Synopses & Reviews
Praise for Ellen Hart
“Jane Lawless and her trusty sidekick, Cordelia Thorn, are the most refreshing, entertaining, and cerebrally stimulating duo since Rex Stouts unbeatable combo of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.”
---Baltimore Alternative
“Pitting sib against sib in a deadly game, the fourteenth Lawless mystery gets highly dramatic.”
---Booklist on Night Vision
“Hart masterfully whips these intrigues together with her sleuths interesting nonmystery lives . . . to add a fine sauce to a hearty, Minneapolis-flavored mystery dish.”
---Rocky Mountain News on The Iron Girl
“Incorporating societal ills torn from the headlines, Hart bares the weaknesses in her well-realized characters as well as their strengths. . . . [A] spunky page-turner.”
---Publishers Weekly on An Intimate Ghost
Synopsis
Ellen Hart was named the 2017 MWA Grand Master, the most distinguished lifetime achievement award offered in the mystery community.
Joanna Kasimir, an old friend of Jane Lawless's, left town years ago to make it big in Hollywood. She succeeded, but stardom had a price. Early on, Joanna met a man who quickly went from being a dalliance to a stalker. A decade has passed since she sent him to prison, but just as she has returned to Minneapolis to perform at Jane's friend Cordelia Thorn's theater, Joanna receives one of his ominous calling cards.
Joanna refuses to let fear control her life---she can't. Not again. So she goes to Jane, restauranteur and amateur sleuth, for help. But can Jane protect her from a man who refuses to be anyone's one-night stand?
A deadly game of cat and mouse, Night Vision proves to be one of Ellen Hart's best mysteries yet.
Synopsis
Joanna Kasimir, an old friend of Jane Lawlesss, left town years ago to make it big in Hollywood. She succeeded, but stardom had a price. Early on, Joanna met a man who quickly went from being a dalliance to a stalker. A decade has passed since she sent him to prison, but just as she has returned to Minneapolis to perform at Janes friend Cordelia Thorns theater, Joanna receives one of his ominous calling cards.
Joanna refuses to let fear control her life---she cant. Not again. So she goes to Jane, restauranteur and amateur sleuth, for help. But can Jane protect her from a man who refuses to be anyones one-night stand?
A deadly game of cat and mouse, Night Vision proves to be one of Ellen Harts best mysteries yet.
About the Author
Ellen Hart, “a top novelist in the cultishly popular gay mystery genre” (Entertainment Weekly) and a Lambda Award winner, is the author of thirteen Jane Lawless mysteries and a series featuring food critic Sophie Greenway. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Reading Group Guide
1. How would you describe Jane Lawless? Is she as easy to understand as Cordelia Thorn? Do you think that was Harts intent?
2. Jane and David used each other as a beard in high school and college. That was over twenty years ago. Do you think this still happens today? Why? Why not?
3. Joanna has a moral dilemma. She can stay in the Twin Cities and do the show at the Allen Grimby repertory theater, fulfill her contract and her promise
to Cordelia - and be stalked, fearing for her life the entire time. Or she can break the contract so that she can go off and do a movie, break her promise to one of her dearest friends - and be more or less safe from her stalker for the time shes out of the country. What would you have done?
4. Was there redemption in this book? For any of the characters?
5. American writer Flannery OConnor defended her use of violence in fiction by saying that characters in violent situations are forced to discover their most essential selves. If thats so, what to you think Joanna learned?
6. Did you enjoy/dislike the way the past and present were woven together in this book?
7. Joannas feelings about Gordon seem to be clear-cut throughout the novel - until the end. How would you describe Joannas character? How did she really feel about Gordon?
8. Virtually all film stars have stalkers. Its just a question of of How many, how determined, and how disturbed they are. Is the price of fame worth it?
9. What can Cordelia do to get Hattie back? What do you think she will do?
10. Why do you think Joanna was so attracted to people who talked down to her? For example, Faye and Gordon.