DIVA (A Frank Renzi mystery) [Kindle Edition]

Susan A Fleet (Author)

Book Description

Murder, music and sexual obsession in New Orleans.
Vol. 2 in the Frank Renzi mystery series.

Beautiful and talented, Belinda Scully wants to be a star. But fame can be dangerous. Fourteen months post-Katrina, an armed ex-military man is after her. This ruthless stalker will do anything to have her: blackmail, kidnapping, even murder.

When Belinda rejects him, he vows revenge. After kidnapping her, he terrorizes her in a vacant Katrina-ravaged house. Will NOPD Detective Frank Renzi find the feisty flutist in time?

A stalker, a kidnapping, revenge and murder. DIVA has it all. See the devastation Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans. Experience the fear of a talented teenaged jazz saxophone player badgered by drug dealers. Travel to London with Belinda where she plays a solo concert.

The Premier Book Awards named Fleet's first thriller, ABSOLUTION, Best Mystery-Suspense-Thriller of 2009.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Great character development by the author as persons of all levels of society are depicted very well. Music lovers will enjoy how thoroughly Fleet develops specific things about the music world. Best of all, there is a really good story here--if you can call a stalker good--that will keep readers on their toes. DIVA is a very suspenseful book!" -- Feathered Quill Book Reviews

"Fleet subtitles her new killer thriller a novel of psychological suspense. That's an understatement. Diva brings back homicide detective Frank Renzi and centers on a lethal stalker. The dazzling object of his sexual obsession is a talented beauty [and] her all-consuming hunger for fame goes well beyond ambition. None of which means she deserves to be raped and slaughtered. Will Renzi be able to keep that from happening? Fleet takes the answer down to the wire. -- Jan Herman, author of A Talent for Trouble: the Life of Hollywood's Most Acclaimed Director William Wyler

About the Author

During her successful career as a Boston-area trumpeter and music professor, Susan Fleet discovered her dark side and began writing crime fiction. New Orleans is the setting for her award-winning Frank Renzi mysteries, Absolution, Diva and Natalie's Revenge. The Premier Book Awards named Absolution Best Mystery-Suspense-Thriller of 2009.
Susan lived in New Orleans for nine years, enjoying the marvelous music, food and ambiance of the French Quarter. She now divides her time between the Big Easy and Boston. Visit her website and send her an email. She'd love to hear from you! susanfleet.com

Susan's other passion is promoting talented women musicians. While teaching at Brown University and Berklee College of Music, she created a course about female musicians, jazz and classical. Read about some of these talented women at archives.susanfleet.com/

Product Details

• File Size: 734 KB
• Print Length: 284 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1257802801
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Music and Mayhem Press; 2 edition (August 2, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0056ASYCU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,877 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo for Diva! October 8, 2011

By Bruce Hopkins

Format:Kindle Edition

Diva is another fast paced, exciting mystery from the writer of Absolution, Susan Fleet, one of today's top story tellers. Again featuring Detective Frank Renzi, a post-Katrina New Orleans cop, this story deals with Belinda Scully, an international virtuoso flute soloist who is being stalked by a psychotic serial killer.
Well developed characters as well as a wonderful sense of place are some of the outstanding assets of this book. You feel that you really experience New Orleans in the same kind of way that you feel about Robert B. Parker's Boston.
I found myself reading it slower and slower by the end of the book in order to stretch it out. That it something I rarely do - only when I really enjoy a book. Highly recommended!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A long way short of a quality read. August 2, 2012

By Book Reviews Plus

Format:Kindle Edition

Set amidst all the colour, squalor and courage of post-Katrina New Orleans. An attractively rumpled hard-boiled and all-heart detective. A beautiful young musician stalked by a vicious obsessive. Right from the start you can see it isn't going to be pretty.

It's not. And I'm not talking about plot development here. Diva is a long way short of a quality detective genre read.

Fleet's characterisation is hugely let down by stock descriptions trotted out repeatedly. All her characters have dark secrets. The women are all referenced by the colour of their eyes. Under pressure, the men's guts roil and and churn. All of them. Every time. Stomach-churning. And not in a good way.

Dialogue founders weakly and action is delayed while characters lock gaze (here we go with those eyes again) and mutually assess physique. Fleet needs to make up her mind whether this series is a romance with thrills or a thriller with frills. It's not doing either well. Police procedural detail is sketchy and sex that might be about to be satisfying for someone is inevitably and repeatedly interrupted by news of another murder.

Diva eventually lights a few twigs in the fire-fight of the final chapters. But it's been a long and implausible haul and I won't be back in Detective Frank Renzi's New Orleans any time soon.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Page-Turner!! February 19, 2012

By A Very Merry Shakespeare

Format:Paperback

Taking place in the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, readers find themselves in New Orleans surrounded by the worst that nature had to offer - not even thinking about the worst that `man' had in store, as well. Belinda Scully is a multi-talented flutist who is at the top of her game. Literally, she finds herself in a luxurious world, where she's now a part of international performances, bringing her talent across the globe. While performing in London, an admirer approaches Belinda who seems to be far more than just a fan. (Think of all those frightening teenage girls on the news when Robert Pattinson gets out of a limo - you'll know what I mean.) Belinda's `fan' will not leave her alone, and being the diva that she is, she (not gently) ignores him when he attempts to thrust a business card into her hands and warn her that she will need protection during her globe-trotting travels

While this captivating storyline is going on, there is yet another. A homeless teen by the name of Chantelle, and her jazz-musician boyfriend, have found themselves in a drug deal gone wrong; a policeman is shot and a hostage meets her demise. Attempting to protect the young girl, New Orleans Police Detective, Frank Renzi, hides her in a home where the drug dealers can never find her. Unfortunately, Chantelle takes it upon herself to make a choice she can not un-make. Escaping from the home, she goes back to her boyfriend, and soon a drug lord is on her tail.

When these two stories come together, people, the fireworks ensue. The plot moves quickly, but easily - and never once confuses the reader with any mindless jargon. The characters are compelling, even if a bit `witchy' at times, and even the music world is highlighted to a perfect `T.'

Absolution was the first - Diva is the second - and I can not WAIT to see what's in store for us with the third! This is one writer who gives the `Big Six' in publishing a new, fresh voice to listen to, and seeing her on the bestseller list very soon will not be a surprise. Enjoy this one!

Until Next Time, Everybody.
Amy

More About the Author

Midway through her successful career as a professional trumpeter and music professor, Susan Fleet discovered her dark side and began writing crime fiction. New Orleans is the setting for her award-winning Frank Renzi mysteries, Absolution, Diva and Natalie's Revenge. The Premier Book Awards named Absolution Best Mystery-Suspense-Thriller of 2009.

Susan lived in New Orleans for nine years and now divides her time between the Big Easy and Boston. Visit her website and send her an email. She'd love to hear from you! http://www.susanfleet.com

Her other passion is promoting talented women musicians. While teaching at Brown University and Berklee College of Music, she created a course about female musicians, jazz and classical. Read about them at http://archives.susanfleet.com/

Susan also blogs about crime on DARK DEEDS: serial killers, stalkers and domestic homicides. http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_1.php
And don't miss RENZI'S RANTS! NOPD Detective Frank Renzi rants about whatever is on his mind! http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/renzirants.php

Some of her favorite authors are: Lisa Gardner, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, John Sandford, Elmore Leonard, Thomas Perry and Martin Cruz Smith.