Synopses & Reviews
As a private investigator, Kathleen Stone relies on her ability to blend into the background. With a little help from the best wigmaker on the Atlantic seaboard, Kathleen can take on a variety of personas, from a posh real estate agent to a petulant teenage boy. She was once a valuable undercover cop for the New York City Police Department, but since her early retirement following a botched case, she has gone a little soft. These days, with the assistance of a street-smart drag queen, she mostly catches cheating spouses in flagrante. When one husband ends up not so much adulterous as dead, Kat must tune up her rusty skills to catch a killer. She begins investigating the upper echelons of New York, a city that can swing from glamorous to lethal in an instant. She soon finds herself stepping on the toes of her former best friend, Detective Ellis Dekker, as well as a sadistic kingpin she hoped to never see again. Not only do memories of Salvatore Magrelli's knife-friendly tendencies give her the heebie-jeebies, but his connection to the case makes Kat a possible suspect, too. She needs to move fast...if she is to avoid becoming the next victim.
Review
"Kathleen Stone is a private investigator well versed in the art of disguise. Her wigs, costumes and varied personae come in handy in the fight against a revenge-minded villain from her days in the NYPD." O Magazine (featured in 'Killing It: The Summer's Best Thrillers')
Review
" introduces a female private eye with Kinsey Millhone's bold-as-brass attitude, Jane Whitefield's genius at disguise and Stephanie Plum's enviable predicament of having two boyfriends. " Marilyn Stasio
Review
"At the start of this riveting crime novel from poet Wright, PI Kat Stone, a former NYPD undercover detective, discovers the dead body of Stephen Kramer, the unfaithful husband she's been tailing, in the men's room of an Upper East Side bar. When Kat begins to look like the most likely suspect in Kramer's shooting murder, Det. Ellis Dekker, who's in charge of the case and a friend of Kat's, vouches for her innocence and brings her unofficially into the investigation. After someone breaks into both her home and office, Kat begins to think that her former undercover activities might be catching up with her. Painful repressed memories start to surface that touch on the reason she resigned from the police force at age 25. A possible romance with Ellis adds to the intrigue, as does the appearance of a past lover. Readers will want to see more of the humorous, thoroughly engaging Kat." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Stone is an engaging character with a disturbing background that adds another layer to the mayhem. Wright is a little darker and not quite as over the top as Janet Evanovich, but aficionados of humorous mysteries like the Stephanie Plum series and the Lucky O'Toole series by Deborah Coonts will want to add this to their reading lists." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Wright's debut novel offers a promising start to a hard-boiled series featuring an idiosyncratic female PI whose quirkiness will appeal to fans of Linda Barnes of Karen Kijewski." Booklist
Review
"Erica Wright is such a wonderful writer, you'll be burning through the pages faster than a chameleon changes colors." Library Journal
Review
"A fast and funny private eye novel featuring Kathleen Stone, a kick-ass disguise artist who's a hoot under any name in any wig." Chris Grabenstein, Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of the John Ceepak Mysteries
Review
"Erica Wright's is a gift to devotees of classical private-eye novels as well as contemporary crime fiction." Parnell Hall, author of the Stanley Hastings mystery novels
Review
" is a fast, exciting read that mystery lovers will consume in huge gulps." Jim Fusilli, author of Closing Time, Narrows Gate, Road to Nowhere
Review
"A complex tale filled with humor and sharply drawn characters, Erica Wright takes the reader on a thrilling ride where confronting evil can scare you into hiding or help you come out of the shadows." Carolyn Haines, author of The Darkling and The Seeker
Review
" introduces us to a thrilling new hardboiled world. Wright has created a rich and nuanced protagonist, as well as a gripping plot, and she writes in a style agile enough to veer into surprising pockets of emotion." Melodie Johnson Howe, author of City of Mirrors
Synopsis
Kathleen Stone's ability to blend in makes her an ace private investigator, but when a cheating spouse she is tailing ends up dead she fears that someone from her past has seen through her disguises.
Synopsis
She begins investigating the upper echelons of New York, a city that can swing from glamorous to lethal in an instant. She soon finds herself stepping on the toes of her former best friend, Detective Ellis Dekker, as well as a sadistic kingpin she hoped to never see again. Not only do memories of Salvatore Magrelli's knife-friendly tendencies give her the heebie-jeebies, but his connection to the case makes Kat a possible suspect, too. She needs to move fast...if she is to avoid becoming the next victim.
Synopsis
As a private investigator, Kathleen Stone relies on her ability to blend into the background. Aided by her street-smart drag queen friend and the best wigmaker in New York City, she feels confident that her camouflage is up to snuff. But when a cheating spouse she's been trailing ends up dead under suspicious circumstances, she fears that someone she angered in her past job--busting gangs and drug dealers as an undercover cop--has seen through her disguises. Now she must work with her former colleagues in the NYPD to solve the case before she's the next victim.
About the Author
Erica Wright is a senior editor at Guernica Magazine. Her first novel featuring P. I. Kathleen Stone, The Red Chameleon, was published by Pegasus Books in 2014. Her interest in crime writing began while teaching at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, though she has also taught at Marymount Manhattan College and New York University's continuing studies program. Erica lives in Florida.