Due Diligence

“It is so easy to write a mystery or thriller that means little or nothing, that leaves no lasting impression in the reader’s mind. Therefore, it’s particularly delightful when someone such as William Lashner steps up to bat and blasts one clear out of the park ...” So writes first-time January Magazine reviewer Cameron Hughes in his obviously favorable critique of Lashner’s latest book, A Killer’s Kiss.

This generously twisted tale is the seventh outing for “greedy loser and professional reject Victor Carl,” a Philadelphia attorney (last seen in Marked Man, 2006). In these 336 pages, Carl must not only clear himself of suspicion in the murder of his ex-fiancée Julia Denniston’s millionaire, Chestnut Hill husband, but also stomach the “vile acts” Julia commits “on the way to saving her own skin.” Hughes remarks that he was particularly charmed by Lashner’s mining of his characters’ layers and his dexterity at keeping readers guessing. “Lashner challenges his readers to question seemingly obvious answers,” explains Hughes. “Carl finds that his own nice and neat solution to the millionaire’s murder isn’t so neat, either. As complications including Eastern European mobsters, a burned-out drug addict with the looks of a Greek god and a nearly 20-year-old high-school play and teenage romance gone horribly wrong all enter into this story, seemingly clear waters are made suddenly and deliciously murky.”

Read all of the review here.