Customer Reviews

Hard Bargain

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Free-lance Cat Marsala reporter investigates two interlocking puzzles -- what actually happened when a policewoman shot to death her wife-abusing policeman brother-in-law, and which of her friend Chief-of-Police Detectives McCoo's staff or supervisors is leaking highly-charged information to the press, to his detriment. Loyalty, and professional integrity are the underlying emotions. Chicago, the city itself, its politics, and its weather feature strongly. A frightening climax comes of clues not only mentioned but referred to several times. An excellent entry in Barbara D'Amato's fine series.

This is my first D'Amatao novel and I had to force myself to finsih it. There wasn't enough suspense, there wasn't enough real investment for the protagonist, for me to be all that concerned about the plot. But it seems that the author has great potential and look forward to reading one of her many other works.

Chicago police officer Shelley Daniello and her partner Bradford Hubner respond to a domestic violence call. Shelley gets to the scene ahead of Bradford and sees a fellow officer Ben Jurack swinging a knife towards his wife, Marie, who happens to be Shelley's sister. Shelley swears she gave Ben a warning which he ignored. She fired and killed Ben. Her partner arrives on the scene after the killing. The press has a field day because of the incident. They go so far as to inconsistently accuse the Chief of Detectives Harold McCoo of either a cover-up or unfair treatment of a woman. Leaks from the department itself is making it easier on the media to prosecute Shelley and Harold.

The police brass decide that Shelley and Harold are the perfect fall guys to be fed to the hungry media's feeding frenzy. However, free lance reporter Cat Marsala knows her friend Harold too well to believe that he would obstruct the truth. She decides to help him by investigating the incident and more important, the aftermath. As Cat gets closer to the truth, the brass purposely removes Harold from the case to make it seem to the public as if he has done something sinister. This adds even more pressure to Cat to solve the reasons behind the department's handling of the aftermath before her friend finds his career over.

The Cat Marsala series is the best tour of Chicago since Ferris took a day off. Cat is a great character who, in HARD BARGAIN, proves her loyalty and belief in her friend by her willingness to take risks to help him out of a nasty fix. The story line of the top management of the police department willing to do anything to shift the blame is well designed, turning the tale into an intriguing police procedural. With this novel, Barbara D'Amato demonstrates why she is an award winning author.

Harriet Klausner