping the old references, Short would have assisted its re-release with updated references and reduced the feeling of the story being unnecessarily outdated.
Gigi Lafferty wakes with a start as a dream of being chased pulls her from her marital bed, one that is not made of love and reassurances but rather a gilded cage of security and control. From the beginning, the relationship between Neil and Gigi is forced and uncomfortable. Short does a good job of creating a character, in Neil, whom you know cannot be trusted.
Neil is cold and calculating as he positions his self-made fortune from Lafferty Products into a political future in the Cincinnati area. Gigi was an affair which preempted his divorce from the mother of his one and only son, Allen, a once potential Olympian in swimming who now works for him and is later revealed to be gay and having an affair with Gregory who also works for Lafferty Products.
Gigi seeks out Patricia Delaney who is an Investigative Consultant, a title to which she makes special note on multiple occasions, which is different than a Private Investigator although there really doesn’t seem to be any difference. Gigi wants Patricia to do a background check on her to see what she can find. The two women knew each other years ago when Gigi, then called Loretta King, was an exotic dancer and Patricia, a bouncer, worked at a place called Poppy’s Parrot.
Patricia eventually remembers she knew Gigi but only after she goes to her house to collect on her services only to find it ransacked and a dead girl floating in the pool. She jumps in thinking it’s Gigi only to find it’s Jessica, a secretary-type who worked at Lafferty Products and was having an affair with Neil. She also used to work at Poppy’s Parrot and turns out to have been blackmailing Gigi and Allen.
Patricia does not immediately call the police but instead searches the house for clues as it appears that Gigi took her stuff, some money and fled the scene. When she does finally call the cops she becomes a suspect because of her past and present relationship with Gigi.
The addition of the police serves no purpose. No part of their investigation is revelatory and if they were taken out of the story completely nothing would suffer. Even as a suspect, Patricia is at most questioned by an unjustifiably angry rookie and his more matronly senior partner whom Patricia exchanges information with from time-to-time but always as supposition and innuendo.
There’s a romantic pseudo sub-plot between Patricia and Dean who owns the bar where she plays drums. She had a fiancé who committed suicide which keeps her from getting into another relationship but as with the inclusion of the police, serves no purpose but a distraction from the main plot. The purpose of a sub-plot is to enhance or in some way merge into the primary plot in a way that serves a key purpose but this feels as if it’s just meant to underline her heterosexuality. Given the homosexual relationship between Allen and Gregory is a key plot point later revealed, it might have been to provide balance or opposites in the story but if that’s the case it was not executed well.
There are so many holes in the story it’s hard to believe anything after a while. Why doesn’t Gigi just tell Patricia who she is and leverage the favor she owes her right off the bat? Why the secrecy when it serves no purpose? If Gigi was so intent on getting away from her past then why did she go back to the same city where she danced? Jessica caught Gigi (then known to her as Loretta King) crying over the obituary of Eugene Neumann whom Gigi explained was the father of a friend. Is it even plausible, after fourteen years, that Jessica not only remember his name but somehow deduced that he was her father and Loretta King was an alias then tracked her down after being released from prison? Knowing Jessica is a convicted murderer, is she that “charismatic” that Gigi is duped into getting Neil to give her a job? The quetions go on and on.
Finally there is no closure. Yes, the bad guy is revealed but in such a ridiculous way it would be funny if it wasn’t done intentionally. The typical end-of-the-story reveal where the good guy gets the bad guy to reveal all the sorted details then escapes and uses the details against him is not only the way the story goes but is even called out, very specifically, by the bad guy as the stereotypical ending yet that is exactly what happens (“You want me to talk?...Satisfy the brave detective just before her demise, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to go? Satisfy the bad guy’s urge to brag. Then the detective finds a way out. I’ll talk. But you’re not finding a way out…”).
After that the story just ends. There are multiple open and unanswered questions yet Short doesn’t seem to feel as if they need to be answered. What happens to Gregory? Does Patricia keep her promise to Jessica’s grandmother? Just like the story, there are more questions than answers.
The most frustrating part of the entire book is the poor to completely non-existent editing. Words are misspelled, punctuation is missing and misused, sentences stop on one line then pick up on another, multiple characters’ dialogue are in the same paragraph. Considering this is supposed to be an updated version of the previous, it’s unclear what, if anything, was updated. Even a basic word processing package (although a highly inadequate book editing tool) would have caught many of these problems.
Given there are so many other, better, options in the mystery/suspense category, Past Pretense is better left in the past with or without the pretense.
I received a free copy of this book through Story Cartel for an unbiased review.

[Edythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Past Pretense is a novel set in the 1990’s and begins with a nightmare that awakens Gigi Lafferty in the early hour morning remembering an appointment with PI Patricia Delaney who is someone from her past days as an exotic dancer. Gigi is being threatened with exposure of working at Poppy’s Parrot under the assumed name of Loretta King and needs Delaney’s help to find information another person might get hold of regarding her past life without alerting her husband Neil . Gigi goes to Delaney’s office expecting to be recognized but is relieved that the PI has no idea as to her real identity and contracts her services.

Patricia is an ex-bouncer from Poppy’s Restaurant turned private investigator and wonders about Gigi’s unusual request and feels there is something familiar with Gigi’s personality and characteristics.

Jessica is Gigi’s friend from Poppy’s Parrot who lands employment with Neil Lafferty’s company only to discover embezzlement and fraud deciding to blackmail the responsible parties causing danger to Gigi, Patricia, and herself.

Past Pretense has a good story line and plot with a few surprise twists and turns that usually does not happen in crime dramas, which created suspense and mystery. The only drawback was the superfluous descriptive thoughts and narrative without dialogue causing a break in anticipation of the novel’s next actions. I recommend to amateur book sleuths in the genres of mystery, suspense, and crime drama seeking a good read for an easy afternoon on a lazy weekend.

I received this book free from the Story Cartel reviewer program in exchange for an honest opinion in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story, even if somewhat dated - although it's humorous today to read about modem speeds and what an emoticon is. But the book is good enough that its age doesn't detract from the tale itself.

Ms. Stone's writing is a little flat at times, but her characters are interesting people and the plot believable. As in real life emotions and gut-level decisions get in the way of logic and intellect, resulting in both good and bad choices made by almost all of the characters. This installment in the Patricia Delaney 'egumshoe' series focused more on the search for a murderer and less on her personal life, except where it became a major part of the plot - no spoilers, but Patricia's past is an important part of this story. It was a very nice way to keep the reader involved with the character without detracting from the flow of the investigation.

I was not terribly surprised to find out who the murderer was; I had read between the lines when the foreshadowing took place. As it was subtle I think most readers will not pick up on the clues right away and may have a harder time figuring out the mystery.

Recommended as a quick, easy read when you want to be entertained and just a little bit challenged.

I received a free copy of this book from "Story Cartel" in exchange for this review.