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Ladykiller
In the city that never sleeps, evil is wide awake. From the bright lights of Times Square to the dark alleys of New York, the Ladykiller is at work and at prey. Four women savagely murdered on the mean streets of NYC. The Ladykiller leaves no trail, no clues. The pressure is on for NYPD detective Dave Dillon - either he solves the crime or he can kiss his job goodbye. When Dave joins forces with Megan Morrison, a beautiful young social worker, the search for a cold-hearted killer leads to a hot romance. But a host of forces threaten to intrude. Megan's jealous mentor would delight in derailing the romance, as would Jamie, a determined detective with her own not-so-hidden agenda. And Dave's shadowy past is never far behind. The clock is ticking for Dave and Megan. Will they close in on the shocking truth behind the crimes, or will it close in on them? In the world of the Ladykiller, passion can turn deadly in a New York minute.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published April 15, 2007
3 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Meredith Anthony
7 books17 followersMeredith Anthony is the author of the thriller HELLMOUTH (AuthorHouse) and LADYKILLER (Oceanview). Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and in PHILADELPHIA NOIR (Akashic). Her play, MURDER ON THE MAIN LINE, is in workshop. She lives in New York City with her fabulous husband, author Lawrence Light.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 1, 2008
There are evil people in this world and one of them is at work in New York City. Women are being murdered – viciously shot through the right eye. The NYPD detective on the case, Dave Dillon, cannot find anything they have in common. They come from different walks of life, different incomes, different jobs – but he knows there is a link he just has to find it and fast because more and more innocent people are being killed.
This case is going to revive Dave's career as a detective or be the end of it. He has some dark problems haunting him from the past in relation to his career. Dave has to prove himself with this case because his Chief is just waiting for him to fail.
The trail leads to a Crisis Center where Dave meets Megan Morrison, a social worker. Megan is enlisted to assist Dave in interviewing the victim's friends and family. Dave and Megan start going through files at the Center and interviewing clients while Nita, Megan's supervisor, is being extremely unfriendly and downright hostile putting more roadblocks in the way of the investigation than is reasonable in Dave's opinion. Is it jealousy? Does she know something she's not telling? Is it because she believes that patient records should be kept private? Or maybe she is just territorial?
Light and Anthony have created a super-charged thriller that has many intricate twists and turns along the way. The identity of the serial killer was the first surprise of many that keep the pages turning to an ending that shocks the reader. The characters are complex and multifaceted giving real life to the story line.
This case is going to revive Dave's career as a detective or be the end of it. He has some dark problems haunting him from the past in relation to his career. Dave has to prove himself with this case because his Chief is just waiting for him to fail.
The trail leads to a Crisis Center where Dave meets Megan Morrison, a social worker. Megan is enlisted to assist Dave in interviewing the victim's friends and family. Dave and Megan start going through files at the Center and interviewing clients while Nita, Megan's supervisor, is being extremely unfriendly and downright hostile putting more roadblocks in the way of the investigation than is reasonable in Dave's opinion. Is it jealousy? Does she know something she's not telling? Is it because she believes that patient records should be kept private? Or maybe she is just territorial?
Light and Anthony have created a super-charged thriller that has many intricate twists and turns along the way. The identity of the serial killer was the first surprise of many that keep the pages turning to an ending that shocks the reader. The characters are complex and multifaceted giving real life to the story line.
June 22, 2013
Ladykiller
“…42nd Street had no more hope of being cleaned up than a toxic waste dump.” The Times Square area and “the Deuce” (42nd Street) may be sanitized now, in 2013—but it wasn’t in 1991, when the events in Ladykiller take place.
Nor was the Deuce sanitized in 1979-80, when I lived in New York and got my timid kicks just photographing the area. Handgun possession is illegal in New York without a hard-to-get permit but you could window shop for shoulder holsters in the Deuce...in case, like, you moved out of state, or something. Yeah. Right. That’s it, Officer. I’m moving out of state.
The murderer in Ladykiller uses a .45 automatic, Model of 1911, US military issue from 1911 to 1985, and found in the hands of half the hardboiled noir characters who rolled off the pens of writers like Dashiell Hammett. Nice addition, that, to the ruthless style in which Ladykiller is written.
The writing voice in Ladykiller is a civilized third person voice, not the feral, urban male, first-person voice we know from the classics and from most contemporary noir. So, it’s extra creepy—this distanced, relatively civilized voice talking about the most horrible things.
I did not see the final twist coming at the end of Ladykiller and I loved reading this well-crafted book by a husband and wife team of two New Yorkers, Lawrence Light and Meredith Anthony, who know what the Deuce was like before the city finally swept it, well, relatively clean. And I liked it all the more for seeing what I believed to be the interplay, in the writing, of masculine and feminine detail.
“…42nd Street had no more hope of being cleaned up than a toxic waste dump.” The Times Square area and “the Deuce” (42nd Street) may be sanitized now, in 2013—but it wasn’t in 1991, when the events in Ladykiller take place.
Nor was the Deuce sanitized in 1979-80, when I lived in New York and got my timid kicks just photographing the area. Handgun possession is illegal in New York without a hard-to-get permit but you could window shop for shoulder holsters in the Deuce...in case, like, you moved out of state, or something. Yeah. Right. That’s it, Officer. I’m moving out of state.
The murderer in Ladykiller uses a .45 automatic, Model of 1911, US military issue from 1911 to 1985, and found in the hands of half the hardboiled noir characters who rolled off the pens of writers like Dashiell Hammett. Nice addition, that, to the ruthless style in which Ladykiller is written.
The writing voice in Ladykiller is a civilized third person voice, not the feral, urban male, first-person voice we know from the classics and from most contemporary noir. So, it’s extra creepy—this distanced, relatively civilized voice talking about the most horrible things.
I did not see the final twist coming at the end of Ladykiller and I loved reading this well-crafted book by a husband and wife team of two New Yorkers, Lawrence Light and Meredith Anthony, who know what the Deuce was like before the city finally swept it, well, relatively clean. And I liked it all the more for seeing what I believed to be the interplay, in the writing, of masculine and feminine detail.
February 4, 2013
I greatly enjoyed this story !! It's about a serial killer murdering women who seem to have no connection. A lot of the story is also based around the happenings in a Crisis Centre. Great characters and the story zips along with plenty of surprises along the way and a jarring ending.
Actually, it was a shocker and not an ending I had expected or wanted.
My only gripe was spacing !! There were a LOT of random gaps left in paragraphs for no reason and very often no spacing left after a fullstop. I don't know why that was but if you highlighted one word it highlighted the next too as it considered it just one because of the lack of spacing. It niggled me a lot hence the one star dropped. It also happened in conversations. Both people speaking in the same sentence and that made for tricky reading a bit too. Also Hawaiian was spelt properly a couple of times and then not a couple of times which is careless.
However, it's one I'd recommend for sure.
Actually, it was a shocker and not an ending I had expected or wanted.
My only gripe was spacing !! There were a LOT of random gaps left in paragraphs for no reason and very often no spacing left after a fullstop. I don't know why that was but if you highlighted one word it highlighted the next too as it considered it just one because of the lack of spacing. It niggled me a lot hence the one star dropped. It also happened in conversations. Both people speaking in the same sentence and that made for tricky reading a bit too. Also Hawaiian was spelt properly a couple of times and then not a couple of times which is careless.
However, it's one I'd recommend for sure.
December 10, 2008
I wrote this book with my husband, Lawrence Light. Hope you like it!
November 10, 2012
does make you think.. :DDDDD
July 26, 2019
The one thing that brings me back to this book again and again is the twist ending. I would have never suspected Megan is working with Nita as a killer but the way their relationship is built up throughout the book it makes perfect sense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2013
I wanted to like this book. I really did. But I couldn't finish it.
There is something call "suspension of disbelief" that one has to have in order to get the reader to let the author take them on the magical mystery tour. In this case, the author did shoddy research on social work vs. sociology. I spent almost 20 years in social work. It is not sociology. Sociology is an academic study of groups of people. Social workers work with individuals, rarely groups, and often in a therapeutic manner. The inability of the author(s) to distinguish between fields was a problem - had they not done it over, and over again I might have forgiven one slip.
I found the sexual tension/romantic interests stilted - the language stilted as well.
The initial casting of potential lethality on a variety of people was great. However, the lead social worker character was bizarre. She'd have been a nightmare to work with in a field where you need excellent teamwork. I just could not see her as screwed up as the authors made her while still being able to do her job and be a mentor, Nor would she have been a noted sociologist. (rolls eyes)
Adequate research is absolutely necessary. James Mitchner wrote wonderful stories because of his paid researchers. This story bombed (for me) because of lousy research. Too bad. It had potential.
There is something call "suspension of disbelief" that one has to have in order to get the reader to let the author take them on the magical mystery tour. In this case, the author did shoddy research on social work vs. sociology. I spent almost 20 years in social work. It is not sociology. Sociology is an academic study of groups of people. Social workers work with individuals, rarely groups, and often in a therapeutic manner. The inability of the author(s) to distinguish between fields was a problem - had they not done it over, and over again I might have forgiven one slip.
I found the sexual tension/romantic interests stilted - the language stilted as well.
The initial casting of potential lethality on a variety of people was great. However, the lead social worker character was bizarre. She'd have been a nightmare to work with in a field where you need excellent teamwork. I just could not see her as screwed up as the authors made her while still being able to do her job and be a mentor, Nor would she have been a noted sociologist. (rolls eyes)
Adequate research is absolutely necessary. James Mitchner wrote wonderful stories because of his paid researchers. This story bombed (for me) because of lousy research. Too bad. It had potential.
December 8, 2009
within 50 pages the reader is shown the identity of the killer. it's a bit of a switch from the typical recipe thriller writers use and i liked it.
the killer was a central character and with the mystery of the murderer's identity resolved, in terms of the reader, the story line was able to include things like the subterfuge involved in concealing the killer's identity from the other major players.
when you're going around shooting folks in the right eye, you don't want your buddies to know. that's just a general rule of thumb. seeing that integrated into the plot was interesting.
the killer lost their grip on reality, which is inevitable, i guess. and i was just wishing it didn't have to be, as i got close to the end of the story. because really i have always wanted, just for once, to see a bad guy not shake their fist at the end and blast those meddling kids in what amounts to a villainous meltdown - that moment where ALL MUST BE EXPLAINED.
i was thinking this ... just when the twist in the plot was revealed.
then: BAM!
actually, no, i should say: BANG!
surprise twist! and i went from merely liking the book to liking it quite a lot. it only took a page.
the killer was a central character and with the mystery of the murderer's identity resolved, in terms of the reader, the story line was able to include things like the subterfuge involved in concealing the killer's identity from the other major players.
when you're going around shooting folks in the right eye, you don't want your buddies to know. that's just a general rule of thumb. seeing that integrated into the plot was interesting.
the killer lost their grip on reality, which is inevitable, i guess. and i was just wishing it didn't have to be, as i got close to the end of the story. because really i have always wanted, just for once, to see a bad guy not shake their fist at the end and blast those meddling kids in what amounts to a villainous meltdown - that moment where ALL MUST BE EXPLAINED.
i was thinking this ... just when the twist in the plot was revealed.
then: BAM!
actually, no, i should say: BANG!
surprise twist! and i went from merely liking the book to liking it quite a lot. it only took a page.
October 30, 2025
a little slow at first, but a definite page turner by 2nd half. and wow, what an ending!
July 31, 2018
Good book
I read this book twice and I like it even more the 2 nd time. if your into mystery you will love th I s look... it keeps you on you toes the whole book
I read this book twice and I like it even more the 2 nd time. if your into mystery you will love th I s look... it keeps you on you toes the whole book
December 7, 2013
fairly quick mystery read, didnt see the twist at the end coming
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews