One Dangerous Lady

Jo Slater, queen of the New York elite, is again embroiled in the crimes and high jinks of the ultra-rich when Russell Cole, friend and billionaire, disappears from his yacht. His wife, Carla, looks for Russell, all the while attempting to spend or give away every dime Russell has. Barbara Rosenblat's sultry voice purrs as she recounts Carla's financial coup when she gains control of the Cole fortune, and Jo's indignation at Carla's behavior and her determination to uncover the truth about what happened to Russell. Rosenblat's narration is marred by audible clicks at the start and end of each sentence, which is endlessly distracting for the listener. M.B.K. 2006 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

May 30, 2005
New York grande dame Jo Slater, whose riches-to-rags-to-riches story entertained readers of Social Crimes
, returns in Hitchcock's latest smart, genuinely funny novel to take on a sociopath socialite cutting a vicious swathe across Manhattan society. A Barbados wedding becomes the scandal of the year when the host, Russell Cole, a billionaire art collector with a psychiatric history, disappears off his yacht, and Jo puzzles over the suspect behavior of his much-younger second wife, Carla, an Italian with a shady past. Upon their return to New York, Carla angles for Jo's solidarity, but Jo, insightful and caustic, won't have any. Social life is hard work for these women, and Jo is soon vying for the upper hand in a deadly, high-stakes game with this ruthless social climber. (For Jo, a dinner party invitation from Carla heralds the "long reign of a rival queen in whose court I may very well become a prisoner.") Despite Jo's opposition, Carla achieves an exclusive co-op apartment (which she decorates "rococo-a-gogogo"), a seat on the board of the Municipal Museum along with Jo's resignation from said board, even Jo's romantic interest, Lord Max Vermillion. From Jo's first wry comment to her final maneuver, Hitchcock will have readers rooting for her to vanquish her nemesis.