Beneath the Blonde (A Five Star Title) [Paperback]

Stella Duffy (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Five Star Title | Publication Date: September 1, 2000

"Beneath the Blonde, Duffy’s third novel . . . confirms without doubt that she’s very near the top of the new generation of modern crime writers."—The Times
When Saz Martin is hired to protect Siobhan Forrester, the sexy lead singer of Beneath the Blonde, an easy assignment turns into a murderous one. And, to further complicate things, Saz isn’t so sure she wants to keep her relationship with Siobhan strictly business.
Stella Duffy lives in London. Her other Saz Martin crime novels include Calendar Girl, Wave Walker, and Fresh Flesh, all published by Serpent’s Tail.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stella Duffy grew up in New Zealand, but returned to London fifteen years ago. She has written five Saz Martin mysteries and is also an accomplished playwright and stand-up comedienne.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852427116
• ISBN-13: 978-1852427115
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, July 12, 1998

By 

Kristen Greenaway ([e-mail]) ((a Kiwi in) New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beneath the Blonde (A Mask Noir Title) (Paperback)

Being a devoted fan of Stella's, I couldn't put this down and loved every minute of it! Her heroine is back on the sleuth trail in a tale that whizzes her from her home in London to the US and even New Zealand. And the finale is a ripper! If you don't get the reference to 'the tour', then let me know - I was there! As with her previous books, also fills a big hole in the well-written lesbian fiction scene.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes more is less, April 1, 2000

By 

"pingelmorgen" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beneath the Blonde (A Mask Noir Title) (Paperback)

The only way I can like this novel is by assuming its excesses are tongue in cheek digs at the degeneration of the lesbian crime novel into political uncorrectness. The detective heroine is "scarred" and a moral midget. She has no principles. For some unfathomable reason, her highly educated supportive and working lover is always sexually available. Our heroine is allowed to sleep around without being punished, something that usually doesn't happen in dyke crime. She doesn't solve anything, but Scoppetone's been doing that for years. She's just the paid witness to a "bizarre" tale anyone who has seen Ricki Lake would yawn at. But even though I never took the book seriously and could enjoy, at some level, its deviance from genre correctness, its stand on drugs irritates me. Any author presenting cocaine consumption as less damaging than it really is, is doing readers a disfavor. Read Redmann instead.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Blonde" is more Bomb than Bombshell, July 24, 2001

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beneath the Blonde (A Five Star Title) (Paperback)

I can't really recall why I picked this up, other than Duffy's name being vaguely familiar from the first in the "Fresh Blood" anthology series and a general interest in cutting-edge crime fiction from the UK. In any event, I soon found myself in a potboiler about a pop star siren who's been getting creepy messages and flowers from a person or persons unknown. Brought in to solve this problem is lesbian PI Saz, who's apparently still recovering from some kind of burn accident that has left her with terrible scarring from her midriff to her knees (I kept waiting for this to be explained, but it's apparently either the remnant of an adventure related in a previous book). Eager to get a little independence from her supportive girlfriend, she becomes a PA to the singer as a cover for her "investigation" and jet-sets around the world with the band as the plot thickens. I put investigation in quotes because she is there more as a entry point for the reader to watch the drama unfold than actually accomplish anything useful. The stalker tale depends greatly on a massive bit of misdirection which never really works because Duffy's narrative technique gives the game away rather obviously. She intersperses chapters written from within the stalker's head that both give backstory, and remove a lot of mystery. In fact, the real mystery is whether or not Saz will cheat on her girlfriend with the bombshell singer. By the end it's hard to care too much what happens as the murders that do occur have unrealistic consequences, and the band members engage in all the usual drugs -n- debauchery one expects in fiction. And between Saz's stupidity and own weaknesses, it's hard to care much about her either.