Bandit Queen Boogie: A Novel
by Sparkle Hayter
from Three Rivers Press
A LITTLE ITALY, A LITTLE FRANCE, A LITTLE CRIME, A LITTLE ROMANCE
Meet Blackie and Chloe, two best friends who decide, over tequila shots at the campus bar, to spend the summer after graduation backpacking through Europe. Blackie wants to go a little crazy—drink, smoke, flirt, meet men, have a romance or two. Chloe wants to nurse her broken heart and bury her nose in a book. One is dark and boisterous, the other blond and quiet. Together, they are an irresistible combination to men . . . married men, to be exact.
The girls upgrade their accommodations from hostels to hotels when they let the men who’ve been wrecking their trip finance their fun. Accepting these cheaters’ invitations to their hotel suites, Blackie and Chloe beat them at their own game and make off with cash and whatever valuables are at hand while the men sleep it off. It’s the perfect crime (no married man would want to explain why he had two young coeds in his hotel room, now would he?) until they hit the wrong mark in Monte Carlo. When their latest “victim” turns up dead, the gig is up . . . and the Bandit Queens are on the run.
Chloe and Blackie’s ride through Europe gets a whole lot wilder with a bevy of wacky characters in hot pursuit of the two women who were last seen with the dead man and his golden statue. Will they be arrested, strain their friendship, or worse?
Bandit Queen Boogie is a wild goose chase of mistaken identity and international intrigue. If only every trip to Europe was this much fun.
What's A Girl Gotta Do
by Sparkle Hayter
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Naked Brunch: A howlingly funny novel of love run wild
by Sparkle Hayter
from Three Rivers Press
Annie Engel hasn’t been feeling herself lately. With good reason. A mousy secretary by day, she’s been morphing into a werewolf at night. In the morning, she’s not quite sure what she’s been up to, but she knows she’d like to do it again. She soon discovers that her odd dreams and strange hangovers are actually the remnants of a night out on the prowl.
But Annie’s predatory activities have not gone unnoticed, and soon she is being pursued by one hapless reporter, a psychiatrist who wants to save her from her beastly impulses, and another (guy) werewolf who captures her heart. Who is a nice werewolf to trust? Get ready for a manic, madcap chase through the dank underbelly of the big city, a place where no one seems to sleep and the scents of fear and desire are always in the air.
The Chelsea Girl Murders (Robin Hudson Mysteries)
by Sparkle Hayter
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Robin Hudson has reason to believe that the only cosmic order ruling her existence is Murphy's Law. What else could a woman think when her pious, next- door neighbor's electric Jesus display shorts out and burns down their East Village apartment building? Bad enough that she's just returned from a disastrous PR trip for TV network WNN. Who knew that touching Thai children's heads put a curse on them, or that in Russia, an even number of flowers is appropriate only for a funeral, not for a dinner party? Who knew that certain colleagues are plotting to oust her from the network, and that Pierre, her recent French fling, isn't calling. Now she's homeless. It's a good thing her friend Tamayo has offered her the use of an apartment in the famed artists' haven, the Chelsea. A little peace and quiet in an artistic setting is just what Robin needs.
But when a teenager named Nadia shows up on Tamayo's doorstep eager to be reunited with her fiancé, courtesy of Tamayo's underground lovers' railroad, Robin finds herself playing nurse to a spoiled-rotten Juliet. And when Nadia goes missing before her Romeo (Rocky) arrives, the next person at the door is enough to cross anyone's stars: Gerald Woznik--art dealer, lecher, and all- around cad, who stumbles across the threshold and inconsiderately dies.
Between finding Nadia, feeding Rocky, and fending off the police, Robin embarks on a one-woman campaign to solve the woes of the world--and opens a sizeable can of worms. What was socialite Grace Rouse doing clinging to the Chelsea fire escape the night Gerald was murdered? Why is art doyenne Miriam Grundy lying about meeting Nadia? And who is the "Baby" that everyone is talking about?
More comic novel than mystery, The Chelsea Girl Murders takes its readers on a rollicking jaunt through the Big Apple. Whodunit isn't nearly as important as what's-Robin-gonna-do-about-it, and some of her solutions are pricelessly funny. As in her previous Robin Hudson outings (Revenge of the Cootie Girls, Nice Girls Finish Last, What's A Girl Gotta Do, The Last Manly Man), Sparkle Hayter's observations on New Yorkers and their loony obsessions have just the right dash of caustic wit. Fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum can add another star to the pantheon of Northeastern femmes formidables. --Kelly Flynn
When a fire forces TV executive Robin Hudson to vacate her apartment, she and her cat, Louise Bryant, take shelter in the legendary bohemian hostelry the Chelsea Hotel. But then a smoky-eyed art dealer dies on her doorstep, and our ever-reluctant heroine is drawn into a homicide investigation. Is the murder related in some way to the star-crossed and irritable young lovers who have appealed to Robin for help? Or to a deadly catfight between rival lovers of the victim? To sort things out, Robin must brave the whole downtown scene: guerilla artists, jealous women, Zen bodybuilders, gouty widows, and befuddled tourists. And to make matters even more complicated, Robin herself seems to have fallen accidentally in love.
The Last Manly Man (Robin Hudson Mysteries)
by Sparkle Hayter
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Newswoman Robin Hudson finds that life actually seems to be going right for a change. But it isn't long before a good deed for a strange man leads her into a bizarre murder investigation-and into a secret world of men she never knew existed. A testosterone-filled hunting expedition, libidinous chimps, a convention of drugged feminists, and a mysterious chemical known as Adam 1: what better way for a girl to take a look at the sexual stereotypes, social conditioning, and mad science that obsesses us all? A perfect blend of mystery and mockery, as well as an unorthodox love letter to men, The Last Manly Man brings Robin one of her most unusual cases yet.
"[Hayter's] casual observations on New Yorkers and their loony obsessions have just the right dash of caustic wit." (The New York Times Book Review)
"The Last Manly Man is satire at its best: witty, wise, and oh, so relevant. Sparkle Hayter's novel . . . is an absolute hoot!" (Susan Isaacs)
Revenge of the Cootie Girls: A Robin Hudson Mystery
by Sparkle Hayter
from Viking Adult
Now executive producer of Special Reports, Robin Hudson is feeling (relatively) settled. Okay, she's bored. In an effort to feel useful, she has taken under her wing a new intern, wide-eyed small-town girl Kathy Loblaws, and invited her along on a Girls' Night Out. It's Halloween, and Kathy doesn't show--but telephones from a strange man's closet. Aided by her pals, Robin must track down her errant charge through one long night of murder and mayhem, costumes and concealed weapons, men who are not what they seem (are they ever?), and unsettling dj vu. For Robin slowly comes to realize that the search for her missing intern is really a deadly trip into the past, fueled by an old curse. Sparkle Hayter's rapidly growing cult of fans will relish the return of Robin Hudson, her smart mouth, her wild hair, and her motley collection of insane girlfriends. Hayter, who has defined the screwball mystery genre, has one of the freshest voices in mystery writing today. * Hayter's first novel, What's A Girl Gotta Do?, won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for best first mystery. Nice Girls Finish Last was nominated for best novel
* The Last ManlyMan, Hayter's new mystery, will be published by William Morrow in Spring 1998
Nice Girls Finish Last: A Robin Hudson Mystery
by Sparkle Hayter
from Viking Adult
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