It's Raining Men: An Emma Price Mystery

by: Naomi Rand

Published by: Avon

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

Rand, author of Stealing for a Living and The One that Got Away, is back with another riveting Emma Price mystery. Price is an investigator with the New York Capitol Crimes unit, mother of two, and the girlfriend of a New York cop.

Opening with Emma waking up in a hospital after a beating (her kids are visiting their father and his new wife in California), the story gets seriously scary quickly. She had been called late at night to meet her boss and good friend Dawn Prescott on a street corner. Once there she is accosted and kidnapped by two strange men who take her to an abandoned pier. They think she is Dawn. Emma is able to distract them long enough to dive in the water and get away. Later Dawn's body is discovered in a hotel room with the body of one of the men who kidnapped Emma.

Dawn was working on the case of Arthur Nevins, in prison and on death row for over eight years for the murders of his wife, their daughter, and his wife's aunt and uncle. He claims his confession was extracted by threats of violence. A new expensive attorney is taking on his case, Jason Samuels, who can get anyone off. Samuels will not talk to Emma about why he is spreading tales of Dawn's incompetence, and he has ties to Gregory Chavitz, a film director who has been working with Emma's ex-husband Will, a film editor. Her son provides the tiny clue that allows her to make the connection that breaks the case.

Emma is a mother--dealing with all the problems of a teenager and a two-year old--and also a tenacious investigator.

Armchair Interviews says: You won't be able to put this one down.