Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : L : La Plante, Lynda

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Deadly Intent

Lynda La Plante
Clean Cut

Lynda La Plante
The Red Dahlia

Lynda La Plante
The Legacy

Lynda La Plante
Above Suspicion

Lynda La Plante
Widows

Lynda La Plante
The Talisman (Legacy)

Lynda La Plante
Cold Heart

Lynda La Plante

LaPlante's television scripts--Widows and Prime Suspect--satisfactorily combine thriller plots with some intelligent brooding on the problems of women in middle age; her private eye trilogy is to that extent pretty much what one would expect from her. In the third installment, Los Angeles detective Lorraine Page has entirely recovered from the alcoholism that forced her out of the police department, and even finds love. She is hired to investigate the death of porn mogul Harry for his third wife, the most likely suspect, and finds a trail of blackmail and art fraud.
Following the money will only get her so far--Lorraine has also to understand the emotional maelstrom which Harry created around him; there are less rational motives than money. LaPlante sets herself a difficult problem of balance--Lorraine's struggle with her demons and with chickens that persist in coming home to roost, is only tangentially relevant to her work. Indeed, as Lorraine becomes less driven, she gradually loses interest in detection altogether--which may be sane, but is not what we want to hear. LaPlante's stretching of the thriller form may not be always successful--the digressions meander too far-- but it is always interesting. --Roz Kaveney
Cold Blood

Lynda La Plante
Cold Shoulder

Lynda La Plante
Entwined

Lynda La Plante
Bella Mafia

Lynda La Plante
Sleeping Cruelty

Lynda La Plante

La Plante has achieved considerable success with a canny balancing act between genres. Initially, her thrillers may appear to be simple, non-reflective blockbusters with strong women characters, but she is a far more subtle writer than this might initially suggest. It takes real skill to produce popular writing as sophisticated as this, however pungent the narratives might seem. The central character in Sleeping Cruelty represents a departure for her. Sir William Benedict is enjoying all the glittering prizes that his wealth and position have granted him. Relishing his reputation as a self-made man (with his own island in the Caribbean), he is particularly keen that his political protégé Andrew Maynard should succeed, and he has been bankrolling Maynard's campaign heavily. But Maynard, who was gay, commits suicide, and Benedict soon finds his reputation falling apart as swiftly as his ordered world. The hellish existence he finds himself in is rendered even more painful by the people who were closest to him. But Benedict is marshalling his forces, and begins to dream of an uncompromising revenge.
In such books as The Legacy, Bella Mafia and Cold Blood, La Plante demonstrated a sure grasp in her delineation of larger-than-life characters. But she has replaced her powerful female protagonists with a richly drawn anti-hero in Benedict. The details of his lifestyle and the cold-blooded betrayals by his nearest and dearest are handled in the usual confident fashion, but it's the characterisation of Benedict that really grips the attention. Initial fears that that he may be a broadly-drawn, one-dimensional creation are quickly allayed, and the reader is cast adrift when La Plante pulls off her principal coup: thoroughly involving us in Benedict's highly dubious activities. --Barry Forshaw
Royal Flush

Lynda La Plante
Clean Cut

Lynda La Plante
Deadly Intent

Lynda La Plante
Clean Cut

Lynda La Plante
Prime Suspect

Lynda La Plante
Trial and Retribution

Lynda La Plante
Deadly Intent

Lynda La Plante