Unpaid Dues: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Munch Mancini Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Barbara Seranella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2004 | Series: Munch Mancini Novels

Munch Mancini is one of those fictional characters who jump off the page and into readers' hearts. Mechanic, limo driver, mom, Munch -- short for Miranda -- has lived a hard life and done it all: sex, drugs, you name it. But now she has her adopted eight-year-old daughter, Asia; she has a house; she has a job she loves. And she has trouble. The battered body of her former pal New York Jane has washed up in a Los Angeles drainage canal. Munch's policeman friend Mace St. John runs the dead woman's prints: She's Jane Ferrar, but in her arrest report Mace finds Munch's photo and fingerprints. What's the tie between the two women? Who killed Jane and dumped her in the ditch? And what is the significance of the baby doll tied to her arms? Munch tells Mace that ten years earlier she had used Jane's name to beat a drunk driving rap. She'll do what's necessary now to clear her record, but that's where she wants it to end. She wants no more police digging into her past. It's done. It's over. She's severed all ties with the people she used to know, especially Jane Ferrar and a dangerous man named Thor. Or so she hopes. It's not that easy, though, to escape one's history. There are always reminders, such as the fifteen-year-old boy who shows up at Munch's door one day asking for help. He's the son of an old friend, and he's a kid, so how can she say no? But is he what he says? Is Munch wrong to bring him into the house with little Asia? Munch will do anything to protect Asia from harm. Anything. Meanwhile, Munch's boyfriend, homicide cop Rico Chacón, is investigating a cold case of triple murder that may be heating up and heading straight toward Munch. Her whole new life may unravel unless she can stop a killer. And Munch's life with Rico may unravel too unless his other girlfriend leaves town -- soon. With Unpaid Dues, Barbara Seranella, one of the most passionate and resonating voices in all of crime fiction, gives us a gripping and suspenseful novel about the debts we owe but can never fully repay.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Munch Mancini's past catches up with her in this sixth adventure featuring the reformed bad girl turned garage mechanic and single mother--a series that's gaining fans with every new outing for a good reason--Munch is an authentically original creation with grit, wit, and determination, which often serve her better than her loyalty to old friends. Now one of those friends turns up murdered, and when homicide Detective Mace St. John finds Munch's prints and photo on the corpse's records, a bloody part of her past threatens to blow Munch and her daughter's future away. If that's not enough, the teenage son of another old friend turns up on Munch's doorstep, but of course it's no coincidence. By the time Sernaella ties a boy named Bug, a drug-fueled murder spree the cops have long since closed the books on, and a dead woman in a storm drain together in a fast-placed plot, she's brought another piece of Munch's history into sharper focus, making her hard-fought struggle to turn her life around even more interesting, involving, and inspiring. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

While Seranella has been justly praised for the grittiness of her Munch Mancini novels (No Man Standing, etc.), this, the sixth installment, could have benefited from less grit and more storytelling gruel. When homicide detective Mace St. John runs prints on a murdered woman, he finds Munch's photo in the arrest report, since 10 years earlier Munch used the dead woman's name in beating a DUI charge. But now Munch, in an attempt to clean up her act, has moved on to the quiet life, bringing up her eight-year-old daughter and keeping a lid on her past transgressions. Unfortunately, the past won't stay past. Rico Chacon, her boyfriend-detective, discovers a link between the current case and a triple homicide. Pressed to the wall, Munch deliberately baits the killer and runs the risk of winding up on his hit list. The author has the makings of a suspenseful mystery here, but she overdoes the down and dirty elements. A cast of junkies, bikers, criminals and assorted forms of lowlife overwhelm the reader, with nary a ray of hope among the unrelieved gloom. Realism may have been the intended goal, but after awhile the effect is simply depressing. Another, equally serious drawback is the unconscionable amount of padding throughout. The inevitable result is tedium rather than tension, ennui instead of edginess. Let's hope that better things lie ahead for Munch. For now, the unpaid dues are to the reader.
Copyright 2003 Reed 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: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743466373
• ISBN-13: 978-0743466370
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,437,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Munchy urban noir thriller, May 14, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Unpaid Dues: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Hardcover)

After some heavy rains, a woman's body is found in the drainage sewer at the exclusive Riveria Country Club. The woman was badly beaten and her body tied to two cinder blocks so that she would sink without a trace. LAPD detective Mace St. John, back on the job after suffering a heart attack four months ago, leads the investigation. He learns the victim is Jane Ferran.

When he looks at her file he sees Munch Mancini's face with Jane's name underneath it. When he goes to question Munch, she tells him that she used her friend's name when she was arrested for a DUI. Munch has a feeling one of her druggie friends from years ago might have killed Jane but she can't tell Mace about it because she would implicate herself in a decade old triple homicide. It is only when it looks like Thor is going to kill anyone connected to that incident does she come forward and offers herself up as bait to trap a killer.

Munch is an ex-druggie, a recovering alcoholic and a former prostitute but she has turned her life around. She goes to AA meetings, has an adopted daughter and has a good job working as a mechanic in Brentwood. She is a role model for people who want to start over and make something of his or herself. The perpetrator of the murder will come as a shock to the reader because everyone involved in the case is missing a vital piece of information. Barbara Seranella, known for her urban noir thrillers, once again has created a realistic who-done-it that is both exciting and poignant.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great character, Absorbing story, August 11, 2003

By 

A. Christie "bibliofiend508" (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unpaid Dues: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Hardcover)

Miranda (Munch) Mancini, former runaway, drug addict and prostitute, has reformed her life. She's now a car mechanic, limo driver, part-time detective and adoptive mother. Munch one of the most original characters to come along in quite awhile. UNPAID DUES explores Munch Mancini's former life in flashback sequences when a former friend from her drug days is found in a storm drainage canal. Munch's connection with her friend comes to light when Munch's picture turns up in the friend's police file. Munch's past secrets are slowly revealed to the important people in her present life.

Seranella takes us into the world of everything from drugs and violence, to the life of an auto mechanic from first-hand experience. This is Barbara Seranella's sixth novel featuring Munch, but my first. I loved almost everything about the book and the character. I have already gotten two of the earlier books and can't wait to find out more of Munch's story. This is a definite must-read for anyone who enjoys a gritty absorbing cirme novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and gritty, May 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Unpaid Dues: A Munch Mancini Crime Novel (Hardcover)

What a great read. The story is at turns violent, insightful, clever, and funny. The characters are thoroughly believable -- from the series' regular cops to the minor characters(especially Doleen). And ever since I read 'No Human Involved' I've believed that Munch is a very real person. This ain't no cozy. And I highly recommend it.