No Human Involved

Description

A strung-out waif-cum-ace auto mechanic, Munch Mancini is trying to get clean and get her act together. But temptation and problems keep pushing her closer to the edge. Like the murder of her abusive father, "Flower George." The cops have her pegged for the crime, and now she's got to stay out of sight of a certain cop named Mace St. John. St first it's easy because Mace isn't looking that hard. But when his prime suspect becomes linked to the gruesome murders of several not-so-innocent women, the wearily homicide detective goes into overdrive. If Mace wants to solve these murders, he'll have to find Munch. And if Munch wants a new life, she's got to find a way to cut a deal. But as they will both discover, there's a precarious line between trust and betrayal--and the temptation to cross it may be too strong to resist.

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Customer Reviews

MUNCH DIDN"T DO IT FOR ME
Looking at the reviews, I am amazed by the high marks for this book.
Munch Mancini is our hero, pursued by cop Mace St. John. It is bad for me when I like the pursuer more than the hero.
Incredible slow without really development, this novel kept screaming 'put me down' instead of 'this is the first book in a series, read them all'. No thanks, I'll pass. Too many other great writers out there.

2009-11-27 | Wooly in Jupiter, FL. (Sunny Florida) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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Barbara Seranella - Munch Mancini series
I loved the entire Munch Mancini series, laughed and cried. Could see the real struggle someone goes through when walking away from a bad life. I was sorry to hear that Barbara Seranella passed away. She will be missed.

2008-11-22 (Irvine, CA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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183 pages too long
Two characters are followed. Munch; her scenes are semi readable. Mace; unendurable police procedural nonsense. This is trashy pulp. Irony free, with an absurd and rushed ending. I want my quarter back that I spent on this.

2008-03-04 (NY, NY) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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A superior police procedural set in the seedier side of LA
Interesting characters, a plot that moves right along, the least likely suspect -- what's not to like? Along the way, some nice insights into coping with drug addiction and dealing with an elderly parent slipping into dementia. A solid contribution to the genre.

2007-09-21 (Poolesville, MD United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Great book
This book is well written, has interesting characters, satisfying plot, and all the ingredients of a really good crime/mystery book. Highly recommended.

2005-09-20 (Iowa City, Iowa USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Deadman's Switch

Description

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Customer Reviews

A well-done, final book
First Sentence: Bob Peterson scanned the track before him.

Charlotte Lyon may suffer from OCD, but she is an expert at crisis management. A train crash has resulted in the death of two people; the conductor, even though no cause of death is immediately apparent, and a woman who turns out to be a well-loved actress. In order to contain the crisis for the rail company, she has to know the cause of the accident and whether it was an accident.

Barbara Saranella's last book was the start of what would have been a wonderful series. The human elements in the story are so well done; Charlotte's OCD, relationship with her mother, possible romance, and handling of the crisis. I learned a lot about trains and was never bored by it. There were a couple, small weaknesses in the plot, but the story definitely held me all the way through. In some ways, I like the character better than Munch and am very sorry we've lost such a talented author.

2007-11-10 (Oakland, CA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The End
I didn't realize that Barbara Seranella had passed away until I was 3/4 done with the book. The Munch Mancini series was very good and this series showed a lot of promise. Ms. Seranella will be missed in the crime fiction world.

I enjoyed the new character of Charlotte Lyon. A type-A OCD inflicted character is always interesting since they tend not to be cookie-cutter. **I absolutely adore Monk.** While the character was good and the plot was reasonably suspenseful, I felt much of the novel was bogged down in railroad technicalities that were a bit dry (except perhaps for railroad buffs).

2007-10-29 | bibliofiend508 (Plano, TX United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Intriguing new series tragically cut too short
I enjoyed reading from the late Ms. Seranella's Munch Mancini titles. Charlotte Lyon, the main character her new projected mystery series, is likewise a resilient, flawed, but sympathetic lady. Charlotte, 33 and a widow, operates a crisis management consultant business in California. She's good at what she does, and commands top dollar doing it.

In this case, Charlotte is hired by Sun Rail after their train derails under suspicious circumstances. During Charlotte's subsequent dogged investigation, we learn lots of cool details on trains and railroads. Interestingly, what emerges is Charlotte's forceful personality and her somewhat chaotic personal life.

Saddled with an OCD like TV's Adrian MONK, Charlotte learns to channel her energies and phobias to do good. She cultivates a budding romance with Todd Hannigan, a NTSB investigator, and reconciles with a difficult mother. The proper elements, then, are successfully established to grow a new, winning series. That fact alone captures my first vote.

However, sadly Ms. Seranella passed away on Jan. 21, 2007 while waiting for a new liver transplant, leaving behind her mysteries for her many reader fans.

2007-08-06 | author of TROGLODYTES and PELHAM FELL HERE (Washington, D.C.) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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disappointing
Having read and enjoyed the Munch Mancini series, I was disappointed by the weakness of this book. I agree with other reviewers that the premise of a PR person with OCD has great possibilities. Surprisingly, though, the writing was in many ways like that of a new author - many awkward bits, where, as a reader, I wanted to edit/rewrite. I'm not sure why this happened with an experienced author unless, maybe, she was ill and wanted to finish quickly. In any event, it is sad to know that she will not be able to continue this series.

2007-07-06 (Katonah, New York USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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All the ingredients of a great mystery
Deadman's Switch is one of the best murder mysteries I've read all year. Seranella creates an engaging heroine with OCD (did she know about the Monk television series?) who functions best amidst others' crises. Hired to manage a specialty train's derailment, she digs deeply into the mechanics of trains. She combines her PR knowhow with her unique specialty of crisis management.

The book's plot and pacing are superb. The end might follow mystery conventions a little more closely than some readers will like but is ultimately realistic and satisfying.

As a special treat, readers will learn a great deal about trains and about the world of public relations.

I must admit I got totally involved. I found myself enjoying the story and wanting to learn more about the characters. Not being familiar with Munch Mancini, I checked the back flap and was horrified to learn there will be no sequel. The author's untimely death will leave readers wondering how the characters would have developed in future. That's the only bad part of reading this book.

2007-06-28 (Seattle, WA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Unwanted Company (Munch Mancini Novels)

Description

Miranda "Munch" Mancini has seen the worst of times, but she's still looking for the best. A recovering addict and auto mechanic, she's now a single mother and a fledgling businesswoman trying to run a limousine service. But being her own boss means she can't afford to turn down a client, even when a seedy government type offers her big money to drive around a foreign businessman...

The problems start when Munch promises to hire Ellen, an old friend fresh out of prison, as a driver. Next thing Munch knows, though, her friend, her client, and her Cadillac are missing in action, and the police are at her door.

With the custody of her adoptive daughter on the line and Ellen's life in Jeopardy, there's nothing Munch won't do to help her pal, police detective Mace St. John, solve the case. But if there's a brutal murderer on her trail, what can Munch do -- which won't get her killed -- to stop him?

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Just when things seem to be going relatively well for recovering addict, ex-prostitute, ex-con, and whiz-bang auto-mechanic-cum-limo-service-magnate Miranda "Munch" Mancini and her 6-year-old adopted daughter, Asia, she encounters a world of good-intentioned hurt from an old druggie friend, Ellen. Fresh out of prison and just 16 days sober, Ellen is determined to get her life back on track. When things on the outside don't go according to plan, she turns to Munch, who does the right thing by offering Ellen a couch to sleep on and a part-time job as a limo driver. Before you can say "That Ellen, she's going to be trouble," that Ellen becomes trouble when she drives Victor, a Romanian diplomat with a taste for the seedier side of Western life, and Raleigh, a misogynistic and unscrupulous CIA agent, to Tijuana. And, naturally, she doesn't tell Munch.

Serial murder, mayhem, and numerous foreign and domestic intrigues follow in Unwanted Company, ex-mechanic Barbara Seranella's fast-paced third novel. Like No Human Involved and No Offense Intended, it features a cast of well-defined if invariably impaired characters, including Munch's refreshingly normal--that is to say, normally troubled without being psychologically tortured--pal Detective Mace St. John and his partner, the self-doubting Detective Cassiletti. Stylish, spare, and finely tuned, Unwanted Company is an early entry in what promises to be a long and happy run for Barbara Seranella (certainly) and Munch Mancini (please). --Michael Hudson

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Customer Reviews

Enjoyable read
I finally found a book that is consistently organized, enjoyable, entertaining, humorous, and makes sense! This is the first book of Seranella's that I've read, but have now discovered a new favorite author. I definitely intend to read No Human Involved and No Offense Intended. I thoroughly enjoy her sense of humor. Her writing is very cohesive and organized with just the right amount of explanantion when needed. Very few boring parts. I love authors who invent truly over-the-top characters and she's got a bunch of them in this book. I highly recommend it!

2009-04-20 | day one realist (Tucson, AZ) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Great Read!
I happened upon the Munch Mancini series by chance while browsing our public library. I was looking for something different - and did I get it! I love the Munch Mancini character. She is such a developed, complex character - yet she is real! I kind of read this series backward and am awaiting her first novel to finish up the series. Seranella is one of the BEST authors I have ever read!

2007-08-23 | all things literati (Chesapeake, VA United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The Last Thing They Wanted
I came back to Seranella after a long hiatus (reading other books and earning a living and stuff) because I'd just read Evanovich's "Metro Girl" and remembered how much better Seranella did the wrench wench thing. This is third in the series.
The official main plot concerns a rather run-of-the-mill sadistic serial killer with a bad childhood and a renegade Rumanian with one of those suitcases full of plutonium that every other thriller character seems to tote.
The sub-plot is much better. Munch Mancini is struggling to make a go of her limo business and worried about retaining her custody of Asia. She tries to help her old friend Ellen from her drug/alcohol days to get clean.
It's wrong of me but I found Munch Mancini at her most interesting in "No Human Involved" before she became respectable. (I shouldn't really feel bad. She's a fictional character).Whenever a scene is written from much Mancini's or Ellen's point of view the writing improves. It's an odd effect. It's not just that they are better drawn characters, but the prose become clunky and cliché-ridden and the scene-setting is perfunctory and conventional when the POV changes. We get passages like "the last thing the city fathers wanted was reports of a maniac killing women inside their own homes." A terrific car chase at the end.

2005-06-27 (Suffern, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Munch continues to entertain
UNWANTED COMPANY is the third in the series by Barbara Seranella featuring her "bad girl" heroine, Miranda "Munch" Mancini, 70's drug addict and hooker, now seven years into going straight after her debut in NO HUMAN INVOLVED. It's now 1984, and Munch is still an ace auto mechanic, but with a limo business on the side to help bring in money to support herself and her daughter Asia, the latter "acquired" during the last episode, NO OFFENSE INTENDED. In the first novel of the series, Munch had a refreshing antisocial edginess that colored her efforts to steer clear of a murder investigation being conducted by LAPD detective Mace St. John. By the following thriller, Munch had mellowed considerably, though still finding herself in compromising situations most law-abiding citizens never encounter. In UNWANTED COMPANY, Munch is almost a model citizen as she helps an older and wearier St. John catch a serial killer, with ripples involving the CIA, a shady Romanian, and some loose plutonium. Our heroine's continuing display of an improving social attitude remains a mild disappointment. However, in this thriller, the author compensates by introducing us to one of Mancini's old pals, Ellen, just out of the women's correctional institute and still feeling ambivalent about giving up illegal substances and turning tricks. In any case, Munch gives her a job as a limo driver, upon which Ellen wastes no time dragging her employer and the Caddy into St. John's latest case. Ellen is strangely endearing as she ricochets from one risky situation to another with more concern for her appearance, wigs and make-up kit than anything else. I hope Seranella invites her back in future offerings. Perhaps the quality of the series has reached a steady state of almost-excellence as the novelty of the Munch persona wears off somewhat subsequent to her first appearance on LA's low-life street scene. Be that as it may, Mancini remains an intriguing, attractive, vulnerable and slightly prickly protagonist that I shall continue to follow with devotion.

2001-08-24 (Glendale, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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A roller coaster ride
This book is a real trip! Munch Mancini, her daughter Asia, and neer-do-well friend Ellen take you on a breathless adventure filled with good guys, bad guys and some too close to call. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I got turned completely around. Munch is no wimp, but she's no lady either. If you like Grafton, you'll love Seranella!

2001-06-16 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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Unfinished Business : A Munch Mancini Crime Novel

Description

Munch Mancini finally has her life together and she's now a respectable mum with a regular job. By day, Munch is one of the Brentwood Texaco's best mechanics. By night, she drives a limo. As she waits outside a charity gala two guests leave arguing and Munch senses a threat. Soon one of her customers will be murdered, another will be raped and tortured, and Munch will find herself trapped in the mayhem. Which brings her to Mace St. John, the cop who arrested her back in her biker days. Now they are friends, but Munch sometimes yearns for more. All is tested when they're thrown together in the hunt for a killer. A riveting novel!

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Miranda "Munch" Mancini is quite a woman. She's a recovering drug and alcohol abuser; she's a southern California auto mechanic; she's the sole proprietor of a fledgling limo service; she's a loving mother to her 7-year-old adopted daughter, Asia. Set in the early 1980s, Barbara Seranella's fourth Mancini novel, Unfinished Business, has Munch and her friend, detective Mace St. John, in hot pursuit of a serial rapist-murderer who's killed one of her clients, the socialite Diane Bergman, and raped another, the actress Robin Davies. Worse--for all concerned, including the rapist--the rapist has come close enough to Munch's daughter to pin a note to her coat, and now Munch is getting threatening calls:

The phone rang again. Asia reached for it.

"No," Munch said, with more force than she had intended. Asia jumped back. Munch picked up the receiver, tried to give Asia a comforting smile, and said "Hello?"

"You have a nice house," the strangely distorted voice said. It vibrated, sounding like the voice of that robot in that old television show Lost in Space. The cadence was slow, as if the speaker needed an extra moment to prepare each word. "But you really shouldn't take the same route home every day."

Gritty, creepy in the extreme, and at times positively harrowing, Unfinished Business is a most welcome entry into the Mancini line (No Human Involved, No Offense Intended, Unwanted Company). Seranella's characters are wholly yet finely drawn, their dialogue is true, and the mounting urgency she packs into this novel's pace, particularly down the home stretch, is palpable. --Michael Hudson

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Customer Reviews

Is Munch becoming too middle-class?
In the first Munch Mancini novel, NO HUMAN INVOLVED, author Barbara Seranella's hero was an ex-Bad Girl on the wean from drugs and sexual promiscuity while holding down a job as an auto mechanic. Of course, she was also a murder suspect, but everybody has a bad day now and then. Now, almost eight years later, Munch is the Repairs Manager in the auto shop, has her own off-hours limousine service, is devoted to her 7-year old adopted daughter, Asia, and has a serious crush on the homicide detective, Mace St. John, who was on her case years before. Besides being a best friend to Munch, Mace is comfortably married. Oh, well, even a turned-around life has its bummers.

Lest one conclude that Munch has had her ticket punched on the Metrolink train to the suburb named Middle-Class Boredom, UNFINISHED BUSINESS has her being stalked by a vicious rapist who's MO is to torture and kill using electricity. Even more exciting, she's helping secret heartthrob St. John solve the case! It doesn't get better than this.

In a wider sense, the best part of any Munch thriller is observing Mancini evolve. The "mystery" angle of each book is fairly standard stuff though, admittedly, that in UNFINISHED BUSINESS has a nice twist and a half at the end. But what will make me continue to read more of Seranella's offerings is to see down what path the author takes our hero. Munch is a very sympathetic and likable protagonist. Will she ultimately take Mrs. St. John's place in Mace's bed in his converted railroad car? Will she eventually start-up her own Beamer dealership on the Westside? What will be Mom's reaction when Asia becomes old enough to ask questions about drugs, boys, carburetors, or aromatherapy? And what sort of sickos will ooze from underneath those L.A. freeway underpasses to add zest to their lives?

Munch, you go, girl!

2002-09-06 (Glendale, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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a bit disappointing
Given the unique story lines which I like - the woman auto mechanic - this book should have been better. The character development was all to un-unique.

2002-05-02 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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The Munch has Punch
I love all these novels; sorry I read faster than Seranella writes.

2001-11-16 | rtedrow | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Munch is back and better than ever
Munch Mancini is back and stronger than ever. She has a quiet, efficient, hard-earned calm about her these days. This fourth adventure left me breathless. Not from a quick, tremendous climax but from a buildup of action from the first pages of the book. Slowly the tension of figuring out a case that tied in to multiple cases and who did it and why fueled the pages of this expertly written crime novel with excitement and anticipation.

Munch still has her limousine service and is working as the "lady mechanic" at the Brentwood gas station. She has the opportunity to meet and help out Diane Bergman, newly widowed head of the Bergman Cancer Center. She's volunteered to drive home anyone needing it from the charity fundraiser. When Diane Bergman is murdered and left dead on the side of the freeway a few days later, Detective Mace St. John is assigned to the case. It is Munch who identifies the rich socialite from the photo of the scene where the victim was found with scorch marks on her body and eyes taped shut with duct tape.

Shortly afterward, taking an opportunity to help her fellow woman, Munch helps deliver Meals-on-Wheels to a rape victim still suffering from the trauma's effects a month later. Talking with Robin and with St. John and meeting a rape counselor teaches Munch a lot about what rape really is and what the effects are. Munch still struggles with issues from her childhood, some of which are brought up now. She has enough distance from those earlier years to see through clearer eyes now what really happened then.

Determined to help Robin, Munch pursues the investigation with Detective St. John and discovers similarities between Robin's attack and Diane Bergman's death. As they begin to piece together the puzzle, a man with a disguised voice begins calling Munch - the same man who is terrorizing Robin with calls and threats to return. He gets word to Munch via her adopted daughter that he knows everything about Munch and that she cannot hide from him. When St. John goes out on sick leave, Munch is left on her own to figure out who this man is, where he is hiding, and how he can know so much about her.

This novel was particularly evenly paced, deftly increasing in intensity. Ultimately Munch discovers the motive behind the death of her friend through some gutsy moves of her own. She has really made great strides from her days as addict and more and is coming into herself beautifully. She has not only survived her own traumas of growing up with Flower George as a father, but she is surpassing his influence on her life.

Miranda "Munch" Mancini is one lady mechanic I'd like to know better.

2001-06-25 (Florida) | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 5

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The Munchkin just gets better and better
From the outset (No Human Involved) Barbara Seranella has delivered consistently splendid books, populated by completely believable, affectingly human characters. Munch Mancini is a wonderfully unique creation, a haunted yet determined young woman who refuses, ever, to play victim to the ghosts of her past. What is particularly gratifying in this series is that we get to see Munch grow very believably through time. With her street-smart philosphy and innate survival skills, her heart and her humor, she is unlike any other heroine in any other series. Unfinished Business is heartfelt, good-humored, and intelligent. Writing with insight and authority, with seamless research, and such genuine caring for her characters that the reader, too, must care for them, Seranella deserves a place on the national best-seller lists.

My one small quibble is the anachronistic reference to carpal tunnel syndrome which, in the early 80s, was almost unheard-of--certainly it wasn't common at a time when computers were not occupying desk space in almost every home. That said, I can only applaud the author and wait eagerly for the next book.

2001-06-04 (CT USA) | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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Unwilling Accomplice (Class B)

Description

Munch Mancini and little daughter Asia are doing just fine. Munch rejoices in her job as an auto mechanic at the Brentwood Texaco. She and Asia have a house -- not in tony Brentwood -- and a dog, and Munch has been off drugs for years. She plans to stay that way. It's tough, though, when people from her old life resurface.

Such a person is Lisa Slokum, Asia's aunt. Lisa has always meant trouble, and why should now be any different? It seems she has bolted from the Witness Protection Program with her two daughters, fifteen-year-old Charlotte and eleven-year-old Jill, and she needs Munch's help.

Would that it were so simple. Munch will need to call upon Rico Chacón, a fine cop but not-so-fine boyfriend whose commitment to her on the nonprofessional side seems to be wavering. And before Munch can sort out her love life she must try on the role of auntie to Asia's new cousins -- not easy when the teenaged Charlotte goes missing and her mom, Lisa, lands in jail.

Why did Charlotte run away, and where is she now? Is she in danger of becoming one of Hollywood's lost street children? Does she have information about the recent death of school friend Steven Koon? And why was a lock of her hair found stuck to a piece of duct tape in a ransacked storage locker?

Munch must unravel the mystery of young Charlotte's complex life before it's too late to save her. To do that, she needs help from Rico, who's investigating the Koon boy's death. Will their professional alliance rekindle their romance? Should she take him back? Does he want to come back? Can she trust him?

With its pulsating suspense and penetrating look at family relationships and the universal need for love and affirmation, Unwilling Accomplice is the best yet from a versatile author whose passionate voice shines through her fast-moving prose.

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Customer Reviews

I am Unwilling to Recommend This to Anyone Else
This is the story of service station mechanic Munch Mancini who has a daughter named Asia who has never met her cousins. This is because they are on the witness protection program but a phone call from Asia's father's sister Lisa puts this into doubt. After meeting up in a park the next day Charlotte, one of the cousin's goes missing and a frantic Lisa calls Munch for help. Charlotte is on medication and does not have it with her so a reluctant Munch begins the search and calls her ex boyfriend Detective Rico Chacon for help.

Although not the worst story ever written it does drag on excessively in parts. The ridiculously stupid names Munch and Asia do get on your nerves after a while as does the farfetched detective abilities of a service station mechanic. There are much better books to accompany you on your reading journey than this.

2005-12-25 (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 2

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3.5 stars - Better than good.
I didn't feel this was the strongest book of the series and found the story a bit less suspenseful than others in the past. It's interesting that as Munch becomes more "mainstream," which is great for the growth of the character, she is less edgy and interesting. It's still a very good series with a wonderful, strong, female character, but I'm going to be interested to see where it goes from here.

2005-04-10 (Oakland, CA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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A girl with a past
Munch Mancini's past is closer than it appears in the rear-view mirror. More than any other series character I've read, Munch makes me believe. Believe in her, her daughter, her relationships with men, her relationship with her addictions, everything she does rings true. She does what she can to make something of her future while constantly looking over her shoulder to see what part of her past might be catching up with her. But instead of running for cover, she confronts whatever shows up. Unwilling Accomplice fires on all cylinders.

2005-02-14 (Los Angeles) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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An Intriguing, Original Character Looks Out for Her Family
Most female fictional detectives are bigger than life characters unlike anyone you've met in real life. They are the fictional equivalents of the comic book characters, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.

In Unwilling Accomplice, you meet an unusual Mom . . . but one who resonates with an unexpected amount of reality. She has a job. She has to be sure her daughter gets to and from school and does her homework. Meals have to be made ready. Even the details of her work resonate as she describes the typical mechanical problems that cars had in the 1980s.

But at the same time, Munch Mancini, Ms. Seranella's detective, is also an idealized version of what a modern woman can be. She has beaten drugs, alcohol and harmful relationships with men. Her past has scarred her, but left her stronger for it. She can still be vulnerable and can give love a chance.

Unlike most books about crime, you should primarily read this one for the character development. It's not that the crime story is a bad one; it's that the crime story is secondary to the interesting and inspirational characters.

The crime story is also unusual though in that it involves teenagers, those who actually do more crime than any other age group. You see it from the perspectives of being both a Mom and an Aunt.

The book opens with a troubling scene in which Munch's daughter Asia learns that there's a reason to stick close to your chaperones. Next, Asia's Aunt Lisa appears from out of nowhere (she's been in the Federal Witness Protection Program) along with her daughters, punky looking Charlotte and ideal-kid-like Jill. Lisa's obviously in some sort of trouble, and Munch is soon brought into solve the problems.

Obviously, I think that the book has some weaknesses or I would have rated it higher. The plot itself could have used a lot of work that it didn't receive. In addition, Munch and Lisa's daughters are made to be a little too good to be true which steals power from the characters and the story. Munch's world is filled with ethically black and white people, either very evil or very good. The subtle shadings of reality are missing.

But the book is most enjoyable, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

2004-11-13 | Jesus Makes Me a Practical Optimist (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 97,000 Helpful Votes Globally) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Munch's Past Rears its Ugly Head (Again)
In Munch Mancini's seventh outing readers are introduced to a more settled, confident woman. She has worked had to build a sober and stable life for herself and her daughter Asia. This has happened through the trials and tribulations of the last six books, and the seventh is no different regarding her past life of bikers, prostitues, drugs and druggies returning to haunt her.

Asia's aunt reappears in L.A. out of the blue, wanting Asia to meet her children: Charlotte, a very disturbed teen, and Jill, a cheerful girl determined that life will be fine. Very quickly Charlotte goes missing, her mother is arrested, and Munch has an extra child to care for, a job to hold down, thefts to investigate, and her niece to find. At the same time she tries to maintain some sense of normalcy for her daughter.

This novel doesn't have the same grit and violence of the previous books, but it does have a more grown up Munch. What has changed is her more confident response to the problems, her circle of friends (including Lou her boss, Mace St. John a cop, and some ex-boyfriends), and her willingness to seek help. I like the more stable Munch who has learned from her past, but seems ready to leave it behind instead of run away from it. I would, however, encourage people to read the earlier books first, to get a better sense of where Munch came from. This is not my favorite of the series, but it is still a good read.

2004-06-21 (MIchigan) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Unpaid Dues

Description

Munch Mancini - mechanic, limousine driver, mother - 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, a house and job she loves...and she also has trouble when the battered body of her former pal is washed up in a Los Angeles drainage canal. Munch's policeman friend Mace St. John runs the dead woman's prints: her name is Jane Ferrar, but in her arrest report Mace finds Munch's photograph and fingerprints. What's the tie between the two women? Who killed Jane and what is the significance of the baby doll tied to her arms? Despite severing all ties with the people she used to know, especially Jane Ferrar and a dangerous man named Thor, Munch soon learns that it's not that easy to escape the past. Now, her whole new life is in danger of unravelling unless she can stop a killer.

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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

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Customer Reviews

Gritty Mystery
Mechanic Munch Mancini has her troubled life finally settled down, until her old pal New York Jane is murdered. Wasn't fond of the third person perspective, and it didn't keep me focused all the way. (B)

2004-09-26 (Melbourne, Australia) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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Beyond Genre
The Munch Mancini novels by Barbara Seranella are being marketed as "mystery fiction" and "crime novels." That is a blessing and a pitty as these books are often dismissed by literary snobs as inferior because of average writing and flat characters. Barbara Seranella is an excellent writer! And Munch is one of the best characters in ALL of fiction. She came from an upper middle class family, fell into a terrible life of drugs, sex, and mayhem, and then pulled herself out of it. A simple summary of the novels is that Munch-day by day- struggles to hold onto her new life. And there are plenty of people and events cropping up to pull her back into her old, bad ways. But the books offer so much more than that. Munch's insights into both worlds are sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, and always heart wrenching. I love this character because she takes the very hard lessons of her life and puts them into practice as she deals with the challenges of a sober life. She is so damned decent and so damned brave! As a character representing her time and place, Munch Mancini deserves to stand next to Anita Brookner's "Excellent Women" of post WWII England, in the literary (MAIN STREAM) hall of fame. I can only hope literary snobs - those who don't read genre- will somehow discover the Munch Mancini novels. Their lives will be greatly enriched for it.

2003-08-29 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Great character, Absorbing story
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.

2003-08-12 | bibliofiend508 (Plano, TX United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Smart and gritty
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.

2003-05-23 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Munchy urban noir thriller
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

2003-05-14 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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