Scott Free: A Crime Novel [Hardcover]

Marijane Meaker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2007

A mystery set in the Hamptons featuring a transgendered detective.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This convoluted novel starring a transgendered insurance investigator, Scotti House, falls short of Meaker's better work, such as the sizzling lesbian pulp thriller Spring Fire (1952) that she wrote as Vin Packer and the young adult novel If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? (1973), published under the pen name M.E. Kerr. Set in the Hamptons, the mystery revolves around the kidnapping plot of the daughter of dying socialite Len Lasher and his wife, Lara. The trans- elements are sweet and real: Scotti's mother, ex-wife and daughter try to accept her new life while acknowledging their own distress and confusion. But clichés such the vituperative conflicts between the super-rich snobs and their hired help riddle the novel, and the crime elements fall flat. (May)
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From Booklist

Long before Marijane Meeker became the groundbreaking young-adult author M. E. Kerr, she wrote as the groundbreaking paperback novelist Vin Packer, whose first title, Spring Fire (1952), was arguably^B the first lesbian pulp novel. Nearly two-dozen Packer suspense paperbacks followed throughout the 1950s and 1960s before Meeker retired the pseudonym. Now Packer is back with another innovative crime novel, this one starring a male-to-female transgender insurance investigator (and part-time librarian!) named Scotti House. Almost unwittingly, Scotti becomes embroiled in a kidnap plot involving the daughter of a terminally ill tycoon and a fabulous jewel that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor. Though not the author's best work, the novel is distinguished by its sensitive treatment of the transgender material. And fans will be amused by the Hamptons setting--where the author makes her home--and the many references ranging from the Ashawagh Hall Writers Group to Patricia Highsmith that echo Meeker's real life. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; First Edition edition (March 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718676
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718672
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scotti is a great character, May 4, 2007

By 

Wiry (Southampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scott Free: A Crime Novel (Hardcover)

I loved this book. Great suspense and fun without the sickening grisly stuff that most crime novels have. Instead, a main character who is unusually interesting and one I want to read more about. I think Meaker has a great serial character here. Loved the Hamptons setting ... lots of insight. I couldn't put the book down. Highly recommend.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vin Packer Returns, March 29, 2007

By 

Sandra Scoppettone (Southold, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott Free: A Crime Novel (Hardcover)

It's been too long since we've had a Vin Packer novel. But not too long for Packer who, after fifty years, still has an eye for character and place. The plot is good, too. And it's also funny. What more could you want?

There's no predicting where this novel will go. You think you've got it, but then you're so wrong. This is one of those novels where things never go right for the criminals.

The transgendered sleuth is a nice woman. You like her. And although her worries of being discovered are there they never overwhelm the plot.

I hope this is the beginning of a series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packer is Back!, March 26, 2007

By 

Peter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scott Free: A Crime Novel (Hardcover)

In the fifties and sixties, Vin Packer was the queen of paperback originals, writing a score of riveting suspense novels in a style that compared favorably to John O'Hara. Now, a full half-century after making her fictional debut, Packer (otherwise known as Marijane Meaker and young-adult author M. E. Kerr) is back with her first hardcover novel. It is "Vin"-tage Packer!

The crime elements of the story will keep mystery fans turning the pages (the "MacGuffin" here is a ring that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor), but what really sets this novel apart are the vivid portraits of a dozen or more fully-realized characters, led by a transgendered investigator, Scott (aka Scotti) House. Packer has always had a fascination with the way the worlds of the "haves" and the "have-nots" compare, differ, intermesh, and collide. Here she takes us deep inside the heads of these men and women (as well as a man becoming a woman) in a novel as well-characterized and memorable as The Evil Friendship, The Damnation of Adam Blessing, Intimate Victims, and other early Packer novels now being republished and rediscovered by a new generation of readers.