Iris Thorne Mysteries Series

Cold Call is the first in the critically acclaimed Iris Thorne mystery series by Los Angeles Times bestseller Dianne Emley, now available for the first time as an e-book and trade paperback. Bonus: includes Chapter One of Slow Squeeze, the second Iris Thorne mystery. Iris Thorne traded her job teaching the deaf for a career in Los Angeles's glittering financial district, where the day starts on Wall Street time at 6:00 a.m., and—in the "greed is good" late 1980s—all of life's questions have numbers for answers. Big numbers. With her not-quite-paid-for Anne Klein suits and Triumph sports car, which leaks a little oil, Iris is a high-stakes success. Still, the only man at the office who knew the real Iris was Alley, the deaf and handicapped mailman. When Alley is killed, the police insist he was a victim of random gang violence. Iris doesn't buy it—and Alley's death has left her with a number of problems. The first is lanky, red-headed police detective John Somers… Iris's first love, back in her life after twenty years. Then there's Alley's secret legacy—a safe deposit box filled with souvenirs and some well-worn items of sentimental value: 238,000 of them, in hundreds, bundled together with rubber bands. The cops are looking for a killer. Some professional hard guys are looking for revenge. And, for a lost friend, Iris is looking for justice—a high-priced commodity in the L.A. marketplace, where life can be even cheaper than dreams. First in the Iris Thorne Mysteries series. Praise for Dianne Emley and the Iris Thorne Mysteries: "Robert B. Parker had Boston. Sara Paretsky Chicago, and now L.A. belongs to Dianne (Emley)." Nancy Pickard (award-winning author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning) "Clever… A very expert debut." Los Angeles Times Book Review "One of the best author debuts in many moons… Clever writing, characters shining with individuality… impressive." Cleveland Plain Dealer "An exciting find. Only one word for it: Wow!" The Observer (London) "Iris Thorne is here to stay." Newsday. "A fun and satisfying read." West Coast Review of Books "Iris Thorne looks like a winner… (Emley's) prose takes readers on a fast ride with a carload of colorful characters." St. Louis Post-Dispatch The Iris Thorne Mysteries Cold Call Slow Squeeze Fast Friends Foolproof Pushover The Detective Nan Vining Thrillers The First Cut Cut to the Quick The Deepest Cut Love Kills

"Sharp and stylish… Clever and cool." –Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News (UK) Fast Friends is the third in the critically acclaimed Iris Thorne mystery series by Los Angeles Times bestseller Dianne Emley, now available for the first time as an e-book and trade paperback. Includes bonus: the first chapter of Foolproof, the fourth Iris Thorne mystery. A sexy and surefooted investment counselor, who made her ride to the top in her red Triumph, circa 1972, Iris Thorne seems unshakable. She's never looked back on her long climb up—certainly not as far back as her blue-collar roots in East Los Angeles. But the suicide of Dolly DeLacey, the mother of Iris's childhood friend, Paula, has hit harder than the latest L.A. quake in 1994—and the aftershocks are just beginning. At the request of Dolly's husband, a slumlord with low friends in high places, Iris must locate the wayward Paula and bring her home for her mother's funeral. But Iris has inside information that makes returning to the old neighborhood a potentially deadly task—and casts Dolly's suicide in a suspicious light. Now, Iris dredges up an explosive memory she's kept hidden for years, a shocking secret that may help her solve an almost perfect murder—or bring her down in an act of long-awaited vengeance… "An engaging and page-turning blend of family psychopathology, financial and political shenanigans, and California entropy." —Jonathan Kellerman [Iris Thorne is] sleek, smart and refreshingly bitchy. . . Any heroine so ambitious and quirkily original that she'll sneak peeks into her associates' lunch bags for clues to their home lives deserves our undivided attention." —Dick Lochte, Los Angeles Times Book Review "A tightly knit, unpredictable tale. With her bold moral compass, her appealing in-your-face attitude and unsettled romantic life, Iris is a compelling heroine." —Publishers Weekly "[Emley's] real achievement here is making every single person Iris is attached to look suspicious and guilty." —Kirkus Reviews "A novel of suspense, romance, murder, and political intrigue on the richly detailed landscape of Los Angeles." —Pasadena Star-News "There's action to spare here. . . . [Emley's] uncanny knack for using the perfect word to fit the occasion gives the novel a special quality, and her characters are complex and disturbing. . . . There is an almost erotic lushness to her writing…" —Plain Dealer (Cleveland) The Iris Thorne Series Cold Call Slow Squeeze Fast Friends Foolproof Pushover The Detective Nan Vining Series The First Cut Cut to the Quick The Deepest Cut Love Kills

Emley's "...uncanny knack for using the perfect word gives the novel a special quality....There's action to spare...[and] an almost erotic lushness to her writing...." raved The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) of Dianne Emley's third smashing Iris Thorne mystery, Fast Friends. Now she plunges her savvy heroine into a maelstrom of marriage and murder in the Los Angeles high-tech world, proving that in a city where ruthless ambition, community property laws, and earthquakes are facts of life, nothing is really Foolproof. From where she stands in her newly purchased beachfront bungalow -- complete with cozy garage for her beloved red Triumph convertible -- life looks good for Los Angeles investment counselor Iris Thorne. The only clouds an her horizon are caused by her boss from hell and the never-ending office battles at McKinney Alitzer. But one hot night, everything changes. At the Gothic hilltop mansion owned by her dear friends, entrepreneurs Bridget and Kip Cross, Bridget is brutally murdered. The sole witness is Brianna, the couple's five-year-old daughter. The sole suspect is Kip, the volatile creative genius behind Pandora, the Crosses' trailblazing computer games company. Hotheaded Kip had motive to spare: he was violently opposed to his cool, business-minded wife's plan to take Pandora public. Iris must now sort through her conflicting emotions as she faces the mounting evidence against Kip: the gunpowder burns on his hands, infidelity against Bridget, and no alibi. Then there's the unsettling matter of Slade Slayer, the brutal antihero of Kip's revolutionary games -- rumored to be Kip's alter ego. Is there enough of Slade in Kip to have ended Bridget's life? Worse still, is he a threat to Brianna, who has wiped the murder from her young memory? Bridget surprised everyone -- especially Kip -- when she left her majority stake in Pandora not to her husband, but to her daughter. And she named Iris as administrator of Brianna's trust. Suddenly, Iris finds herself responsible for a collapsing computer games company, the financial future of a little girl, and, as Brianna could hold the key to convicting her mother's killer, maybe even the five-year-old's life. Exposing the deadly tensions behind the glamorous facades of Brentwood mansions and laying bare the riddles along a dark stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, Dianne Emley has marked the L.A. mystery with a style all her own. And with "her bold moral compass, her appealing in-your-face attitude and unsettled romantic life, Iris is a compelling heroine" (Publishers Weekly) who "deserves our undivided attention" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). "Foolproof reads the way [Emley's] heroine Iris Thorne drives her Triumph—fast and smooth with lots of deadly twists in the road. You can put the top down and cruise with this one." —Michael Connelly "An intricate, involving, suspenseful mystery. Welcome to Iris Thorne's world, where nothing is as it seems." —Robert Crais, internationally bestselling author of Taken [Emley's] fourth novel juggles computer gamesmanship, securities fraud, and murder most foul, seasoning the mix with her trademark office plotting, to come up with another winner that makes all manner of skullduggery look as natural as vanity and greed."—Kirkus (starred review) The Iris Thorne Mysteries Cold Call Slow Squeeze Fast Friends Foolproof Pushover The Detective Nan Vining Thrillers The First Cut Cut to the Quick The Deepest Cut

“A superior piece of storytelling...” –Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times Book Review Slow Squeeze is the second in the critically acclaimed Iris Thorne mystery series by Los Angeles Times bestseller Dianne Emley, now available for the first time as an e-book. Includes bonus material: Chapter One of Fast Friends, the third Iris Thorne Mystery. Iris Thorne survived the purge following McKinney Alitzer’s chain of scandals. The murders, money-laundering, and million-dollar embezzlement were front-page dirt—and rumor has it that Iris knows where the bucks are buried. Now she’s the firm’s highest-paid and most senior investment counselor. But happiness is a rare commodity in Iris’s private life—she and her LAPD lover are approaching a dead end. Enter, on purple three-inch heels, the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow’s a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow ready to invest. She’s brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she’s a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing in her head, Iris heads for Sunset Boulevard and margaritas with Barbie and sexy office colleague Art Silva. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations, the squeeze is on—but it’s anybody’s guess who’s zooming whom. Then Barbie’s found dead in bed, with evidence that implicates Iris. But there are things the cops don’t need to know, so Iris is taking this case solo. In a city that thrives on scandal, a murdered client takes its toll on even the most ironclad reputation... “Iris Thorne is back again in Slow Squeeze, confronting a hyper-zaftig and florid Southern lady with oodles of money to invest. [Emley] has a raucous sense of humor, a satiric eye, and an assured way with construction.” –Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times Book Review “(Four stars) [Emley’s] approach to her material is strikingly unusual. The characters, including Iris Thorne herself, have a lifelike complexity, and the portrait of Los Angeles... is masterfully drawn... Slow Squeeze is a distinguished crime novel.” – Jon L. Breen, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine “Brightly written and fleetly paced... Great fun.” –Kirkus Reviews “[Emley] serves up an exhilarating cocktail of high finance and mayhem and in Iris Thorne has produced a character who can hold her own with Gekko and yet still retain her femininity.” –Northern Echo (Great Britain) “Clever and sexy thriller.” –Manchester Evening News “Gritty... Those who come to Slow Squeeze... are in for a surprise... [Emley] has captured the essence of modern-day business, and ... the Los Angeles ambience as well.” –Deadly Pleasures “First-rate prose and characterizations.” –Publishers Weekly “Nimble plotting, right-on character development, and a surprise ending make this a great read.” –Dallas Morning News “Iris [Thorne] is here to stay.” –Observer [London] “As in her previous work, the author gives subplot space to sexual harassment, racism, and failed relationships. A... straightforward plot, told with verve.” –Library Journal The Iris Thorne Mysteries Cold Call Slow Squeeze Fast Friends Foolproof Pushover ** ** Will be out as e-books and trade paperback editions in 2012 The Detective Nan Vining Thrillers The First Cut Cut to the Quick The Deepest Cut Love Kills

"With her bold moral compass, her appealing in-your-face attitude and unsettled romantic life, Iris is a compelling heroine,” Publishers Weekly raved about the Iris Thorne Mysteries. Iris returns in Pushover, the fifth in the critically acclaimed series by Los Angeles Times bestseller Dianne Emley. Sexy and savvy Iris Thorne has made it to the big corner office of the glittering yet cutthroat Los Angeles investment firm, McKinney Alitzer. She’s looking ahead to a bright future with new boyfriend Garland Hughes when the past comes calling. Iris’s ex-fiancé Todd Fillinger surfaces after many years and invites Iris to participate in a lucrative new venture in the wild and woolly emerging Russian market--red-hot yet dangerous in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Iris's instincts warn her to stay home but she's intrigued, not least because she has personal business still to settle with Todd. But only hours after she’s met by Todd in Moscow, he’s gunned down in front of her. Horrified, Iris manages to return at least physically unscathed to the comforting familiarity of her L.A. beachfront bungalow and Garland’s arms. She’s brought with her Todd’s ashes which she’s agreed to deliver to his devastated sister. Only then does she learn that L.A. can be even more terrifying than Moscow and that the guilt-laden legacy of Todd Fillinger could destroy her. Praise for Dianne Emley's Iris Thorne Mysteries: [Iris Thorne is] sleek, smart and refreshingly bitchy. . . Quirkily original... Deserves our undivided attention.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Engaging and page-turning...” —Jonathan Kellerman "Sharp and stylish. . . Clever and cool.” —Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News (UK) “Iris [Thorne] is here to stay.” —Observer [London] Iris Thorne Mysteries Cold Call Slow Squeeze Fast Friends Foolproof Pushover Detective Nan Vining Thrillers The First Cut Cut to the Quick The Deepest Cut Love Kills