The Thirteenth Rose

By Gail Bowen

For his Valentine's night call-in show, host Charlie D plans to offer his listeners two hours on the topic of "satisfaction." His in-studio guest is twenty-five-year-old Misty de Vol Burgh, formerly the highest-paid escort in the city but now happily married to eighty-three-year-old billionaire Henry Burgh.

It's all good fun until Charlie receives a chilling message: "It's take-out-the-garbage night. Time to kill all the hookers and wash the streets with blood." When Charlie is directed to a website that allows viewers to watch the murder of a prostitute in real time and promises that another killing will be broadcast live within the hour, the hunt is on. But The World According to Charlie D. has an audience of over a million listeners. The murderer could be anyone, anywhere. Charlie and his team have less than two hours to find and stop the killer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781459802278

Gail Bowen

Gail Bowen is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Joanne Kilbourn. Winner of both the Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award and the Derrick Murdoch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Crime Writers of Canada, in 2008 Bowen was named “Canada’s Best Mystery Novelist” by Reader’s Digest. She was selected as one of "The 100 Most Popular Contemporary Mystery Authors" for an upcoming Library Unlimited reference book. For more information, visit www.gailbowen.com.

Book preview

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Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

About the Author

Excerpt from Love You To Death

Excerpt from One Fine Day You're Gonna Die

Chapter One

For the hustlers in my neighborhood, the evening of February 14 is bigger than Christmas. No one wants to spend the last hours of Valentine’s Day alone. And Shuter Street is the place to connect. Even the midwinter slush can’t dampen the festive mood. Everybody wants to party. The hookers, in their lipstick-red, thigh-high boots, offer clients a buffet of sexual pleasures. Drug dealers offer their own buffet, an array of goodies that can perk you up or take you out—buyer’s choice.

When Dolores O’Reilly calls my name from across the street, something in her voice catches my attention. Dolores has been working Shuter Street for as long as I can remember. Her days as a dewy Irish rose are long past. She’s giving Father Time a run for his money. But there’s more brass than copper in Dolores’s shoulder-length curls. Her eyes are tired too. She’s seen too much.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Charlie D, she says. There is no mistaking the sadness in her voice. I’m carrying thirteen long-stemmed scarlet roses for my producer, Nova Langenegger. I cross the street, pluck one of the roses from the florist’s wrapping and hand it to Dolores.

She holds the deep-red blossom against her cheek. You didn’t have to do that, Charlie D, she says. But I’m glad you did.

Bad night?

She nods. The worst. That O’Hanlon guy you’ve got working at your station is trouble. He’s frothing at the mouth about cleaning up the red-light district.

Kevin O’Hanlon is a mean dog, I agree. He’s always growling and snapping at something. His ratings are through the roof. But I don’t think people take him seriously.

You’re wrong, Charlie D. Dolores lights a Player’s Plain and drags deeply. Kevin O’Hanlon has a following. They call themselves O’Hanlon’s Warriors, and they’re making life hell for sex workers.

Are they harassing you?

She raises an eyebrow. You have no idea, she says. "At first it was just name-calling. And what the cops call ‘inappropriate touching.’ Then O’Hanlon’s Warriors got creative. They started a one-page newspaper called—are you ready?—SLUT ALERT. It’s about what you’d expect. Pictures of girls on the stroll. Obscene cartoons. Lists of the license numbers of johns. Now the word on the street is that the Warriors are beating up both girls and johns."

If people are getting hurt, you should go to the police.

Dolores widens her eyes in disbelief. Jeez, Charlie, were you born yesterday? In this neighborhood, cops are not our friends. Besides, we don’t have proof that O’Hanlon’s Warriors have hurt anybody. All we have are rumors. She takes another drag on her cigarette. Whatever they’re doing, the Warriors have really cut into business. I’ve been out here for two hours and not even a sniff.

I smile. A knockout like you? That must be hard on your ego.

Like I have any ego left after all these years. Dolores laughs, but the Player’s Plains have taken their toll. Her laugh ends in a coughing fit. My New Year’s resolution is to quit smoking, she says.

New Year’s is eleven months away, I say.

She winks. Lucky for me, huh? Dolores takes a final puff of her cigarette. Then she throws it to the sidewalk and grinds it out with the toe of her boot. Time to get back to work.

Why don’t you take the night off? I say. Go home. Pour yourself a glass of that vin rose you like and listen to Leonard Cohen.

A girl’s got to pay the rent, Dolores says. She tries a smile, but she’s had a procedure to plump out her lips, and they remain frozen.

A late-model SUV turns the corner. Dolores waves her rose at the driver, and he slows. Her face brightens.

You brought me luck, Charlie, she says. Leonard Cohen’s going to have to take a cold shower.

She approaches the car, exchanges a few words with the driver and slides into the front seat. Over the years, I’ve seen Dolores hop into a hundred cars. I turn my attention to something that’s a real novelty.

A black Rolls-Royce is purring down the street toward CVOX ("ALL TALK/ALL THE

Reviews for The Thirteenth Rose

[kayebarley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reed Farrel Coleman is, in my opinion. one of the best writers writing today. His work doesn't seem to get the attention I feel it should, but those of us who have been lucky enough to discover it are loyal fans. Dirty Work is not part of Mr. Coleman's Moe Prager series, but introduces us to a new protag I'm interested in getting to know a little better.

[kibosa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick enjoyable read. I kept thinking of a 40's black and white detective movie while reading - the characters, dialogue and plot. Very little in suspense as the plot unfolded. Both my daughter and I read it and could figure out who was who.

[scperryz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nothing overtly wrong with this book - potentially interesting characters, okay story. But the writing is far too spare and simple for my tastes. I prefer mysteries with atmosphere and complexity.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a nice little piece about Gulliver Dowd, a private detective, looking for the missing daughter of a high school girl firend of his. It has all the elements: a little person as a P. I., a tall Black man (a la Hawk from the Spenser series), a little romance. It's got suspense and you don't figure out the ending mid way through the story. In 130 pages Coleman does a great job in telling this story.

[romonko · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I received this little book as an early reviewer read. I am not a big fan of rapid-read books. In fact, to me, the bigger the book, the better. This isn't a bad little book. It certainly has a different protagonist. Gulliver is a small-person and in spite of his size, he is a Private Investigator. We really didn't have the time to learn much about Gulliver becuase the book is so short. And most of the insight that we did get was about what it was like to live as a little-person in a big person's world. There wasn't much mystery here either. Gulliver is hired by his ex-high school sweetheart to find her 16 year old daughter. He does find her at the end but he also learns a hard life-lesson as he deals with his ex-girlfriend. If a little book like this one with a bit of action in it can get some people to read, then these books do serve as a valuable tool. I don't care for the format, but I'm a voracious reader and don't need any excuse to sit down and enjoy a book.

[delta61 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dirty Work is a Rapid Read I obtained from LibraryThing. It is a well-known tale of a detective searching for a missing runaway who turns out to be his daughter. The back cover told me it was an adult fiction, verified by the use of the F word and sex scenes. I thought it was something made up for a reluctant reader. There are a number of two, three, four, and five word sentences. I thought these sentences better suited to a list than a paragraph. I did not complete the book.

[scrabblenut · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The premise of Dirty Work caught my attention: a private investigator is asked to look for a missing girl, who turns out to be his own daughter that he never knew he had, the product of a two-month relationship in high school. The private investigator is a unique character, a "little person" with a huge chip on his shoulder because of people's reaction to his stature. Unfortunately I did not find him likeable or particularly believable, and that diminished my interest in the story considerably. I do realize that the Rapid Reads series is designed to be short in length and with limited vocabulary, and have enjoyed other books in the series written by some of my favourite mystery writers. However, Dirty Work did not do it for me. It was too hard-boiled and included some unnecessary crudeness. The only character who came across as human was a Mafia boss!

[readerbynight · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great new character in this Rapid Reads book. These books, or those who may not know, are complete stories that can read in a long commute (not driving LOL.) This one grabbed me right away, with its physically flawed hero. PI Gulliver Dowd's honest toughness reminds me somewhat of a Humphrey Bogart type of PI. I loved this quick read very much; from the strength of character, his honesty, his heartbreak, and his genuine outlook on the hand he has been dealt. Searching for a missing teen, all these traits come to the fore. Gullie, as his friends refer to him, is a character I would definitely like to read about again. The storyline was tight, characters deftly written. I would love to read a Gulliver Dowd series, hopefully it will be in the works. Great read!Note: I know this isn't usual, but my husband Dennis Gelean insists that I include his comment that he was pleasantly surprised by the book and recommends it as one he enjoyed very much.

[tarmina_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, this certainly was a rapid read. I read it in an hour. Reminds me of the film noir genre, I guess you could call it a livre noir. Gulliver Dowd is a vertically challenged, hard boiled but handsome private detective who is manipulated into looking for a young runaway and doesnt stop until he finds her. In 129 pages the author manages to paint a decent picture of Gulliver and his friends, his past and his character. I liked him. I would be interested in reading other books in the series.