Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey [Hardcover]

Sandra Scoppettone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1998

Lauren Laurano, one of the mystery genre's most popular lesbian detectives, can get out of the big, bad city, but she can't take a vacation from murder--especially when it's camouflaged as suicide.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fans of the lesbian detective Lauren Laurano and her lover Kip will be thrilled to learn of the fifth book in Scoppettone's much-loved series. Here are the familiar wisecracks and the hard-edged New York humor, but in a new setting, a Long Island resort town where two of Lauren and Kip's close friends have just moved. Their trip to North Fork is supposed to be a healing, romantic vacation--Lauren has even forsworn e-mail and the Internet in an attempt to rekindle the fire with Kip--but they haven't even ordered their first breakfast at the local diner when a stranger bursts in, announcing that a body has been found hanged in the woods. The dead man's cousin insists it can't be suicide. Over Kip's objections, Lauren plunges into the case, making enemies of almost every town official. Or is almost every town official trying to cover something up? The investigation unfolds against the backdrop of Kip's disappointment in her lover and Lauren's fears that their relationship can never recover the trust and passion it once had. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

PI Lauren Laurano (last seen in Let's Face the Music and Die) takes on the conventional notion that appearances can be deceiving in this snappily paced whodunit. She and her longtime girlfriend, Kip, leave Manhattan for a vacation on Long Island. They are ostensibly going to help friends renovate a new house, but they're really aiming to rehab their relationship, which is still in recovery from Lauren's recent affair. They arrive at the village of Seaview in the middle of a crime wave that would put their native Greenwich Village to shame. The body of Bill Moffat, a highly regarded local who was leading the fight to keep fast-food chains out of town, is found hanging from a tree branch. The police call it a suicide, but his cousin doesn't agree, especially since Moffat recently told her that he thought he was being followed. Hired to investigate and happy to get away from Kip, not to mention the home-improvement efforts, Lauren uncovers some highly dubious fatal accidents and begins to suspect that a serial killer is on the loose. Events and circumstances may strain credibility, but, as Scoppettone cannily reminds us, so do the venerable happenings in the Cabot Cove of Murder She Wrote and Miss Jane Marple's St. Mary Mead. While the scenes between Lauren and the annoyingAand surprisingly undevelopedAKip can slip into melodrama and the conclusion lacks a powerful punch, Lauren herself is, as always, excellent company.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316776653
• ISBN-13: 978-0316776653
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,467,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Laurano Yet!, February 25, 2001

By 

P. Bigelow (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey (Lauren Laurano Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this fourth outing, Lauren Laurano, NYC private investigation, agrees to spend some time with friends at their new Long Island home helping to fix it up. Not exactly her idea of good time, but she's trying to mend fences with her lover Kip. When the opportunity arises for to accept an investigation into a murder ruled a suicide, she doesn't hesitate. Perhaps she should have. As Laurano investigates and discovers each new layer, things get uglier and uglier and even include an attempt on her life. She calls on Cecchi, a former NYPD detective with whom she is going to go into partnership, to help solve the murder. Kip, in the meantime, is still punishing her for an affair she had in the previous book. This has it all - good writing, a multi-layered plot, and good characterizations. Scoppettone is back in form! She has, unfortunately, also said that this is the last Lauren Laurano book - "I've said all I can about Lauren, Kip, and especially New York City." That's too bad. I'll miss Lauren, Kip, Cecchi, their friends, and Scoppettone's take on the Village and the City.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey Opens New Possibilities, August 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey (Hardcover)

I have read all of the Lauren Laurano stories and enjoyed the new avenues that this book followed. Moving (part-time) out to Long Island, partnering with Cecchi, beginning to work out long-standing problems with Kip -- all of this gives Lauren more options for future exploration. Also, I liked the new plot device of revealing each of the "interviewees'" reactions to Lauren's questions about the case; it more clearly linked each of these characters to the murders that had been committed. Sandra Scoppettone has proved for over 20 years that she is an innovative and creative author and this novel is another example of her refusal to keep following a tried-and-true formula, book after book. Now, I just hope it won't be two years before the next one!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A real let down, October 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey (Lauren Laurano Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I suspect Scoppotone wrote this just to resolve the Lauren/Kip/Alex triangle which came to ahead at the end of her last book.

I hated the new format of each suspect revealing their fears after they'd been interviewed by Lauren and the ending seemed so abrupt - unless I missed something I was a bit bemused. The pieces of the puzzle just did not seem to fit together, it was a very shoddy denouement (if you could call it that)& not terribly plausible either.

I've always enjoyed the "Lauren Laurano mysteries", however upon reading this latest one it was apparent that the author has no plans to develop the series any further as she too has clearly become bored with Lauren & Kip.

Time to move on I would say & after having finished the book and read the interview at the back with Scopptone I gather that this is exactly what she plans to do.