Synopses & Reviews
You want to know what deceit tastes like? It's sweet. Like honey. Charged with electricity. Laced with amnesia. It's why adultery will never go out of fashion, why sincerity fails, why sex with strangers is more fun than ever it ought to be. It is the very taste of old love reclaimed, which might be the sweetest deceit of all.
There's nothing easier or more dangerous than falling into bed with an old lover.
Especially when you're Victor Carl.
Once upon a time, Victor was engaged to a woman named Julia. She was beautiful and elegant and not the kind of woman to end up with a second-rate lawyer on the edge of insolvency. Victor always assumed she'd burn him, and she did.
Now she's back, trailing an expensive perfume that reeks of trouble.
Julia's husband has been murdered, her fingerprints are all over the crime scene, and $1.7 million in cash is missing. Julia is suddenly in desperate need of a fall guy. Is that why she turns up on Victor's doorstep on the night of the murder, with her lipstick fresh and her heels high? It's all enough to make Victor doubt the healing power of love.
But in Victor's world lust trumps reason seven days a week. As he reaches for his old lover, he convinces himself that Julia truly wants to make amends for the past, that they might have a future together, and that the Beatles were right all you need is love. Until two cops troop into his apartment and start fingering Victor for the murder.
Suddenly, Victor Carl, a man who has spent a lifetime making bad decisions for the worst reasons, is no longer fighting to rekindle a lost love. He's fighting to save his life.
Review
"Lashner's writing...is alternately elegant and lyrical (about love), cynical, tough, knowing, and even funny. This intelligent page-turner delivers not only great entertainment but also considerable insight into the human condition." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"The lively wit that's served to redeem Victor throughout this series (Marked Man, 2006, etc.) seems tired and forced here, leaving the reader to make do with a lovelorn shyster short on appeal." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A]s Victor muddles through, the humor keeps his seventh appearance appealing. Lashner's style fits some quirky niche between Carl Hiaasen's capers and standard legal thrillers and certainly brings Philadelphia to life. Recommended." Library Journal
Review
"Throughout A Killer's Kiss, Lashner does an excellent job of keeping the tone of his story light, even funny at times....Although ultimately very little hangs in the balance, there is something quite refreshing in that simplicity." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"[M]oves like lightning with an on-target plot that never slows down....[A] perfect mix of broad humor and a serious plot. Lashner's often irreverent approach to the legal thriller is a breath of fresh air as the author also brings in elements of the private detective novel." South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Review
"Lashner is incapable of writing badly, and the way that he has handled Carl's subtle deterioration over the course of several novels has been masterful." BookReporter.com
Synopsis
There's nothing easier than falling in love with an old girlfriend. That's what Philly lawyer Victor Carl finds out when he hooks up again with a femme fatale who's definitely bad for his health.
In the middle of the night, a knock on Victor's door can only mean trouble. Two cops invite themselves in, asking where Victor has been. They also ask him about a doctor named Wren Davis. Victor sends them packing. As soon as they leave, a beautiful woman steps out of Victor's bedroom, a towel around her naked body. "Who was that?" she asks. "The cops," says Victor. "What did they want?" she asks. "To tell me that your husband is dead."
Her name is Julia. She's ridiculously lovely. Women like her date athletes and marry tycoons. They don't hang out with second-rate lawyers on the edge of insolvency. But back in the day, Julia had agreed to marry Victor Carl. Then she deserted him, running off to marry a doctor. Now she's back and she's trouble with a capital T. Her husband has been murdered, Julia's incriminated, and there are big bucks at stake. Naturally, Victor is on the case.
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of Marked Man returns with this thriller featuring Victor Carl, "one of the genre's most compelling, most morally ambiguous characters" (Booklist).
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author William Lashner is the author of seven suspense novels that have been published in more than a dozen languages throughout the world. A graduate of the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, he lives with his family outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.