Flight Dreams: A Mark Manning Mystery (Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

Michael Craft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997 | Series: Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Hardcover) (Book 1)

Struggling to come to terms with his own homosexuality, investigative journalist Mark Manning sets out to find missing Chicago socialite Helena Carter, who vanished seven years ago and is about to be declared legally dead, with the bulk of her fortune going to the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Journalist Mark Manning accepts a dangerous challenge from his newspaper's publisher: he has 90 days to prove that a wealthy heiress missing for nearly seven years is alive or he forfeits his job. As Manning digs into the once-sensational case, the tension builds?between Mark and rival journalists (who believe the woman dead), between members of the local Catholic Church (which stands to inherit) and a dissenting sect in Arizona, and within Mark himself, who must come to grips with his true sexuality. A strong premise, nicely carried out, with easy prose and well-drawn characters mark this first in a series.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Craft's investigative-reporter-cum-(almost)-superhero may leave readers begging for another novel starring the same principals. Craft's Clark Kent (with a gay twist) is Mark Manning. He is a reporter for the fictive Chicago Journal as the story opens. His publisher gives him a deadline of less than 100 days to find heiress Helena Carter, who has been missing for seven years and is about to be declared legally dead. In the course of his investigation, Manning ends up ruling out the Catholic Church, Carter's butler (of course), her sister-in-law (who had an affair with Carter's dead husband), and the Federated Cat Clubs of America (only in a gay novel!) as culpable kidnappers. Amid all this sleuthing, Manning also deals with his latent homosexuality, has almost vengeful sex with a longtime female acquaintance, and falls in love with and makes love to a man. Two very happy endings won't exactly surprise readers, but getting to them is a lot of fun. Delightful. Charles Harmon

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books; First Edition edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575661748
• ISBN-13: 978-1575661742
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,535,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Story That Hits Home, August 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Flight Dreams (Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Paperback)) (Paperback)

Overall, the best part of Craft's novel is its ability to make the reader think about his past. All too often Mark Manning's experiences made me re-live episodes from mine (sometimes with laughter and sometimes with tears). Craft has made Mark Manning believable because he is so like the rest of us. Struggling with the same feelings and sometimes fears. Few books today are successful in doing this. Craft draws the reader into the minds of his characters so well, the reader doesn't know it until the last page is read, and then of course it's too late. You just have to find out what happens next to Mr. Manning and his new found love Neil.

But perhaps, best of all, when I finished the book I felt satisfied. Again, another rarity in today's mass produced fiction.

Great job Craft!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Series of the Genre, January 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Flight Dreams: A Mark Manning Mystery (Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

Michael Craft is absolutely my favorite author. Jump aboard for a great ride with this the first novel in the Mark Manning series. The only other series that ranks as high in my book is the Todd Mill series by RD Zimmerman.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensual and Engrossing, November 20, 2002

By 

R.Parklane (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Flight Dreams: A Mark Manning Mystery (Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

I love the Mark Manning series (6 books thus far). I have read the first four of the series and am eager to finish the two recently published ones, when I have uninterrupted time on my hand. To-date Flight Dreams remains my favorite. Mark is sensitive, mature and sexy. The mystery is fast paced and suspensful enough to hold the reader. Spiced with Mark's coming-out and the development of his relationship with the compatible Neil, the story is definitely more emotional and a notch above other gay mystery novels. I hope Mr Craft will continue with the series.