The Last Lover [Audio Cassette]

Laura Van Wormer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

Sally Harrington think she's in the best relationship of her life. She's a Connecticut journalist, he's a Manhattan book editor and they're playing for keeps. But in the course of forty-eight hours, Sally finds her love life skidding wildly off the road of respectability, her career spiraling into oblivion, her bank account emptying to zero and herself publicly exposed.

All because of one lover, the last lover, Spencer Hawes.

And now Sally can't even find him. He's disappeared off the face of the earth -- run off, Sally believes, with Lilliana Martin, a drop-dead-gorgeous Hollywood actress. Then Lilliana's ex-boyfriend turns up dead -- practically on Sally's doorstep.

Sally's young, talented and great-looking -- and the problems invading her life seem to come in the form of other talented and great-looking people. Some carry Oscars, some carry Emmys and some carry briefcases -- and then there's the crowd that comes crashing in with guns, badges, and indictments.

A fast-paced, sexy murder mystery, The Last Lover is about the sometimes tragic consequences of mistaking lust for love and the fury of lovers scorned.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sally Harrington, a suburban Connecticut reporter, is in Hollywood with her new boyfriend, Spencer Hawes, a book editor who's launching a million-dollar book that's already been bought by a major movie studio. In Laura Van Wormer's romantic thriller, the initial suspense centers on the boyfriend's disappearance, which may be linked to that of Lilliana Martin, a Hollywood actress whose flirtation with Spencer at the launch party did not go unobserved by Sally or the other party guests. Back on the East Coast, Sally's job seems to be slipping away, too, until the powerful anchorwoman of a TV station owned by the newspaper that employs our heroine places her right in the center of the story that develops when Sally's identified as the last person to see Lilliana's ex-boyfriend, Cliff Yarlen, before he turns up dead.

There's plenty of plot twisting and turning to keep the somewhat limited dramatic tension going, but it's Sally, as confused about her love life as she is about her professional responsibilities, who's the real star of this comfortably engrossing, though predictable, novel. Van Wormer's holiday dish won't seem reheated to fans who've made bestsellers of many of her earlier books (Exposé, Riverside Drive, etc.), though it may taste like leftovers to readers who sample this one first. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

With its explicit sex and overheated prose ("How can I tell him that it's not just this, not just us, but how I've lived my whole life, this all or nothing drive and crash I can't take anymore"), this tale of murder and treachery in the bicoastal worlds of entertainment and publishing will appeal mainly to fans of romantic suspense. A "small-city journalist" in Connecticut, Sally Harrington joins her beau, book editor Spencer Hawes, at the launch party in L.A. for a film exec's crassly commercial autobiography. To Sally's dismay, rising (and drunken) movie star Lilliana Martin makes it clear she wants Spencer for herself. After taking Lilliana home, Sally in a jealous rage drops her lover off on the side of the road. The next morning he shows up at her hotel. Did he go back to Lilliana's house and spend the night with her? Spencer isn't telling. Nor is Lilliana, since she's disappeared. Later, when Lilliana's estranged boyfriend, shady businessman Cliff Yarlen, turns up dead, Sally becomes the prime suspect. Van Wormer (Expos?; Jury Duty) provides surprises and plot twists galore, along with the inside dish about these so-called glamorous people and the machinations behind the media gloss. Backed by significant ad/promo, this novel will not only sell to Van Wormer's growing body of fans but, if targeted to the Jackie Collins crowd, could be the author's biggest book yet. Agent, Loretta Barrett. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Mira; Unabridged edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552042391
• ISBN-13: 978-1552042397
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,156,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Quick Reading Order Lists:

"The Alexandra Chronicles": 1)Riverside Drive 2)West End 3)Any Given Moment 4)Talk 5)Exposé 6 )The Last Lover 7)Trouble Becomes Her 8)The Bad Witness 9)The Kill Fee 10)Mr. Murder 11)Riverside Park

"The Sally Harrington Mysteries": 1)Exposé 2)The Last Lover 3)Trouble Becomes Her 4)The Bad Witness 5)The Kill Fee 6)Mr. Murder

The "Stand Alone" Novels: 1)Benedict Canyon 2)Jury Duty 3)Just for the Summer

Best-selling author Laura Van Wormer has been a force in fiction since the publication of "Riverside Drive" in 1988. She is the author of thirteen novels. Her engrossing plots, memorable characters and insider knowledge of the media professions have won praise from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Good Housekeeping, and People.

After graduating from Darien High School in Connecticut Laura spent a year at the University of Arizona before transferring to Syracuse University, from where she received a B.S. in Public Communications from the S.I. Newhouse School and minored in English.

Upon graduation Laura went to New York looking for a job in television but landed a job instead as secretary to the editor-in-chief of Doubleday & Company. "Every day my head was spinning," Laura says. "Everyone from Leon Uris to William F. Buckley, Jr., Victoria Holt to Phyllis Whitney, Edna O'Brien to Stephen King, Arthur and Alex Hailey to Allen Drury were all publishing with Doubleday at that time."

Laura rose through the editorial ranks somewhat specializing in celebrity and mass media-related books. Caught in a deadline crunch one year, Doubleday and 20th Century Fox flew Laura out to the West Coast to create a book based on the hit series, "Dynasty". Upon her return to New York an offer was made to create a book for the rival show, "Dallas". Laura ended up taking the assignment and leaving Doubleday to write her first novel.

The novel ended up taking four years. To keep body and soul together Laura became "The Official Dallas Historian" (!) and created a game for Lorimar based on the show. She then took on "Knots Landing", wrote copy for the back of jigsaw puzzles and created a game.

Finally she finished her first novel, "Riverside Drive", published in 1988, which is currently in its 5th edition. She has been a full time writer ever since.

Laura is a longtime member of the Authors Guild of America, and also (because of "Jury Duty" and the Sally Harrington mysteries) the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives in Connecticut, New York and Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Balzac of the Dazzling Class, November 19, 2000

By 

cgilson (golden beach, fl USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Lover (Hardcover)

It's always a treat to see a truly deserving authour celebrated in the New York Times Book Review. As a fan of Ms. Van Wormer since Riverside Drive, I thought the Times' stamp of her status as "master of romantic suspense" for The Last Lover came way overdue.

Sally Harington of Expose is back, but now the reporter's starchy New England values meet the casual sociopathy of Hollywood players. With her usual ability to light up characters in a few vivid strokes, Van Wormer paints one as physically off-putting for "the air of heavy handed money, the promise of, if all else fails, I'll pay you". Let's just say that nothing Sally learned at Castleford High prepared her for the viciousness of her welcome to the big leagues.

But what I've long admired in this author reflects what she doesn't do. While delivering her patented wall-to wall suspenseful tour through the world of bicoastal superachievers, she resists the cheap shot and instead puts real flesh and blood on even the most driven and sometimes despicable.

Van Wormer writes about the celebrity slice of society as a more forgiving Tom Wolfe, taking care to illuminate the motives of those who constantly measure the distance to perfection. That's why putting yourself in her capable hands never fails to satisfy.

PS - if you have a chance to see Ms Van Wormer read/speak in person, as I have, drop other plans to do it. In the warmest, one-on-one way, she will give you the lowdown on the world she writes about with tingling insight.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An author with star potential, October 31, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Lover (Hardcover)

Connecticut reporter Sally Harrington accompanies her lover Spencer Hawes across the continent to attend a Hollywood party where they meet rising movie superstar Lilliana Martin. The actress makes a play for both Sally and Spencer. However, an angry Sally rejects the notion of a threesome and blames her lover for encouraging it. Sally ends her relationship with Spencer and flies home the next day.

Not too long after that Lilliana's boy friend, union president Cliff Yorlin arrives demanding to know where his beloved is. Sally has no idea, but believes she is probably with Spencer who allegedly is in Hawaii. However, Cliff quickly returns to the West Coast where someone kills him. With Lilliana and Spencer still missing and now Cliff dead, law enforcement officials turn their attention to the last known person to see the trio alive, Sally, as the prime suspect.

THE LAST LOVER is an exciting romantic suspense novel that takes the audience on a coast to coast ride that looks inside the glitz and garish glamour of today's media. The story line is fast-paced, but truly belongs to the strong cast of characters. In a return engagement (see EXPOSE), Sally remains a great protagonist seeking to find love even as her needs and desires confuse her. The support ensemble augment the tale with vigor and a two-coastal insight that shows Laura Van Wormer is a wonderful author who makes reading fun.

Harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars Luckily The Last Lover is not, August 19, 2006

By 

Judith Agee (SmallTown, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Last Lover (Sally Harrington Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

the last we see of Sally Harrington.

I really enjoy these books.

Fast and furious dialog. Plenty of action.

I LOVE the whole behind the scenes looks of television news and reporting. That is always a standout element of Van Wormer's.

I found the characters in this and the other Sally Harrington novels to be well fleshed out. A plethora of wonderful characters with diverse backgrounds.

This story takes us from Conneticut to NYC to LA and back again.

The mystery works well, I think. You never know who the good guys and bad guys are. Not entirely, anyway, until the denouement.

Throw in the mafia, actors, producers, the feds and primetime news. Stir in one explicit sex scene, which isn't gratuitous in the plotting of the story and you have an engaging read.

Sally's love life is a plot in itself. Poor girl is painfully confused about the men in her life. I like how it is explored.

Through it all you will root for Sally Harrington and her friends and colleagues to catch the bad guys and get the story on the air.