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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY KIJ | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Author Notes
Karen Kijewski grew up in Berkeley, California, surrounded by books. Her earliest memories were of toddling behind her mother as they headed to the library. Kijewski majored in English in college and then went on to teach English at Brookline High School in Massachusetts, but she eventually left teaching to fulfill her lifelong calling as a writer.
For eight years after becoming a full-time writer, Kijewski worked as a bartender at night to supplement her income. During this period, she completed four manuscripts, all of which she submitted to New York publishing houses, but it was with her fifth manuscript that Kijewski became a published author.
The winner of St Martin's "The Best First Private Eye Novel of the Year Contest," Kijewski's first book, Katwalk, was the basis for her successful Kat Colorado Series thrillers. The principal character in Kijewski's nine-book series, Kat Colorado, is a private detective in Sacramento, California. Some of the books in the series include Katwalk, Katapult, Kat's Cradle, and Stray Kat Waltz. Kijewski uses real-life experiences, past and present, to make her novels realistic and identifiable. Kijewski's seventh novel in the series, Honky Tonk Kat, is set in Nashville and California and was researched in Nashville and on tour with country music star Lari White.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In her eighth outing, scrappy Sacramento PI Kat Colorado (Honky Tonk Kat, 1996) exposes embezzlement and extortion at Hope for Kids, a charity that aids crippled and disfigured children. Attorney Richard Carter hires Kat to discover what's troubling his partner, Jim Randolph. Before she has a chance to get started, Randolph commits suicide, and Kat finds a sex video involving him that shouts "blackmail." With clever sleuthing, and her skill at extracting confidences, Kat discovers that the blackmailer usually strikes once, demanding a donation to Hope for Kids. Then Kat uncovers a separate scheme in which an embezzler skims from hefty contributions to Hope, unaware that much of the money comes from the wealthy prey of the wily, enterprising blackmailer. The two villains make for a great setup. The down side is that when Kat questions the blackmail victims, including some of her friends, they crumble like spongecake, eagerly revealing long-held secrets. Readers may identify the baddies early, but the blackmailer's motives are hidden and complex, requiring Kat to use all her cunning to trap him. Despite a plot leaning heavily on coincidence and a penchant for cutesy chapter introductions, Kijewski writes with wit and fine pacing, and Kat remains invigorating company. 18-city author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
When Sacramento lawyer James Randolph kills himself just in time for the Christmas holiday, Richard Carter, the law partner who hired Kat Colorado to check up on Randolph and see what was bothering him (a typical assignment for Kat), is certain that only some personal disaster would've made him pull the trigger, so he gives Kat a blank check to go on with the case. Luckily for Kat, she's soon hired a second time on what turns out to be the same case, doubling her take while focusing her inquiry. The second client, prim, elderly, matter-of-fact Madeline Hunter, serves on the board of Hope For Kids, a local foundation Randolph had donated generously to. As Kat soon finds out, Madeline's being blackmailed by somebody who demanded she donate $100,000 to Hope For Kids. It doesn't take long for Kat, armed with her usual combination of charm, persistence, and bluff, to discover the shameful secret in Randolph's past--and to establish that an awful lot of Hope For Kids's funding seems to have been accrued in response to the blackmailer's solicitations. But no matter how sure Kat is about the blackmailer's identity, and no matter how many victims she identifies, none of them is willing to risk exposure to testify against this civic-minded monster, who meantime has succeeded in getting to Kat's best buds: her advice-columnist friend Charity, obnoxious reporter J.O. Edwards, even Lindy, the street girl she's rescued. Kat's more successful as therapist than detective in her eighth (Honky Tonk Kat, 1996, etc.); the telling is long-winded, the culprit obvious, and the Christmas motif pounded home without mercy. Ho-ho-ho. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
