No Man Standing: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Barbara Seranella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003 | Series: Munch Mancini Novels

In their youth, Munch and Ellen used to drink, take drugs, and various other things they'd rather forget, but somewhere along the line, Munch went straight and Ellen went to prison. Now, Ellen is about to be freed from the California Institution for Women and given another chance to make a life. Or will she? Just a day before her release, her world falls apart when someone tortures and murders her mother and stepfather. Ellen may be the next target. Munch wants to assist, but fears that helping Ellen might put Munch's eight-year-old daughter, Asia, at risk. That's where friendship stops and motherhood takes over. Unwilling to confide completely in the police because the whole truth would send Ellen back to prison, Munch embarks on a mission to find the killer and to cut the best possible deal for her friend. Work, friendship, loyalty, motherhood, men, and even Munch's sobriety are all put to the test in the six harrowing days leading up to a heartbreaking showdown. Munch must ask herself some tough questions. If she comes through this one, she'll never take anything for granted again...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Munch Mancini used to be a biker chick who was handy with a wrench but had a few bad habits like booze, drugs, and bad taste in men. The heroine of Barbara Seranella's lively, engaging series of mysteries, Munch is trying to clean up her new life as a solid citizen and single mother by staying away from the temptations of her old one. But when her closest friend, Ellen, gets out of jail and learns just how badly someone wants the money she took from a man who tried to kill her, Munch can't turn her away. It's not like Munch doesn't have her own problems: she's being stalked by the mother of one of her daughter Asia's playmates, trying to resuscitate her moribund limousine business, and in the middle of moving into the first house she's ever owned. And now she's got a sullen stripper on her bad side, counterfeit money in her kid's toy box, a new lover who's also a cop, and a very strange guy who says he's her friend's father but might also be a killer who's staying one step ahead of every move she makes. This entertaining and well-crafted thriller should earn this highly original writer (Unfinished Business, Unwanted Company) a host of new fans. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The fifth novel in Serenella's bestselling 1980s saga (No Human Involved, etc.) featuring Miranda Munch Mancini, onetime junkie, hooker and California biker chick, gets off to a fast start with the brutal murder of the mother and stepfather of Munch's old running buddy, Ellen Summers. Alas, the plot then goes off in several directions and bogs down. With Munch providing the only homecoming welcome, Ellen is about to try the transition from prison life to normal societyagain (she came out of the can once before, in 1999's Unwanted Company). Ellen still behaves more as if she has unfinished illegal business to transact than as if she's ready for the straight and narrow. Various parties unknown appear to think this business involves a large amount of missing money. Meanwhile, Munch has managed to put it all togetheras a well-paid auto mechanic, owner-operator of a limousine service and single mother to an adopted eight-year-old daughter, Asia. Munch can testify to the rewards of a virtuous life, but reminders of her dark past return in the form of a jealous woman's spiteful pranks. Ellen's father appears and acts mysteriously. Munch's efforts to shield Ellen complicate old and new relationships with members of the local police. The result is mayhem and a litter of prostrate bodies. Established fans will lap this one up as eagerly as earlier books in the series, but new readers are likely to be more taken with the eccentric characters than the wandering plot.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743420330
• ISBN-13: 978-0743420334
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,568,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner, July 21, 2002

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: No Man Standing: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Hardcover)

No one writes about the perils of substance abuse the way Barbara Seranella does. She knows, for example, that something as seemingly innocuous as a prescription for Tylenol 3 can be dangerous to a recovering addict/alcoholic. And in No Man Standing she demonstrates, once again, her considerable talent for depicting the difficulties and rewards of living sober.

Munch's old pal Ellen has been released from prison after a six-month stay for parole violations. Has she learned anything? Nope. She's still deluded, still after the high from cheap wine, or any other alcoholic beverage that might be available. And once again she drags Munch into a whole load of trouble because of a bagful of bogus currency. Everybody wants that money, but Ellen wants it most of all. The Feds want the money, bad guys want the money, and Ellen's running hustles here, there and everywhere to stay ahead of the pursuers.

In the midst of all this, Munch is trying to move with her adopted daughter Asia into a new house; Munch is striving for normalcy in a world that seems unwilling to allow it. But there are signs of hope--the mother of one of Asia's friends extends friendship, to Munch's bewildered gratitude. There's also a nonjudgmental cop who may well appear again in Munch's future.

As always in Seranella's books, the characters are fully developed, warts and all; the narrative drives along in top gear, and the resolution is most satisfactory.
Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One can't have too many friends, September 19, 2003

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: No Man Standing: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

In NO MAN STANDING, ex-bad girl Munch Mancini is now eight years down the straight and narrow after giving up alcohol, drugs, sexual promiscuity, and bikers. An ace auto mechanic and owner of a struggling limo business, Munch is moving into a new house with her adopted daughter, Asia, when an old friend in need shows up.

Ellen Summers was Mancini's best gal-pal in the rough old days, and is just released from her latest stint in the California Institution for Women, a penal facility. Summers is being sought by vicious killers who want returned a very large sum of counterfeit Franklins that she found and hid before her most recent imprisonment. The first bodies in a growing pile are those of Ellen's Mom and stepfather. Meanwhile, Munch is being harassed by the jealous ex of a poor choice of lovers, and she doesn't need the heavy baggage that Ellen has brought to her and Asia's doorstep.

By design or not, assigning Ellen a major role in this fifth book of the Munch Mancini series was true inspiration by author Barbara Seranella. Summers is at least a pale reflection of Seranella's protagonist before she became a contributing member of society. For those steady readers of the series, who perhaps thought that Munch was becoming too middle-class, or for those being introduced to Munch for the first time, Ellen is a much-needed reminder of Mancini's former low-life edginess. That aspect, plus the ending plot twist of NO MAN STANDING, extends my interest in the series as a whole, the storylines of which will need to be unpredictable to keep me returning for more. While the last chapter gives a too obvious hint to the evolution of Mancini's love life in the next book, I trust the author will surprise us.

The back flap of NO MAN STANDING reveals that Barbara Seranella ran away at fourteen from the showcase upper middle-class enclave of Pacific Palisades, CA, joined a San Francisco hippie commune, rode with outlaw bikers, and became an auto mechanic. Since I also spent several idyllic childhood years in Pacific Palisades before my uneventful and unrebellious teens, I wish we could sit and compare notes to determine where I went wrong.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, Must-Read Series, March 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: No Man Standing: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Hardcover)

I discovered Munch Mancini on a rainy, dreary Friday while cruising www.Amazon.com and went to the library and checked out all the books in the series and had a spectacular weekend Munch read-a-thon. I loved every single book. She gets better and sharper with each consecutive story. Ms. Seranella's stories have the flavor of hard-core reality with just the right touch of suspense and plot twists. No writer I've ever read has the drug scene down the way she does....you can feel the despair and hopelessness of the characters radiating from the pages....and then comes Munch, a ray of hope as one who escaped the druggie lifestyle, a true survivor. Thanks Ms. Seranella for a great series. Keep 'em coming!!