Fatal Cut [Hardcover]

Christine Green (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The only relationship the title of this book has to its plot is that the victim, Denise Parks, is killed in a beauty salon, suffocated with hair mousse while trapped in a Turkish bath. The two people who appear to gain the most from Denise's death are her boyfriend, Mike, and her sister, Jan; however, Mike has an ironclad alibi, and Jan is grief-stricken. The suspect list soon grows as Chief Inspector Connor O'Neill and Detective Sergeant Fran Wilson discover that the victim was hated by many because of her mother's back-alley business. An abundance of character flaws and a surprise ending make this a treasure for soap opera lovers. A quick, easy read recommended for large public libraries.
-Patsy E. Gray, Huntsville P.L., AL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Denise Parks was a thoroughly unlikable womana daughter so jealous of her late mothers memory that she insisted on keeping everything in the house she shared with her sister Janine exactly as Maggie Parks had kept it, a sister so spiteful that shed stoop to anything to drive off Mike Sanderson, the divorced car-salesman she didnt find suitable for Janbut nothing she did merited the painful, ignominious death she suffered when someone filled her mouth with hair mousse as she sweated helpless in her beauty salons Turkish bath. Now its Chief Inspector Connor ONeill and Sgt. Fran Wilson, of the Fowchester police, who are sweating as they try to pluck the killer from among Le Salons personnel. Since owner Dale Dunbar doesnt ask questions about his staffs private lives, there are plenty of secrets for ONeill and Wilson to dig up. The receptionist, the chief haircutter, his understudy, the beauticianall are hiding something. So are Jan herself, her mothers house, andwell, you get the idea. Sadly, most of these secrets are drearily commonplace; worse, too many of them remain red herrings with only a tangential relation to Denises murder, and to the murder that follows. Green extends her range by an obligatory sequence at a leather bar and a spot of decorous romance between her coppers, but fans of her Kate Kinsella mysteries (Deadly Partners, 1997, etc.) wont find much here to stretch their imaginations. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727854380
• ISBN-13: 978-0727854384
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,262,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fatal Cut, October 27, 2000

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Cut (Hardcover)

This is a very well written mystery novel and makes for very engrossing reading. Christine Greem does a very good job at depicting the various characters and their lives and miseries.

Denise Parks is a throughly unpleasant woman. She doesn't like men much and she definitely doesn't approve of her sister's latest boyfriend, Mike. In fact she seems bent on putting an end to that relationship and airs her disapproval at any given opportunity much to Janine and Mike's frustration and anger. Denise's one joy seem to be going to the salon for a beauty treatment, not only for the care but also because she loves eavesdropping on the gossip. She is then able to drop little barbed statments based on the gossip she has overheard to the person concerned, letting them know that she knows all their little foibles but passing it off as some mysterious power she has, rather than as gossip she overheard. Therefore it is no surprise to many when she is found murdered in the beauty salon. But which one of the staff or clients committed the crime? Definitely everyone has their own little secrets that they are determined to protect much to Chief Inspector Connor O'Neill and Detective Sergeant Fran Wilson's dismay. Connor and Fran find that delving into Denise's life, means stepping into a past that is horrorific and perhaps better left alone. And before this case is over, both Connor and Fran will discover more than they are comfortable with about a woman like Denise Parks.

What really made this novel was all the characters connected with the beauty salon. Christine Green gives us characters that are memorable for their strengths and weaknesses, and actually provides us with some rather nice resolutions for these characters by the novel's end. Quite often minor character/suspects are marginalised in a mystery novel, so it was refreshing to find these characters getting a little more attention than they are usually given.

This was definitely engrossing reading.