Shades of Red [Paperback]

Doris Mortman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Vera Hart has it all: a cosmetics empire, international recognition, a devoted daughter, and a legion of fans. But her world suddenly comes crashing down. First, someone is sabotaging her company. Next, her enemies are moving in. And then someone begins to kill using the most insidious means possible--cosmetics that bear Vera's name.
 
Martie Phelps is estranged from Vera, her mother. A military doctor in the first Gulf war, Martie has scars and demons she holds close. As a single mother, all she wants is a quiet life with her daughter. Now, the glamorous, complicated Vera Hart is making overtures to her: Vera wants Martie back in her life.
 
Greta Hart wants her sister, Martie, to stay gone. Greta has always been the dutiful daughter who Vera has taken for granted. This current crisis is helping Vera pull Martie closer. And Greta doesn't like it.
 
All three women are searching for answers. Who wants to bring down Vera Hart? How intense can a rivalry between estranged sisters get? And when will the killer strike next?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Mortman (Rightfully Mine, etc.) presents another blockbuster with this eighth novel, which features an ex-movie star who runs a powerful, Martha Stewart-like empire. Vera Hart is the 59-year-old "Goddess of Perfection" behind Hart Line International (HLI), and her company's array of makeup, fashion, decorating and cooking products has a devoted following. She's also the cool-as-ice matriarch of a seriously dysfunctional family. Her daughters, Greta and Martie, who were separated in youth by their parents' divorce, "can't stand each other." And their sibling rivalry heats up even more when Vera appoints Martie to head a new line of HLI skin products at the same time that she hires the daughter's mutual love interest, attorney Bryan Chalmers, to look into some serious problems at HLI, including Enron-like fiscal shenanigans, poisoned lipsticks, death threats and murders. Can all that's wrong be just a coincidence, or is one mastermind behind it all? Mortman hits hard on all fronts, giving readers enough love entanglements to keep romance readers hooked while delivering enough suspense to please thriller fans as well. Particularly strong are her portrayals of working mothers and sorrowful childhoods. And the fact that Martie is a decorated officer and talented doctor, plagued by memories of her experiences as a POW during Desert Storm, gives credibility to her tough thinking while connecting the novel to current political events. All in all, Mortman layers on the suspense like so much rich mascara, leaving readers eager for the outcome of the murder investigations, the love triangle and the Hart family compact.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Fiction imitates life as Mortman conjures up a domestic diva under criminal investigation for the financial operation of her enormous empire based in New York. But Vera Hunt's case is direr than her real-life model because someone is killing women with her tainted products, and threatening to kill her and her family. Vera's older daughter, Greta, has always been by her side as a ruthless executive with the company, and now Vera tries to reconcile with her youngest daughter, Martie, who grew up with her army general father and served under his command as a doctor during the first Gulf War, where she was taken prisoner and decorated for her service. Reluctantly, Martie joins the company, but the sibling rivalry between her and Greta intensifies as they clash over company matters and Bryan Chalmers, who is currently seeing Greta but who was once in love with Martie. Mortman has fashioned a great bit of escape literature, a decadent diversion rich in suspense, family peccadilloes, and multifaceted characters. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312936974
• ISBN-13: 978-0312936976
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,641 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:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-So, November 4, 2005

By 

Ben F. Small (Tucson, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shades of Red (Hardcover)

Vera Hart (read Martha Stewart), her empire, her family, are all at risk, somebody's out for vengence. Enter Can't Do Wrong daughter Martie, a heroic boy friend, a three star general father, and a dramatic personality turn for Vera, and we have a pretty standard sorta-thriller, albeit well written. It's obvious from the beginning who is the bad guy, and it's a fairly simple story. But why do we care how each room is decorated? Why spend a half a page to full page on every room? Geez, that gets old. Then there are the legal errors, pretty egregious ones. Someobody's poisoning the flagship lipstick line. Remember the Tylenal scare? Remember how fast the recall went out? Not here. Even though one of the protagonists is a lawyer, he doeesn't think to advise anybody they need an immediate recall? Imagine the punitive damages due to his malpractice. Nope. Seems nobody in management, nor their lawyer, the good guy, seems to think about warning the consuming public or taking the product off the market.

While I finished the book and will admit I enjoyed it, I don't think it was one of this author's better outings. Doris is a very good writer, but I don't think she did her homework on this book. And I could use a little less description of every room visited.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What trash! Don't waste your time., March 16, 2005

By 

Joan W. Storm (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shades of Red (Hardcover)

First, there's the main character, a brillant and beautiful doctor, a veteran ex-POW, who is also a single mother (her equally brillant doctor-husband was killed in a tragic car accident). It follows that her daughter is precocious and charms every adult that comes into her force field. Could Mortman layer on any more sap! Yes, she can and does. Then, of course, there is the equally talented lawyer who joins her estranged mother's company and who just happened to have been her lover while they were both stationed in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Her father, a highly decorated Army officer, now runs a top-flight security firm that is hired to protect her mother (his ex-wife). It turns out that the antagonist served with the brillant and beautiful doctor & lawyer in the Gulf War and... Well, it gets worse from that point on.

Don't waste your time.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, February 28, 2005

By 

G. Greene - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shades of Red (Hardcover)

This is a wonderfully written and fast paced mystery/romance. The author has done a great deal of research, which gives the book authenticity in every area that it touches on, from the cosmetics industry to the military. The characters are well-drawn and believable. The plot twists and turns keep the reader turning the pages to the very end, and the small touches that the author adds to her descriptive prose make this book a pleasure to read.

Well done, and highly recommended!