Body on the Backlot

(Paperback)

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Description

Detective Joan Lambert works within the fabric of the LA landscape, solving cases with a combined tapestry of plodding police work, bang-on perceptions of the human psyche and guts.
For the last five years, media madness has created fresh hell for LAPD's imminent Homicide investigator, Joan Lambert. She thinks she's seen everything until the victim in her latest case gets up and walks out of the morgue. Ten missing women, a small boy, and a fanatical voodoo cult thrust Joan into an investigation that will put her life and her career on the line. She has got to shut it all down before eleven people are sacrificed for the film and music career of a young starlet. When a connection is made to a private pharmaceutical experiment that suspends the very essence of life, creating real-life zombies, Joan avails every resource she hasblack dog hairs, a posh transvestite, a psychic who offers dubious insights and the clues given to her by Hector, a dying pimp whose specialty is runaways. To make it work, Joan takes matters into her own hands, proving her grit as one of LA's elite investigators.

Reviews

I think there is a strong new voice in crime fiction and it comes from Eva Montealegre. I really liked Body On the Backlot. Montealegre knows the secret, the best crime novels are not only about how a cop works on a case, but how a case works on a cop. Detective Joan Lambert is a refreshing new character and I'd like to see more.
Michael Connelly, author of the Harry Bosch Series

Detective Lambert bears little resemblance to Sue Graftons Kinsey Milhone or Robert B. Parkers Sunny Randall. Shes rougher around the edges, lives in the gritty world of Michael Connellys Harry Bosch, and suffers even greater angst than Connellys more famous LAPD detective. But give the lady time; Montealegre may equal Boschs popularity"
Ken Fermoyle, The Topanga Messenger

Montealegre has crafted a gripping spell binder that draws the reader into the tale from the outset, holds reader interest and keeps the pages turning Settings are nicely detailed to bring the reader right into the scene. Characters are fully developed. Joan is believable, the scoundrels are suitably ill-famed, the tale itself is well written by a novelist having a fine grasp of language, situation and stratagem.
Molly Martin, Reviewer's Bookwatch

" Eva [Montealegre]'s Body on the Backlot, casts a bright light on L.A.'s dark side, where blind ambition rules and beauty is no more than skin deep. An absolute page-turner.
Kris Neri, Author of the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-Nominated Tracy

Wow! Eva [Montealegre] has certainly hit one out of the ballpark Highly recommended.
Janie Franz, MyShelf.com

Author Bio

Eva Montealegre grew up on her fathers showboat, The River Queen, docked in St. Louis. It was a hotbed of adultery, politics, delicious food and great music. Her mother, an investigative journalist, dragged Eva through every neighborhood in St. Louis from aristocratic homes to crime infested alleys. A combination of earthy artistic expression and intellectual pursuits formed Eva from a young age with in-depth engagements into the worlds of art, film, theatre and music, ultimately forging her into the LA crime author of Red Carpet Noir.