All or Nothing (Charnwood Library) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Adler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001 | Series: Charnwood Library

With the flair for sizzling romantic suspense that has made her books international bestsellers, Elizabeth Adler, whose work has been hailed by critics as "mesmerizing" (Internet Bookwatch), "exhilarating" (Publishers Weekly), and "sensuous" (Kirkus Reviews), is at the top of her form with her latest novel, All or Nothing.

Lithe, leggy attorney and law professor Marla Cwitowitz is dying for some excitement in her life--that is, other than being the girlfriend of Al Giraud, private detective, sexy soul mate, and all-around best friend. So when she sees the potential for a crime-solving spree, she jumps at the chance to moonlight as a detective.

According to the evening news, local real estate agent Laurie Martin is missing and presumed dead. Marla and Al happened to have seen her dining with an attractive man several days before her disappearance. The man is Steve Mallard, loyal husband, doting father, and prime suspect. But Marla senses that something is not quite right. And her intuition has never let her down. Believing that there's more to the story than meets the eye, she takes matters into her own hands, vowing to get to the bottom of what's beginning to look like a very complex case.

Al wants Marla to stay out of the way, fearing for her safety. He knows what's involved in detective work, and he's not sure she can hold her own as an investigator. But she won't be warned off this case. Their relationship has never been more fraught with complications--or sexual sizzle. With little warning or preparation, the two find themselves crisscrossing the United States in frantic pursuit of a remorseless criminal in an effort to prove Mallard's innocence. Finally Marla's found the excitement she's been looking for. With her, it's always been all or nothing.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best-selling romantic thriller author Adler (Now or Never; Sooner or Later) trots out a pair of lovebirds on the trail of a serial killer in her 12th novel. Hollywood Hills private investigator Al Giraud hails from New Orleans's wrong side of the tracks; a tough-talking dick, he's as much a lover as a sleuth. Marla Cwitowitz is the gorgeous 30-something lawyer who's crazy about him and, after wheedling Al to give her assistant PI status, becomes his partner both on and off the job. They are a stereotypically mismatched couple: Al asks high-class law professor Marla, "What the hell d'ya see in me? An uneducated bum, an ex-cop, a two-bit P.I.? A lovely woman like you?" But Marla adores his street smarts, dinner conversation, and lovemaking skills, and she's thrilled at the thought of working with her man investigating murders. The trouble begins when a real estate agent, California golden girl Laurie Martin, disappears. Burly detective Lionel Bulworth and his brazen assistant Pamela "Pow!" Powers believe Laurie's client Steve MallardAwhose job is forcing him to relocate his Los Angeles-based family to San DiegoAis the guilty party. None too coincidentally, Al and Marla happened to notice Laurie and Steve together before the alleged murder. As far as they could tell, Laurie and Steve were not romantically involved, which does away with the cops' theory that Steve killed Laurie in a jealous rage. Steve's wife, the level-headed Vicki, hires Al and Marla to prove her husband's guilt or innocence. Inevitably, they tangle with the killer, and everyone's melodramatic gamble is the inspiration for the title clich?. Occasionally evocative imagery counteracts irritating and incessant brand name-dropping and superficial characterizations. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Adler (Sooner or Later, 1997, etc.) may have moved from cream-stuffed romance to sensuously creamy suspense, but she's still heavy on the gardenia scent and crushed velvet. Retired New Orleans homicide detective Al Giraud is now a private investigator in L.A., where law professor and ex-DA Marla Cwitowitz falls for him and decides she wants to be a p.i. tooAl's partner, in fact. The couple trade a ton of martinis and Nick-and-Nora sexual badinage, but never in a Dashiell Hammett mystery does a tanned p.i. wear an ``ankle-length silk jersey skirt slit to the thigh, and a tiny white chiffon top embroidered with pale green butterflies. In a La Jolla bar, Al and Marla see Laurie Martin, a tall, unmarried, blond realtor with good legs and a gold snake ring, pushing a Laguna Beach seaside house on electronics executive Steve Mallard. He may be married, but Mallard looks like a dead duck after dining with Laurie for two weeks in a fruitless search for the right house. When Laurie disappears and her car is found with blood on the backseat, Steve is the prime suspect. He hires Al and Marla to find Lauries missing body and exonerate him. Later, dogs sniff out a body at the bottom of a canyon near where the bloody car was found. What tie did or does Laurie Martin have to Bonnie Victor, other than owning the same dog? Is Laurie Martin even Laurie Martin? When Marla and Steves wife, Vickie, are attacked with a knife in the Mallards kitchen, will Vickie emerge from the resulting coma? The climax is a literal cliffhangerpresumably because villains no longer tie heroines to the railroad tracks. Call this film noir on silk sheets. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large Print edition edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708992471
• ISBN-13: 978-0708992470
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Adler is a self-confessed romantic, a travel addict and a foodie, all of which she brings to the reader in her novels, along with a tough thrust of suspense and an unfolding mystery that keeps you on your toes. Elizabeth has lived in many countries and when she's not writing spends time discovering even more places to bring to you, with her husband, Richard - still in love after all these years - as are the characters featured in her past three novels, Mac Reilly the Malibu PI and Sunny Alvarez, his lover and side kick. You have to read about them to know them! Elizabeth lives in California and has the ability to take you to all those romantic places she knows so well, Capri, Venice, Tuscany, St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, and of course, Malibu. You will feel you are there, with her, sitting on that Italian terrace, sipping that coffee, smelling the delicious food, savoring the heat and the sunshine and the mystery unfolding for you. Elizabeth is five-three and wishes she were taller, blind as a bat without her glasses that anyway she is too vain to wear, and at 128 lbs till thinking about that diet. She has one daughter, Anabelle who is married to rock musician Eric Avery and two kitties, the Siamese, Sweet Pea who rules the household, and an adorable black cat Sunny.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good premise, bad execution, April 21, 2000

By 

Marcia (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All or Nothing (Hardcover)

Elizabeth Adler had a great idea but her new crime solver leaves a lot to be desired. Her villian was interesting and fun. BUT the banter between Al and Marla was ridiculous. The story was obliterated by the constant bedding of Al by Marla. If Adler had stuck to the story she'd have written another great book. Instead All or Nothing should be called Some or Nothing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cute story, July 16, 2002

By 

Jorge Frid (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All or Nothing (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a very easy book to read, if you can read it in an airplane you will enjoy your flight and your book, the story of a private investigator and his girlfriend solving a very peculiar case (her first case) is really cute.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Okay Read, March 28, 2008

By 

A. Roberts "Avid Reader" (Wyoming) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All or Nothing (Mass Market Paperback)

I read the reviews on this one and they aren't great but decided to read it anyway. If you want a book that touches you or makes you think, this is not it! However, if you want a book just to give you a few hours of distraction, then this will do it. I thought the hero and heroine were quite comical (though the sex was overdone a bit)and a villian you loved to hate though not all bad (she loved dogs). As for detective work, they were all so pathetic, I got frustrated with them. It's not one I would read again but was a fun read for a few hours.