Saturday, February 6, 2010

Deadly Dues


Have you paid your dues? Lulu Malone's are paid-in-full, but that doesn't exempt her from greater hassles with Stan Pope, her repulsive union representative.

Linda Kupecek's new character in the annals of crime fiction will steal your heart from the first page of Deadly Dues. Clear space on your shelf for Lulu and her friends to reside when you want a break from the heavy noir/thrillers that are abundant in the current crime fiction scene.
This is a delightful caper filled with sly allusions to our current culture, which will have you laughing out loud. It is a world of label fashion where no actress can step out her door unless she is well shod, even if her shoes are bargain purchases from thrift and consignment shops. Lulu's condo (bought when she was in the money) is furnished in the same style, which now in her reduced circumstances she is slowly selling off to meet the cost of living until the next break comes along.
Lulu and four friends receive a call from Stan to meet to resolve their differences. When they reach his HAMS (Honourable Association of Minstrels and Singers) office, someone has been there before them and ended their controversy by knifing Stan in the back. Where he had planted his own invectives in theirs. This crew does not want to acknowledge they were near that office as they each had a motive for eliminating the decreased. They exit the scene, flee, and reconvene at Murphy's to plot their next next course of action.
For Lulu it gets worse as thugs and killers invade her home demanding "a key," but taking her dog. Bodies appear in Lulu's home, but Stan's body disappears. Who killed him and removed his body? Who is master minding the attacks on Lulu?
A girl can't even shop the mall without getting mauled.
Lulu Malone and her quirky actor friends are an excellent group to fill the shoes of the late Charlotte MacLeod and Donald E. Westlake in the realm of humorous mystery fiction. Lulu's next adventure is Trashing the Trailer.
Linda Kupecek is a Canadian author, a retired actress with a slew of credits to her name and she knows the world of which she writes.
Her books: Deadly Dues, Rebel Women: Achievements Beyond the Ordinary, Rebel Cook; Entertaining Advice for the Clueless and Fiction and Folly for the Festive Season are available on Amazon.
Deadly Dues is worth the purchase price of $9.95, it will last longer than Lulu's job at McDonald's.
Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like fun -- I've put it on my reading list. Thanks, Irene.
    Llyn K.

    ReplyDelete