false 2637123 2 <b>From Denise Hamilton, who has been hailed as "one of today's must-read writers" (Lee Child), comes a sexy, atmospheric, and seductive thriller set in 1949 Los Angeles, inspired by classic noir literature and a true unsolved crime.</b><P>Lily Kessler, a former stenographer and spy for the OSS, is asked by her late fiancé's mother to find out what happened to his sister Kitty, an actress who is missing from her Hollywood boardinghouse. Although the aspiring starlets at the house insist that Kitty is off somewhere furthering her career, her body is found the next day in a ravine below the Hollywood sign. Unimpressed by the local police, Lily investigates on her own.<P>As Lily delves further into Kitty's life, she encoun-ters fiercely competitive actors, gangsters, an eccentric special-effects genius, exotic denizens of Hollywood's nightclubs, and a homicide detective who might distract her from her quest for justice. But the landscape in burgeoning postwar Los Angeles can shift kaleido-scopically, and Lily begins to see how easily a young woman can lose her balance and fall prey to the alluring city's dangers....<P>With a vibrant cast of memorable characters, unerring insight into the desires and dark impulses that can flare between men and women, and a riveting narrative that builds to a stunning conclu-sion, <I>The Last Embrace</i> showcases Denise Hamilton at the height of her storytelling powers as she transports readers to a fascinating, transitional time in one of America's most beguiling cities. 2661842 1 7 2008 The Last Embrace total:48|5:0|4:2|3:0|2:0|1:0| 48 158 89 17 1 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 13:01:12 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 13:01:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Nov 24 16:25:01 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 16:33:22 -0800 2008 My big complaint is that even though the author gets the noir setting she doesn't commit either way to the noir "voice." Jam...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 10:30:27 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 10:31:30 -0700 2009
You could never fully own a girl like that, he thought. Part of her would always remain a mystery, tantalizing, and out of reach. She'd want to be treated like one...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 20:56:52 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 20:56:52 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 10:36:05 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 10:39:09 -0700 2008
In 2001, an editor at Scribner sent me the manuscript of a first novel called TheJasmine Trade by a Los Angeles Times reporter named Denise Hamilton. It was an intriguing, contemporary story built around some Asian teenagers whose parents left them on their own in San Marino...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 21:43:42 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 21:48:28 -0700 2009
It was interesting enough. I felt like there was a lot going on and sometimes it got kind of muddled to me. There wasn't too much of things happening without them telling you what it is (conversations without kno...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 16:50:35 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 17:10:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 10:45:29 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 30 18:32:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 15:56:03 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 15:58:09 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat Oct 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 12:41:53 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 18:40:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 10:35:31 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 10:36:23 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Sep 21 15:18:43 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 15:41:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 03 10:39:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 15:17:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 true false Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 02 17:33:59 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 14 20:18:05 -0700 2009 1 At least twice in my copy, the main character Lily was called Kitty, who was the victim.
And in the end, the author makes a grammatical mistake in her why-I-wrote-this-book statement. So I couldn't finish that part.
I like her modern day series be...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 21:08:53 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 21:12:55 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jan 25 08:24:41 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 08:25:59 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 17:36:36 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 17:37:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Oct 22 20:35:08 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 20:35:08 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Oct 10 10:10:54 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 10:10:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Oct 06 15:21:08 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 20:42:56 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 15:21:08 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2637123