- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Constable (25 April 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841195073
- ISBN-13: 978-1841195070
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,006,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"* 'Two of the most memorable police detectives to appear in mystery fiction' - Ed McBain * 'A stylish gift for language... tender and believable... the characters come alive' -Washington Post Book World * 'The Hammet-Chandler tradition is alive and well... all the right laconic flicks of humour, all the right humanity under the slick quickness that the old masters employed' - H R F Keating * 'Perhaps the best novelist of the New South... and one of the most distinctive talents to emerge in crime fiction.' - Guardian
Guardian, April 27, 2002
'This is an award-bound tale of mischief and compassion...'
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First Sentence
I go riding in the mornings on a horse named Manassas. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I go riding in the mornings on a horse named Manassas. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's great to have Malone back in Hillston, North Carolina after a decade (although things seemed to have only moved on a couple of years in this contained world), but perhaps inevitably this fails to match the awesome brilliance of 'Time's Witness'. Firstly this is narrated by Justin Savile, instead of his more attractive and interesting boss, Cuddy Mangum. Without our errant former narrator in charge we are at least free to follow the clean line of the novel's compelling narrative, but we are robbed of some of the preceeding work's scope and greatness (also ensuring this is a shorter book). More damagingly we are presented with the character of Mavis Mahar, Irish rock star and international superstar. Popular music in fiction almost always comes off as bogus and cheesy, the more earnestly presented the worst so (especially when chunks of risible fake lyrics are reproduced). The result is always toe-curlingly embarrassing. Combine this with the usual American portrayal of 'Begorrah Oirishness and speech littered with 'boyos' and 'so it is' - American authors always over-egg Irish and British characters and as ever this is embarrassingly quaint. This said Malone still manages to deliver a rip-roaring thriller jam-packed with humanity and humour, not least when Cuddy is on the scene.
Disappointing after the classic 'Time's Witness', this is still head and shoulders above most crime fiction - witty, thrilling and smart, Malone cannot fail but to deliver a work marked by his own genius.
Format:Paperback
Most people are familiar with Michael Malone for his great novels
'Dingley Falls' and 'Handling Sin' but he has also written three of the best who-dun-it police procedurals ever published and of those 'First Lady' is the best. Set in small town North Carolina, a woman's body is found, addressed to the police chief, and then another, and then a third. Could it be the smooth talking Governor, or his chief press aide who is definitely guilty of something or does it have something to do with the international star singer who is playing the town arena; or is it someone entirely different. This is a big book - 450 pages in my edition - full of rich characters, intriguing plot lines and, in the end, a wonderful villain, deadly and horrific. My one complaint is that the last 70 pages are so exciting it is easy to speed-read, one is so desperate to get to the next page.
'Dingley Falls' and 'Handling Sin' but he has also written three of the best who-dun-it police procedurals ever published and of those 'First Lady' is the best. Set in small town North Carolina, a woman's body is found, addressed to the police chief, and then another, and then a third. Could it be the smooth talking Governor, or his chief press aide who is definitely guilty of something or does it have something to do with the international star singer who is playing the town arena; or is it someone entirely different. This is a big book - 450 pages in my edition - full of rich characters, intriguing plot lines and, in the end, a wonderful villain, deadly and horrific. My one complaint is that the last 70 pages are so exciting it is easy to speed-read, one is so desperate to get to the next page.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
33 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
The Saga Continues.....
11 Nov 2001
Format:Hardcover
Hillston, North Carolina Police Chief, Cuddy Mangum has his hands full, and it looks like his beloved job is on the line. Just as he's being recognized, nationally, as an innovative crime fighter, and his department is ranked number one in small cities in the south, there appears to be a serial killer loose in Hillston, murdering and mutilating women. To make matters worse, this brazen killer seems to be taunting and challenging Cuddy and his best friend, Homicide Lieutenant, Justin Savile V, personally, leaving the two of them messages on the bodies, and clues in their offices, homes and cars. The entire police department is running in circles, and beginning to look both inept, and incapable of solving these crimes. As the body count rises, North Carolina politics come into play, and Cuddy and Justin are issued an ultimatum...solve these crimes, now, or turn in your resignations..... After ten years, Michael Malone is finally back with a new mystery starring his most memorable characters, Cuddy Mangum and Justin Savile V, from his critically acclaimed novels, Uncivil Seasons and Time's Witness. Unfortunately, First Lady is not nearly as good as the previous two books, and has some problems. Though the writing is crisp and eloquent, and the dialogue, wonderful, the plot is neither tight, suspenseful, nor all that compelling, and tends to ramble all over the place. Instead of being intriguing and intricate, the story line tends to be confusing and unbelievable and Mr Malone ties up the loose ends with a predictable and unsatisfying ending. That said, his characterizations are brilliant and unrivaled, and he brings Hillston and the New South to life with imagination, and great insight, wisdom and humor. If you're a Michael Malone fan, you probably won't want to miss the continuing saga of Mangum and Savile. For those new to this author, go back and read his much better previous works, and enjoy.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Guess Who? Cuddy and Justin Return
11 Sep 2001
Format:Hardcover
As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I have been wondering when I'd next read a Michael Malone mystery. He vanished from the mystery world, yet now, over a decade after vanishing, he has returned with his North Carolina-based series starring police officers Cuddy Mangum and Justin Savile. FIRST LADY is as well written as his previous novels. It is thoroughly contemporary--a bit hardboiled and noirish with violence and sex. There is political corruption, odd characters, official manipulation, and sensational crimes. Our protagonists are flawed characters though good men. Cuddy and Justin are searching for a serial killer known in the media as Guess Who. Malone's plot is well-paced. His story seems believable. FIRST LADY is a fine work--well worth the long wait.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
MICHAEL MALONE -- IN TOP FORM -- IS BACK!
25 Sep 2001
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Although murder, policemen and sleuthing are central to its plot, Michael Malone's splendid new novel FIRST LADY is no more a conventional mystery than War & Peace is a book about battle strategies. The true glory of Malone's work lies in how deftly and imaginatively he gives his characters life and depth, and how perfect is his ear for dialogue. While the "whodunit" aspect of the book certainly is interesting and credible (and provides ample grist for devotees of the genre, including a most satisfying denouement), it is the legions of disparate flesh-and-blood people that make FIRST LADY so absorbing and so entertaining. This is a book for serious readers - and for people who normally eschew detective fiction. Malone is a southerner who has spent much of his life elsewhere. His arms-length fascination with the not always smooth melding of the Old and New South gives FIRST LADY, which is set in North Carolina, a wry descant. After a long sojourn doing other things, Malone, one of our very best novelists (DINGLEY FALLS, UNCIVIL SEASONS, HANDLING SIN, TIME'S WITNESS, FOOLSCAP), is back and in top form. Rush to embrace this book: you'll love it!
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