Dark Lady [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Richard North Patterson (Author), Patricia Kalember (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1999

Read by Patricia Kalember
4 cassettes / 6 hours

In Steelton, a struggling Midwestern city on the cusp of an economic turnaround, two prominent men are found dead within days of each other:  the general manager of the company that is building a new baseball stadium, the city's hope for the future; and the local drug dealers' attorney of choice.  In each case, homicide is suspected but not immediately provable; in each case, the character of the dead man seems contradicted by the horrific particulars of his death.  But Stella Marz--Assistant County Prosecutor, head of the homicide division of the prosecutor's office--is about to discover that these deaths are connected in less obvious, more insidious ways.  Her investigation will lead her into a terrifying, dizzying maze of corruption, greed, and murder, involving not only Steelton's dark history but also her own complicated, difficult past as well.  And the closer she comes to the truth, the higher and more personal the cost she will be forced to pay...

Richard North Patterson's uncanny dialogue, subtle delineation of character, and hypnotic narrative, have earned his comparisons to John O'Hara and Dashiell Hammett.  Now, in Dark Lady, he has created a woman as fascinating as her circumstances are frightening.  It is his signature work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dashiell Hammett, a master of big city crime fiction, would have enjoyed Richard North Patterson's latest thriller, set in a fictional Midwestern city called Steelton. This burnt-out burg is located on the shores of Lake Erie--and is a place bitterly divided by politics. The construction of a $275 million baseball stadium threatens to be Steelton's downfall rather than its redemption.

Arthur Bright is the prosecutor of Erie County, but he wants to become mayor. His campaign attacks the new ballpark as a boondoggle, "a shameful diversion of public financing from such pressing needs as better schools, better housing, and safer streets." His protégé, Assistant County Prosecutor Stella Marz is 38, ambitious, and has been dubbed "the dark lady" by various defense lawyers. If Arthur wins the mayoral race, she intends to become prosecutor herself. But two murders involving drugs and twisted sex threaten her future.

First, Tommy Fielding, the project manager for Steelton 2000 (as the new home of the Steelton Blues will be called), is found dead in the company of a hooker--both apparently having overdosed on heroin. The fact that Fielding was gay and had never used drugs before bothers Stella and Chief Detective Nathaniel Dance. Their worries are soon pushed aside by another, more shocking murder--Jack Novak, a defense lawyer, is discovered hanging from his closet door, castrated and dressed in drag. Jack was once Stella's lover--and he was also one of Bright's largest contributors. For Stella, the murders are too close to home. "Maybe this is about me. But I have to see it through."

Dark Lady is shrouded by the dark clouds of deceit and greed, and the sleek structure of Steelton 2000 dominates the landscape like a Dr. Frankenstein's Castle with luxury boxes. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Patterson's signature style of crime suspense depends heavily on the terse descriptive passages he uses to render settings and characters. This makes his work adapt especially well to audio, since the listener is constantly being told exactly what's going onAin adjective-laden language that has modern-day colorings of film noir and Raymond Chandler. (Accordingly, all eight of Patterson's previous novels are also available from Random House AudioBooks). Stella Marz is a politically ambitious Assistant County Prosecutor in Steelton, an American rust-belt city plagued by unemployment, racial division and rampant local corruption. Young, beautiful and forthright, Stella has earned the nickname "Dark Lady" as a ruthless law-woman. But she meets her match when she's assigned to investigate the grisly murder of her own ex-lover, an attorney for the town's drug dealers. Along the way, plenty of sordid sexual and violent acts are detailed, making for a sustained mood of grimy titillation. Kalember's (of TV's Sisters and thirtysomething) reading is crisply enunciated and tactfully understated. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover. Also available unabridged and on CD. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House Audio; Abridged edition (August 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375408290
• ISBN-13: 978-0375408298
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,175,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Books on Cassette > Nonfiction > Politics

More About the Author

RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON is the author of The Spire, Eclipse and fourteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Murder and Corruption in a Tired Town, January 28, 2000

By 

Coalpuss "coalpuss" (Winter Park, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Lady (Hardcover)

Like other reviewers, I was also disappointed with Richard North Patterson's "Dark Lady." When you can't be truly interested in the characters it is difficult to become involved in their lives. It took about half of the book for it to really get moving and even then it was too late, because we already knew what was going to happen. I personally am getting very tired of authors deciding to 'kill the cat' or the dog for that matter. I don't enjoy predictable books and this one didn't even begin to stretch my mind. I surely hope RNP will take some more time, if that's what it takes, to get back to his former stature. I did enjoy "No Safe Place" unlike the critics, but this one should not have been published, at least under his real name.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patterson has done it again, August 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

Dark Lady starts with a bang and never lets up. The crime is startling and complex,the legal atmosphere authentic. Patterson uses his trial lawyer's gifts to create a character in Stella Marz who seems to turn the pages by herself. Patterson again deals with real issues most writers shy away from. He never pulls his punches and Dark Lady is a knockout.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The fine line between cop and criminal, November 24, 1999

By 

Cityview (Des Moines, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Lady (Hardcover)

If you've read one of Richard North Patterson's previous suspense/crime novels (among them, "Silent Witness," "Eyes of a Child," "Degree of Guilt"), you know him to be a first-rate storyteller. His law degree guarantees fine details of prosecution. His experience as a fictioneer shows that every time he asks himself "What if?" he comes up with a stunning new plot line. Patterson has special talent for terse and telling dialogue. As real-life crime becomes more bizarre, crime writers must dream up more complicated and grisly narratives. Patterson succeeds here, too. The setting of his new novel is the fictional city of Steelton. Stella Marz, the narrator and heroine, is a determined lady who works her way out of a turbid working-class background and through law school to become an assistant county prosecutor, head of the homicide unit. The "Dark Lady" of the title, she's an intriguing female who can hold her own in an all-male enclave. Jack Novak, Stella's onetime employer and former lover, is first introduced as a mutilated corpse dangling from his closet door. He's wearing a garter belt, stockings and high heels. Next, an officer in the development company building Steelton's stadium is found dead in bed from a heroin overdose. He's got a needle in his arm and a dead prostitute at his side. What's particularly horrifying is that victims' lives and reputations do not match their modes of death. Political corruption in Steelton and deceitful colleagues in the homicide unit make Stella's self-appointed task of solving the two murders a formidable challenge. Let the squeamish reader beware: Patterson's novels are always hypnotic, with in-your-face situations that make you blink. On the other hand, fans of psychological/suspense drama will relish the good read Patterson always provides.