Last Lullaby

Eve Diamond Mystery #3

by Denise Hamilton

From multiaward-nominated and national bestselling author Denise Hamilton comes an electrifying new Eve Diamond novel that takes the reader on an exhilarating, heart-stopping, yet poignant ride through the dark streets of L.A."Los Angeles Times" reporter Eve Diamond has spent the day at LAX, shadowing U.S. Customs Supervisor William Maxwell. He's got his eye on an incoming flight from Beijing via Seoul and Tokyo. The flight's packed with the usual mass of humanity, ranging from the elegant Asian woman in the raspberry silk pantsuit who emerges from first class carrying a tired toddler to the scruffy students who have spent the long flight in economy.

Suddenly, shots ring out. Three people are dead, including two men who appear to be businessmen and the silk-clad woman. The man who was booked on the flight as the dead woman's husband is missing. And the sad little toddler is left behind.

Who is this child? Her passport says she's Japanese, but she doesn't seem to understand the language. Was the dead woman really her mother? Why has the child made five transpacific flights in one year? And why does the INS whisk her immediately into hiding?

Is this child a pawn in a larger scheme? Why would criminals care about this little girl? And why is Eve, too, in danger? Eve knows she must try to find the answers. Her search takes her into L.A.'s sleazy hotels, cybercafes, and into the upscale milieu of trendy restaurants and high-powered human-rights lawyers. Nothing is quite what it appears to be, and nobody seems to want Eve to find the child.

"Last Lullaby" is a richly nuanced crime novel from a superbly gifted author who asks important questions and never settles for thesuperficial answer. Her powerful prose and passion for her native city shine through on every page.

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Crime

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Denise Hamilton is a Los Angeles-based writer-journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Wired, Cosmopolitan, Der Spiegel, and New Times. A reporter for the L.A. Times for ten years, she covered not only L.A. stories, but also the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and burgeoning youth movements in Japan. A Fulbright scholar, she taught in the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War. She lives in a Los Angeles suburb with her husband and two young children. Her first novel, The Jasmine Trade, received wide acclaim and was a finalist for the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and WILLA Awards.

Series:
* Eve Diamond Mystery

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denise Hamilton's Eve Diamond character is a reporter for the LA Times who always manages to get in the middle of dangerous situations. In this novel, she is observing a US Customs official when gunfire breaks out and a woman escorting a young child is shot. Tasked with continuing to follow the story of the young child, she searches for the child and becomes the target of a criminal conspiracy.

The story is told in the first person and characters are appealing and realistic. Hamilton writes skillfully about the multicultural world of Los Angeles. When the book turns to romance, it reads more like a bodice ripper than a thriller, but thankfully this is a small part of the plot. There is plenty of tension in the action sections and a few surprises as the plot unfolds. A good thriller, especially if you enjoy novels with a female protagonist.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Los Angeles Times” Reporter Eve Diamond is covering a story about customs at the airport the day she sees the strikingly beautiful child with the Eurasian woman, presumably the girl's mother. But something about the two seems innately wrong to Eve, and her instincts prove true. Shots ring out, airline passengers die, and the child goes missing. There’s something about the child that Eve finds arresting and unforgettable. Seeking to learn more about the little girl, Eve pursues her through some engaging twists and turns. The search takes her among a murky collection of criminals and law-enforcement people, few of whom are what they seem to be.

I’ve enjoyed the books in the series so far. One of the most important reasons for that is Hamilton’s ability to craft a subplot that is nearly as intriguing and engaging as the main portions of the book. Eve’s search for the child becomes more visceral and personal when she learns that she is pregnant with a child she’s not interested in keeping. There’s plenty of suspense to keep you interested, and Diamond is the kind of old-fashioned pre-Internet reporter who just wants to tell a story minus the activist silliness and minus any slanted agenda in any direction. She’s a joy to read about, and her stories, were she real, would have been thought provoking and interesting reading.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good series of murder mystery thrillers featuring young LA Times reporter Eve Diamond. The book is fast-paced with lots of good twists and turns. Most rewarding is that with each novel, the characters grow and deepen - a fairly unusual quality in this genre. A good airport/beach read.

[Mike Nettleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book begins with high drama, but, to my tastes kind of peters out later on. I found the plot predictable and the whodunit factor a little too obvious. Its saving grace is a strong, take-no-prisoners female protagonist with a driving need to right wrongs. A good read, but I wouldn't call it compelling.

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fast-paced, cliff-hanging conclusion made up for some of the slower bits of personal life that didn't feel quite true to me.

[Teresa mcgaha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I walked away from this series and this book may be the reason. I like the profile of the main character female Asian American who is a reporter for the LA times where it still thrived before the internet exploded and sadly sexism still ran rampart. The plot was a good idea, using toddlers to smuggle drugs into the country. Sadly it fell into the hole where the female lead goes off on a tangent playing detective to solve a case or in this episode the story.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I look foreward to reading Denise Hamilton because of the social issues she addresses. She brings up details that most of us might not think of when we blandly describe ourselves as social liberals.

However, I dislike that her character, Eve Diamond, is supposedly a hardened investigative journalist yet goes into shock so easily when facing the facts she is investigating. Of course I, the reader, am supposed to be shocked at these discoveries, but a journalist?

As a writer she aims at about the sixth grade reading level and repeats so often that I feel like yelling, "OK, I got it!"

[Victoria Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my third Eve Diamond mystery--set in LA with a LA Times heroine,I'd give the series a B and hier first THE JASMINE TRADE a B+. I read bunches of detective fiction--usually police procedurals.

[Auntjenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these books... although they are kind of corny, and I skimmed a lot of it toward the end. But still..