Love Kills: A Novel (Nan Vining)

Just finished Love Kills. What a great book! Have been a big fan since her first book. Nan and Jim are two of my favorite characters. I share her books with family and friends, and they love them as much as I do. The new one is already on its way to my daughter. Then, she will pass it on. Be a long time before I see it again! Dianne Emley's books provide the reader with many wonderful and exciting hours of reading. Now the long wait until the next one!

This was another great book featuring Nan Vining. When Nan's mother's friend is found in a pool, Nan leads the investigation. This was a thrilling ride with so many stops that I didn't want to get off. I can't wait to read the next book in this gripping series.

Diane Emley has written another winner in the Nan Vining series. The plot thickens and arrives at a tidy ending but still leaves a lot for the future.

"Speaking from personal experience, I don't recommend getting in touch with your dark side. Not healthy." - Nan Vining Pasadena Police Department Homicide Detective Nan Vining most definitely knows about the dark side. Two years prior to the events in Love Kills she was attacked by a serial killer in a vicious knife assault that left her scarred both physically and psychologically. While her physical wounds mended on their own over time, it took Nan going to a very dark place psychologically before she emerged feeling confident and free again, which is where we find her at the start of Love Kills, the fourth book in author Dianne Emley's Nan Vining series. And she's going to need every ounce of her rediscovered confidence to deal with the three death investigations that cross her path in Love Kills, as not only do they all appear to be linked to each other, but also to someone close to Nan. When Nan and her partner, Detective Jim Kissick, are called to the site of a Pasadena socialite's drowning, Nan is startled to realize that she recognizes the victim, Catherine "Tink" Engleford, a longtime friend of her mother, Patsy. Nan is even more startled when she goes to Patsy's apartment to inform her of Tink's death only to find two Los Angeles detectives already present and questioning Patsy... about two completely different deaths. It turns out that Patsy's most recent boyfriend, a sleazy private investigator to the stars, was found shot to death in a motel room alongside a young woman who had been stabbed to death. Complicating matters even further, charismatic self-help guru to the stars Georgia Berryhill appears to have links to all of the victims, as well as to Patsy. Given that Berryhill's Malibu Canyon compound is frequented by a virtual who's who of the rich and famous, none of whom welcome a police investigation with open arms, Nan has an uphill battle on her hands to get to the bottom of things. As with all previous entries in the series, Emley has given Nan and her partner a wonderfully complex puzzle to solve, one that even the most savvy reader of mysteries will be hard pressed to get out in front of. Emley has also served up a healthy dose of black humor in addition to the mystery, as Berryhill and her followers are obviously a wickedly funny poke at the Hollywood set and their fascination with flavor of the month gurus and trends. Emley's descriptions of Pasadena and Malibu are picture perfect, and the locales are a refreshing change of pace from the numerous detective series set in Los Angeles proper. Emley also continues to masterfully bring Nan to life in a way that rings true to the delicate dance a single mother engages in on a daily basis to balance job and family. She's a competent, take charge detective, yet very realistically can't quite seem to wrap her arms around her hectic personal life: a teenage daughter who's starting to rebel; a wonderfully supportive grandmother, who unfortunately seems to be heading into Alzheim

Dianne Emley has done it again . In her new book with Det. Nan Vining she as blended murder , suspense, humor ,and family together in story thats suspenseful and riveting. Nan has to deal with the murder of a friend of her mother's,plus the murder of her mother's boyfriend. Nan hopes she can solve the murders before she is pulled off the case because of family involvement. With her partner/lover Det. Jim kissick at her side Nan race to find the answers she needs to put a killer away. Once you start reading, you will not want to put the book down.