Dead Heat [Mass Market Paperback]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

He was dead tired, gasping for breath, with aching muscles, blistered feet, and the anonymous note clutched in his sweaty hand. At thirty-five, Michael Spraggue thought he d put sleuthing behind him to pursue an acting career at the Harvard Rep. Until ex-cop-turned-bodyguard Pete Collatos summons him into the race to track down death threats to his charismatic client, Senator Brian Donagher. The senator is determined to run in the Boston Marathon -- with Pete at his side. Until Pete dies on the killer course...

Suddenly Spraggue's off and running on a track teeming with contenders, up to his jogging shorts in dirty politics and deadly passions. But the closer he gets, the sooner each of his prime suspects hits a dead end.

Add a mysterious beauty with a motive for murder, a political kingpin with Mafia connections, and enough hot cash to grease the race to justice, and you have Linda Barnes at her cold-blooded best....

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

He was dead tired, gasping for breath, with aching muscles, blistered feet, and the anonymous note clutched in his sweaty hand. At thirty-five, Michael Spraggue thought he d put sleuthing behind him to pursue an acting career at the Harvard Rep. Until ex-cop-turned-bodyguard Pete Collatos summons him into the race to track down death threats to his charismatic client, Senator Brian Donagher. The senator is determined to run in the Boston Marathon -- with Pete at his side. Until Pete dies on the killer course...

Suddenly Spraggue's off and running on a track teeming with contenders, up to his jogging shorts in dirty politics and deadly passions. But the closer he gets, the sooner each of his prime suspects hits a dead end.

Add a mysterious beauty with a motive for murder, a political kingpin with Mafia connections, and enough hot cash to grease the race to justice, and you have Linda Barnes at her cold-blooded best....

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Dell (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440218624
• ISBN-13: 978-0440218623
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,101,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Detroit; I always say that's where I learned about crime, but I mean no disrespect to a great city. It's also where I learned to love Motown music and do the Stroll. Came to Boston to go to college, and like so many, stayed, awed by the Atlantic Ocean and accessible public transportation. I still love walking Boston's cobbled streets, riding the T, breathing the history.
I started writing while teaching high school theater. Required by my principal to enter a one-act play festival sponsored by the Boston Globe, I cast the play before I actually found it. I had such great students that year, and 12 of them certainly deserved to be in the festival cast. When I couldn't find a one-act with 12 roles (duh), I had to write one myself. The festival was a competition, and darned if we didn't keep on winning, right up to the state finals, where a man came up to me and asked whether he might publish that play. I said yes, wrote more plays, and then segued into crime fiction.
My first Carlotta Carlyle short story was nominated for just about every mystery award going, and the first Carlyle novel, A TROUBLE OF FOOLS, was nominated for an Edgar and a Shamus, and won the American Mystery Award. I've got a new book, the eleventh in the Carlyle series, coming out in May. It's called HEART OF THE WORLD. Check my website for upcoming tour details. For the rest, I'm married, mother of a teenage son, and currently proud to be president of Private Eye Writers of America.