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All Emergencies, Ring Super
Once an aspiring actress, Dana Coakley has abandoned the bright lights of stardom for a less glamourous position: as superintendent of an Upper West Side apartment building. The pay isn't great, and grouting and plumbing aren't dream work, but the rent is free, and it gives her more time to work with the disadvantaged inner-city kids she tutors.
One of those kids, Travis, confides in Dana that he believes a fatal fire in a low-income housing building was actually the work of an arsonist, and not the accident it was deemed. Dana begins investigating, but her snooping unearths more questions than it answers. What does a wealthy real-estate mogul have to do with the fire? What does a teenage drug lord know about it? And can Dana-with the help of her wisecracking friends-solve the case between leaky faucets, loose tiles, and whiny tenants?
One of those kids, Travis, confides in Dana that he believes a fatal fire in a low-income housing building was actually the work of an arsonist, and not the accident it was deemed. Dana begins investigating, but her snooping unearths more questions than it answers. What does a wealthy real-estate mogul have to do with the fire? What does a teenage drug lord know about it? And can Dana-with the help of her wisecracking friends-solve the case between leaky faucets, loose tiles, and whiny tenants?
300 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1997
About the author
Ellen Emerson White
39 books250 followersThis talented writer attended Tufts University (and published her first book, Friends for Life, while a senior there) and currently lives in New York City. Ms. White grew up in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Many of her novels feature characters who reside in or around Boston and are fans of the Boston Red Sox (as is Ms. White). In addition to novels, Ms. White has published several biographies. She also writes under the pseudonym Zack Emerson (taking the name Zack from the name of her shepherd dog) and under the pseudonym Nicholas Edwards (Santa Paws series).
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 31, 2009
Meg Powers as grown-up actress/building super becomes an unwilling private investigator. I think EEW has firmly entered into the Sarah Dessen camp, where I'm happy to encounter the same character over and over again in different settings with a different name, because I wasn't really ready for those earlier books to end anyway.
Like the early version of The President's Daughter, this one had some awesome dated fashion:
Craig answered the door, wearing a red headband, bicycle pants, an ancient Evita t-shirt, and Capezio dance sneakers.
Um, WOW. That was on page 2. I almost put it on Twitter. Other blasts from the past: brand-new shiny white Tretorns (remember those?), an office-to-nightclub black Victoria's Secret dress (I'm sure my mom owned at least one of these), and leggings with oversized tops all made appearances.
It was perhaps even more lesbionic than
, but sadly never made it past homoerotic overtones. And by overtones, I mean Jude Law-Robert Downey Jr-Sherlock Holmes style. Here's hoping that the next one will go all the way!
This wasn't really as good as her YA novels, but I'd certainly read the sequel if it ever came out.
Like the early version of The President's Daughter, this one had some awesome dated fashion:
Craig answered the door, wearing a red headband, bicycle pants, an ancient Evita t-shirt, and Capezio dance sneakers.
Um, WOW. That was on page 2. I almost put it on Twitter. Other blasts from the past: brand-new shiny white Tretorns (remember those?), an office-to-nightclub black Victoria's Secret dress (I'm sure my mom owned at least one of these), and leggings with oversized tops all made appearances.
It was perhaps even more lesbionic than
, but sadly never made it past homoerotic overtones. And by overtones, I mean Jude Law-Robert Downey Jr-Sherlock Holmes style. Here's hoping that the next one will go all the way! This wasn't really as good as her YA novels, but I'd certainly read the sequel if it ever came out.
November 20, 2018
A good first entry into a new series, but it suffers at the beginning by spending too much time setting up the characters and the mystery to be solved. A good beginning but time will tell if this gets going.
September 26, 2007
I believe Ellen is working on a sequel.
February 18, 2011
Gosh I forgot how much I like Ellen Emerson White. Wisecracking actress-turned-apartment super Dana Coakley is just my cup of tea. I wish the promised sequel would surface.
June 8, 2007
This was an incredibly dark book. Even EEW's trademark dry humor couldn't elevate it. That's not a style I usually prefer, but I liked it, after awhile. Dana was more grown up and less screwed up than Meg or Rebecca were, and an interesting main character, one I could identify with. I really worried for her and her friends throughout the book and at the end, especially. It was a decent mystery, quite scary in some parts, and the characters made me like the story more than I would have otherwise. But of the many books I've read by the author, this is one I likely will not be rereading very often.
June 22, 2013
it's going to be interesting to read this book along with the rest of hers. That is if she does any giveaways.
February 24, 2014
What a funny book! I love the idea of an actor playing a detective who just happens to have a job as a building super. She knows her stuff too. Looking forward to the sequel.
February 28, 2015
3.5 stars
June 30, 2024
After I started reading this book, I remembered why I had meant to skip this one of EEW's. There's murder, not just a burned building. I don't really enjoy mystery, but I was searching for EEW's books I hadn't read yet, and I really should have skipped it.
No one warned me that a woman would be severely beaten in this book. It was Meg Powers again, with the knee and the shoulder and the pain pills. Finally there's a PT appointment, but Dana goes all over doing all sorts of things before it seemed she'd had time to heal much. Shrugging makes her wince, so I really wondered how she managed to put tape over a camera in an elevator. And get dressed and stuff. With broken ribs.
So, right. The plot is not for me at all. It's like, Dana suspects it's this guy. And it's that guy. There's not a whole lot to the story, except talking to different people and violent and illegal--and totally unbelievable--things. I suppose they work in a hijinks buddy comedy; I just didn't know that's what I was going to read.
But what really makes me sad it that I had trouble with the writing. The writing that I *loved* in The Road Home. The deadpan deliveries and the sarcasm. Maybe they worked in wartime, but got tiresome in a "witty" murder mystery.
The writing style, it just has so many--interruptions. Many, hell--most--sentences interrupted themselves for some kind of an aside. And it just became--tiresome. See what I did there? Really. Open up to any page and there will be a slew of commas and dashes. That kind of thing really needs to be used more sparingly than White did in this novel.
Still couldn't help myself and ordered Romance is a Wonderful Thing on eBay! At least a woman shouldn't be pummeled in this one...
No one warned me that a woman would be severely beaten in this book. It was Meg Powers again, with the knee and the shoulder and the pain pills. Finally there's a PT appointment, but Dana goes all over doing all sorts of things before it seemed she'd had time to heal much. Shrugging makes her wince, so I really wondered how she managed to put tape over a camera in an elevator. And get dressed and stuff. With broken ribs.
So, right. The plot is not for me at all. It's like, Dana suspects it's this guy. And it's that guy. There's not a whole lot to the story, except talking to different people and violent and illegal--and totally unbelievable--things. I suppose they work in a hijinks buddy comedy; I just didn't know that's what I was going to read.
But what really makes me sad it that I had trouble with the writing. The writing that I *loved* in The Road Home. The deadpan deliveries and the sarcasm. Maybe they worked in wartime, but got tiresome in a "witty" murder mystery.
The writing style, it just has so many--interruptions. Many, hell--most--sentences interrupted themselves for some kind of an aside. And it just became--tiresome. See what I did there? Really. Open up to any page and there will be a slew of commas and dashes. That kind of thing really needs to be used more sparingly than White did in this novel.
Still couldn't help myself and ordered Romance is a Wonderful Thing on eBay! At least a woman shouldn't be pummeled in this one...
September 5, 2023
uneven, but a fun time. i wish ellen emerson white wrote more books, because a lot of the themes i liked in the presidents daughter series are present in her other books too
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews