Home > Fiction & Literature > General Fiction > Immaculate Midnight

Immaculate Midnight: A Jane Lawless Mystery

List Price: $17.99

Save 30.0%

You Pay: $12.59

Want this eBook?Our eBook Library Software is required to purchase and download eBooks. Download it here.

Tell a Friend

Overview

Ray Lawless, prominent defense attorney and father of Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless, tries his biggest case yet defending an accused serial murderer and arsonist whom the media has dubbed "The Fireman." Ray's client is eventually convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, though he proclaims his innocence to the end, and a few days later, he kills himself in his cell. But someone in The Fireman's life can't let go, and, blaming Ray for the man's death, plots a meticulous revenge. Both Jane and her brother Peter, who is already under terrible stress because of a troubled marriage, feel the heat of the avenger's plan. But Jane is intimately familiar with danger, and she's never been one to shrink from a fight. With the help of her best friend Cordelia, Jane sets out to discover why this person is so determined to undo her family. When she begins to dig into The Fireman's life, the puzzle unravels, leading Jane to a final confrontation with someone bent on making the Lawlesses pay, perhaps with their lives.

Editorial Reviews

When suspected arsonist and serial killer Bobby Alto commits suicide in his cell and it doesn't end the Twin Cities murders, Jane Lawless begins to wonder whether a "psycho [has] declared open season" on everyone involved in the case or if the dreaded Midnight Man is still on the loose. Jane's father, who was Bobby's defense attorney, is in danger, and so is Jane herself, as it seems the Alto family contains more than one seriously disturbed member in Immaculate Midnight, Ellen Hart's 11th mystery starring the lesbian restaurateur and amateur detective. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Ellen Hart

Mystery author Ellen Hart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August 1949. She received a B. A. in Theology from the Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. She writes the Jane Lawless and the Sophie Greenway series. Five of the Jane Lawless books have won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. She has also won the Minnesota Book Award for Best Crime Fiction twice. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her life partner. 030

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

Macmillan

Filesize

1.41 MB

Number of Pages

336

eBook ISBN

9781429975117

Awards

  • Lambda Literary Awards

Excerpt from: Immaculate Midnight by Ellen Hart

Summer, 1996

He stood motionless in the woods behind the house and watched the flickering glow coming from the bedroom window. It was just after midnight. The witching hour. The time when laws blurred and rules shifted. Out in the boonies, this far from the main road, the nearest neighbor was a good half-mile away. He'd chosen the house because of its remoteness. His preparation was, as always, precise. He'd come to appreciate that fire was a necessary cleansing. The desire to surrender to its magic, to its chaos and gloriously destructive power, was a pure, primeval urge.

It had started as an accident. A bit of cigarette ash dropped carelessly on the bed sheets after sex. The cigarette was a clich, of course. What happened next wasn't. He should have smothered the fire immediately, should have dragged his drunken partner to safety, but instead he just sat there, mesmerized by the tiny glowing specks as they crept slowly across the cotton blankets, smoldering at first, almost going out. When the pillow case finally caught, it was all over. Fireplay was edgeplay, he'd later read in a magazine. Injury or death could result.

He'd stayed too long that first night. Nearly got himself killed. He'd escaped the house choking on the smoke, gasping for air. He should have felt guilty, or terrified, or both. He should have called 911 on his cell phone, but instead he got in his car and left. The next day, the desire to repeat the incident was so overwhelming that he found himself unable to concentrate on anything else. He went home that night and built a bonfire in his Webber grill. He stood in the dark, as he did now, and watched the glow turn to flame. But it was too controlled, too small. Nothing was at stake. In the end, he saw it as a lesson, a way to understand himself more fully. He would succumb to this new, illicit need. He had no choice.