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Christie Opara #3
The ledger
Elena Vargas is a witness to a homicide, the shooting of a foot soldier in an international mob cartel. But the sultry call girl and sometime-mistress of gang lord Enzo Giardino claims to have seen and heard nothing.
Desperate to make a case against Giardino, the District Attorney offers Vargas protective custody in exchange for betraying her lover. But no one can make her talk.
Going on nothing but gut instinct, New York Police Department cop Christie Opara uncovers something in Vargas's past that could give them the leverage they need . . .
Desperate to make a case against Giardino, the District Attorney offers Vargas protective custody in exchange for betraying her lover. But no one can make her talk.
Going on nothing but gut instinct, New York Police Department cop Christie Opara uncovers something in Vargas's past that could give them the leverage they need . . .
- GenresFiction
469 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 1970
About the author
Dorothy Uhnak
35 books17 followersUhnak's first book was autobiographical Policewoman (1964), written and published while she was still a New York Transit Police detective.
Her debut fiction, The Bait (1968), received a 1969 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel (in a tie with E. Richard Johnson's Silver Street). ,The Bait was also made into a 1973 made-for-television film of the same title. It was followed by The Witness and The Ledger, which was adapted for the TV-movie and series Get Christie Love! starring Teresa Graves. All three novels featured Christie Opara, an NYPD detective assigned to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where Uhnak herself was assigned for many years.
Later works included Law and Order, which was made into a TV-movie starring Darren McGavin and The Investigation, which was adapted into a TV-movie, "Kojak: The Price of Justice", with Telly Savalas.
In her later years she suffered from depression. She committed suicide by a self-administered drug overdoes in 2006. She was seventy-six at the time of her death.
Her debut fiction, The Bait (1968), received a 1969 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel (in a tie with E. Richard Johnson's Silver Street). ,The Bait was also made into a 1973 made-for-television film of the same title. It was followed by The Witness and The Ledger, which was adapted for the TV-movie and series Get Christie Love! starring Teresa Graves. All three novels featured Christie Opara, an NYPD detective assigned to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where Uhnak herself was assigned for many years.
Later works included Law and Order, which was made into a TV-movie starring Darren McGavin and The Investigation, which was adapted into a TV-movie, "Kojak: The Price of Justice", with Telly Savalas.
In her later years she suffered from depression. She committed suicide by a self-administered drug overdoes in 2006. She was seventy-six at the time of her death.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 27, 2015
L'unica cosa che salvo di questo romanzo (che ho letto esclusivamente per concludere un Challenge su GR) è la relazione tra Christie e Reardon. Tutto il resto è stato di una noia mortale e anche tradotto abbastanza male... :-/
February 7, 2021
Realistic late 1960s setting. Interesting characters, Written back in the time when the author did not need 200 pages of fill for a 300 page book.
September 14, 2014
When you read procedural mysteries that was written more than 40 years ago, have an open-mind. Political correctness of the 21st century is not applicable.
April 11, 2025
A recent “Grammar Girl” podcast featured Editor Samantha Enslen, (dragonflyeditorial.com), who expressed a reading preference for books edited prior to 1990. I thought I was the only person who felt like that, and I wanted to involuntarily cheer for her and extend a virtual hand of support and goodwill. I don’t know why it is, but I’m more comfortable with older books. And, no, they don’t have to be classics. And ultimately, that brings me to the purpose of this review.
Written in 1970, this is the fictional account of Detective Christie Opara, who works for the district attorney’s office in New York City. If memory serves, the author draws heavily on personal experience for these books.
Opara’s supervisor tasks her with overseeing Elena Vargas, the mistress of a global drug overlord. It’s Opara’s assignment to learn where the drug kingpin keeps his ledgers of incoming and outgoing heroin shipments. It’s a fascinating look at how cops and lawyers treated female detectives in 1970. Opara, who suffers with a nasty cold throughout the book, allows her male bosses to manhandle her way too much. I was uncomfortable with all the grabbing, griping, pushing, and more she had to endure as part of the job. They treat the ravishing beauty prostitute with such deference, and Christie gets shoved and bullied. And she takes it.
The assignment isn’t without its real danger. Opara realizes early that if she is to get to Elena, she must figure out those areas where the woman is most vulnerable and pressure her there. Opara’s vulnerability is her seven-year-old son, and she wonders whether Elena has a similar situation.
I loved reading this. You read about carbon paper in the typewriter and carbon paper smudges on faces. Wow! Talk about time travel! Phones are on desks, not in pockets, and there’s no DNA to come to the rescue. It’s worth your time, even if you figure out the mystery behind the ledger.
Written in 1970, this is the fictional account of Detective Christie Opara, who works for the district attorney’s office in New York City. If memory serves, the author draws heavily on personal experience for these books.
Opara’s supervisor tasks her with overseeing Elena Vargas, the mistress of a global drug overlord. It’s Opara’s assignment to learn where the drug kingpin keeps his ledgers of incoming and outgoing heroin shipments. It’s a fascinating look at how cops and lawyers treated female detectives in 1970. Opara, who suffers with a nasty cold throughout the book, allows her male bosses to manhandle her way too much. I was uncomfortable with all the grabbing, griping, pushing, and more she had to endure as part of the job. They treat the ravishing beauty prostitute with such deference, and Christie gets shoved and bullied. And she takes it.
The assignment isn’t without its real danger. Opara realizes early that if she is to get to Elena, she must figure out those areas where the woman is most vulnerable and pressure her there. Opara’s vulnerability is her seven-year-old son, and she wonders whether Elena has a similar situation.
I loved reading this. You read about carbon paper in the typewriter and carbon paper smudges on faces. Wow! Talk about time travel! Phones are on desks, not in pockets, and there’s no DNA to come to the rescue. It’s worth your time, even if you figure out the mystery behind the ledger.
May 21, 2015
La cosa divertida, es que es un libro de accion, investigacion, series policiacas, lucha.
Y yo en lo único que podía pensar era en la detective Opara y el Sr. Reardon, sorry not sorry.
Casey Reardon:
Me molesto, que la tipa esa no sacara otro libro de la detective, osea me quede con dudas, ¿El señor Reardon se divorcia de su esposa? ¿Quedan juntos?.
Primero tenia que escribir la continuacion y luego morir.
Y yo en lo único que podía pensar era en la detective Opara y el Sr. Reardon, sorry not sorry.
Casey Reardon:
Me molesto, que la tipa esa no sacara otro libro de la detective, osea me quede con dudas, ¿El señor Reardon se divorcia de su esposa? ¿Quedan juntos?.
Primero tenia que escribir la continuacion y luego morir.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews