Death Was the Other Woman by Linda L. Richards

Death Was the Other Woman: A Mystery
by Linda L. Richards
January 2008

Available formats:
North American hardcover
St. Martin’s Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books

Audio CD, Audio Casette, MP3 CD
Brilliance Audio

A large print edition will be published by Thorndike Press in May of 2008.

A reading group guide for Death Was the Other Woman is available here.

An excerpt of Death Was the Other Woman is here.

With writing so sharp you can almost taste the bootleg whiskey, feel the green baize of the gaming tables and the Detroit-steel pull of a car so big, you’d be tempted to sail it to Catalina, Death Was the Other Woman introduces a new heroine of the hardboiled: Kitty Pangborn.

“You’re about to meet a new great dame of crime fiction in Death Was the Other Woman. Linda L. Richards does a stunning job in creating a character with a voice and eye right out of a 1930s L.A. hard-boiled classic: guns and gams, booze and bodies, peepers and perps. Move over, Sam Spade: Kitty Pangborn is on the case.” -- LINDA FAIRSTEIN, author of Death Dance

As the lawlessness of Prohibition pushes against the desperation of the Depression, there are two ways to make a living in Los Angeles: join the criminals or collar them.

Kitty Pangborn has chosen the crime-fighters, becoming secretary to Dexter J. Theroux, one of the hard-drinking, tough-talking PIs that pepper the city's stew. But after Dex takes an assignment from Rita Heppelwaite, the mistress of Harrison Dempsey, one of L.A.'s shadiest -- and richest -- businessmen, Kitty isn't so sure what side of the law she's on.

Rita suspects Dempsey has been stepping out on both his wife and his mistress, and so she's asked Dex to tail her lover. It's an easy enough task, but Dex's morning stroll with Johnnie Walker would make it tough for him to trail his own shadow. Kitty insists she go along for the ride, keeping her boss -- and hopefully her salary -- safe. However, she's about to realize that there's something far more unpleasant than a three-timing husband at the end of this trail, and that there's more at risk than just her paycheck.

Richly satisfying and stylishly gritty, Death Was the Other Woman gives a brand new twist to the hard-boiled style, revealing that while veteran PIs like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe spent their time slugging scotch and wooing women, it may well have been the Girl Fridays of the world who really cracked their cases.

Advance Praise for Death Was the Other Woman

“Sharp, vibrant and crackling. One chapter in to Linda L. Richards’ sparkling 1930s Los Angeles mystery, Death Was the Other Woman, and we’d follow her smart, resourceful, spirited heroine, Kitty Pangborn, down any dark alley, any mean street.” -- MEGAN ABBOTT, author of The Song is You and Queenpin

“Linda L. Richards can grab her readers better than a slap in the puss or a slug from a forty-five. She breathes new life into the L.A. Noir genre with an array of fresh characters and stylishly seedy neon-lit dives. More importantly, she moves the gritty crime genre on in the form of Kitty Pangborn, a well brought up young lady who gets a crash course in the dark underbelly of the City of Angels. She may be a longsuffering PA to a less than successful PI, but Kitty is no kitten. She’s the broad with the brains, and readers will be left clamoring for more.” -- BRENDAN FOLEY, author Under the Wire, director The Riddle

“With crackling dialogue and bang-on authenticity, Death Was the Other Woman engrossed me in a terrific, compelling mystery. With memorable characters and settings, Richards manages to dig beneath the surface of Prohibition-era Los Angeles and give a sense of its historical context. A great read!” -- DANIEL KALLA, internationally bestselling author of Pandemic and Blood Lies

“Death Was the Other Woman propelled me straight into depression-era Los Angeles, a really stunning and exciting achievement. And the murder kept me guessing right to the page turning end. On top of that, the lively characters have walked off the page and now pursue me long after I’ve closed the book. A really stellar crime caper, a delight.” -- LOUISE PENNY, author of Still Life

“Reading Death Was the Other Woman was like stumbling across a long-lost and wonderful Orson Welles flick. It’s a pitch-perfect story of Depression-era LA that’s so damn good I recommend calling in sick to work and making a plate of sandwiches before you start reading, because you won't want to put it down for anything--including such petty concerns as food, drink, sleep, and oncoming Packards and locomotives.” -- CORNELIA READ, author of A Field of Darkness

“Kitty Pangborn, the narrator of Linda Richards’ winning new mystery, Death Was the Other Woman, is just what every underachieving, over-imbibing, minimally employed, and maximally hard-boiled PI needs: that is, a decent secretary.... Death Was the Other Woman is a first-rate, rousing new take on the Southern California detective novel. Let’s hope it's the beginning of a long series.” -- DYLAN SCHAFFER, author of I Right the Wrongs