Back Stab (Francesca Vierling Mysteries)
by Elaine Viets
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elaine VietsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09-08
ISBN: 0440224314
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Dell
Book Reviews of Back Stab (Francesca Vierling Mysteries)
Book Review: Death Of A Friend
Summary: 2 Stars
Francesca Vierling, 37 year old columnist for the St. Louis City Gazette, didn't think anything could go wrong with her latest column, covering the Miss American Gender Bender Pageant for female impersonators.
There weren't any problems with the contest, except that one of the contestants, calling herself Maria Callous, a runner up the previous year, didn't show up.
Francesca wasn't too happy when her editor killed the column, deciding that gender bender beauty contests were not right for their paper.
Rita, a retired reader tips off Francesca about a murder of what appeared to be a transsexual prostitute. Rita wondered if this murder was connected to a previous murder of another transsexual prostitute.
Then Francesca hears about the murder of Burt, elderly owner of Burts bar a local landmark. Francesca had just been in Burt's Bar, with Ralph, a building rehaber who was also the source that managed to get her into the Miss Gender Bender contest.
Then Ralph ends up dead, dying from an asthma attack while working on a house, without any of his asthma breathalizers with him.
What is going on? Could these deaths all be connected? Mark Mahew, the detective certainly doesn't think so, but Francesca is determined to find out who killed her friends and who was the dead prostitute and did her death have anything to do with Burt & Ralph's death?
Highlights:
The mystery. The killer turned out to be a surprise, I had picked someone else out as the killer.
Mark Mayhew, the happily married detective who is a good friend, but trying to keep Francesca out of the crime proves a losing battle.
Marlene, the waitress at Uncle Bob's Pancake House, Francesca's favorite dining place. Marlene knows everyone and everything. Gives good advice, which Francesca never listens to and a great friend.
Humor. This book has some very funny moments.
Lowlights:
I didn't find Francesca a very likable person. She treats her boyfriend, Lyle Donnegan, college professor horribly. She had a terrible childhood, her mother ended up killing her father over his infidelities and then herself. I think some therapy would do her good.
St. Louis City Gazette Staff. Everyone from Hadley Harris III, managing editor, to Charlie and even Georgia, who Francesca considers her mentor are obnoxious, awful people. I wouldn't be friends with any of them. Francesca isn't friends with them either, but how you can work at a place where you hate everyone is beyond me.
The fact that Francesca, who has a talent, and could take her writing skills anywhere, would continue to work for this horrible paper with these horrible people, is one of the reasons I find her so unlikable.
Does everyone have to be quirky and eccentric?
Overall, not a very good book. But then I didn't like her first book in her Dead End Job series either, but the second book turned out to be great.
The writing is so good, that even with these problems, the mystery keeps you interested and makes you want to go onto the next book.
Summary of Back Stab (Francesca Vierling Mysteries)
BACK STAB is a mystery about the newspaper business--which has always been murder. Now someone is killing off readers, and the St. Louis City Gazette can't afford to lose circulation.Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling takes these deaths personally--reliable sources are hard to find--and Francesca's search for the killer takes her into the strange side streets of St. Louis, including a visit to the Miss Gender Bender Pageant, a beauty contest for female impersonators. Along the way Francesca must determine if her own blood soaked past is clouding her view of the future.
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