It's Raining Men: An Emma Price Mystery (Emma Price Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Naomi Rand (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Rand's fast-moving third Emma Price mystery (after 2003's Stealing for a Living), the lead investigator for the New York Capital Crimes division awakens in a hospital after a brutal beating. As Emma reconstructs what happened to her-the call from her boss and best friend, Dawn Prescott, the meeting, the abduction, the beating and her escape-she learns of Dawn's disappearance and subsequent murder. Convinced that Dawn's death was connected to a case they were working on, Emma pursues the truth at her peril. Some major personal concerns distract: a teenage son with raging hormones; a self-absorbed ex-husband, who's a film director now remarried to an angry young woman; and an old house she's refurbishing. In addition, Dawn's wealthy and self-centered parents cause stress. But the murder inquiry takes top priority and Emma superbly handles it all with the help of her boyfriend, Det. Laurence Solomon. An astute sleuth, Emma pulls together a multitude of characters and a complicated and challenging mystery.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Readers seeking a charming cozy will not want to reach for this latest entry in Rand's Emma Price series. Nothing about this story is charming or cozy. Its New York setting is dark and unfeeling; its protagonist is as serious as a heart attack; and its murder victims are depicted graphically. However, those who can handle a heavier read will appreciate Rand's terse prose and fast-paced plot. As the lead investigator for New York Capital Crimes, Emma is trained to be observant--and thus can identify the two men who attacked her as she waited to meet her boss, Dawn Prescott. When Dawn is found dead shortly after Emma's attack, it becomes clear that the attackers were actually looking for Dawn. It's up to Emma to discover what led to the crime and disprove the suicide theory offered by the police and Dawn's father. Helping her in his own quiet way is Emma's inscrutable boyfriend, Detective Sergeant Laurence Solomon. Readers who hang on through a stormy ride will eventually be rewarded by a ray of sunshine piercing Emma's dark world. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060723718
• ISBN-13: 978-0060723712
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,429,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grim Chalk Marks of Death, November 23, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Raining Men: An Emma Price Mystery (Emma Price Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I acquired this book for my personal library once I saw it recommended by Publishers Weekly, whose staff seems to have a psychic bead on just the type of nook I most enjoy. IT'S RAINING MEN, like the famous disco song by THE WEATHER GIRLS, tells of a mental and emotional landscape racked by tears, loss, frustration and sudden death. As THE WEATHER GIRLS told the age old tale, it never rains but it pours, and as Naomi Rand proves once again, Emma Price will never grow too old to be showered by emotionally unavailable men. Men who abuse her, who use her, who take her for granted, and indeed men who would like to kill her.

The violence level is quite high, but that's to be expected in the third case involving 40ish Emma Price. Now she finds out that little Liam, her son, is having sex at age fourteen and when Will finds out (Will being the moviemaking former husband of detective Emma) he just laughs it off. Then, disturbingly enough, Laurence's son starts having feelings of hatred for Emma. How will the two families ever blend together with so much macho ignorance going on? As the book begins, thugs attack Emma and beat her nearly to death. Much of the remainder of the book she spends trying to heal herself inside and out and also to deal with the dishesrtening death of the one woman, Dawn Prescott, who understood and mentored her. I would say that if you lived in Merrick, Long Island, you might not appreciate the picture that Rand paints of your suburban getaway, but outsiders will smirk and be glad at least they don't have to live there.

There are few surprises here, just a grim realism reminiscent of Dreiser or the fellow who wrote LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book from Naomi Rand..., September 7, 2005

By 

H. Touger (Milton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Raining Men: An Emma Price Mystery (Emma Price Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I've read all the Emma Price series, and they just keep getting better. This one is sensational. Naomi Rand is a literate writer who spins a story but never loses sight of the fact that she's writing about real people in dire situations. Emma is a three dimensional character, and one of the bonuses in these books are the kids -- Rand writes children and motherhood like no one else...and there it is, right in the middle of a gritty, noir-ish tale. The story is fast-paced and believable, and she aces those New York settings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intricate and deftly told noir mystery, August 17, 2005

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Raining Men: An Emma Price Mystery (Emma Price Mysteries) (Hardcover)

IT'S RAINING MEN is the third in Naomi Rand's popular Emma Price mystery series that began with THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY and STEALING FOR A LIVING. Emma Price is an investigator with the New York Capital Crimes Unit and the mother of two children: Liam, age 14, and two-year-old Katie. Though her work is stressful and frenzied, she gets little help from her philandering ex-husband, Will. He has a new wife, new children and a new mistress, so when Emma discovers that 14-year-old Liam is sexually active, Will gives him an "atta boy" and Emma concludes that men are indeed from Mars.

The positive side of her personal life is her boyfriend, Detective Sgt. Laurence Solomon, who goes above and beyond to make her life a little easier.

While Emma's personal life is deftly woven into the story, it is definitely background for a noir tale that has it "raining men." For the most part, not very nice men --- starting with the men who attack her as the story opens, to the one who kills her boss in an apparent crime of passion; from the convicted murderer on death row whose appeal she is working on to the high-priced criminal attorney who snatches the case away from her. As she diligently traces each clue, she begins to uncover the ugly truth.

The link between Dawn Prescott's death in a seedy motel room and the murdered family of Arthur Nevins becomes apparent as Emma discovers the connection among seemingly unrelated people: an ex-lover of Dawn's, a retired cop turned private eye, a powerful producer who had an affair with the murdered wife, and a police lieutenant who epitomizes the image of bad cops. Emma presses on despite threats from powerful, angry adversaries who have already killed to cover up their crimes.

Despite an uneven opening that seems more complicated than it needs to be, Naomi Rand capably handles this intricate story. For a change of pace from the cozy reads associated with many female adventures, it's not too late to catch up on this series and get to know Emma Price.

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