Dianne Emley

Beware the Sophomore Jinx

dianne — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:42:58 +0000

I’m guest blogging at Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White, discussing my adventures while writing my second book, Slow Squeeze, and facing the sophomore jinx. You might find it interesting.

The photo at left was taken in Lahaina, Maui. No wonder I look so content.

Happy New Year and New Website!

dianne — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:41:52 +0000

Double Delight -- Last Rose of 2011

Happy New Year everyone! With this new year, I’m delighted to introduce my completely redesigned Website. I think it looks fabulous and I’m sure you’ll agree. It was designed and developed by the very creative Stef Serafin. If you need help with your Website, do contact Stef. We’re still fine-tuning the site and polishing some of the pages.

What’s going on with my books? Lots! I’ve been busy with several book projects. I’ve been having fun lightly editing and re-releasing my first series, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, which were originally out during the nineties. The first two, Cold Call and Slow Squeeze, are out now as e-books (for the first time ever) and trade paperbacks (also for the first time ever). There are three more in the series and they’ll be out in 2012.

It was interesting for me to revisit my first books and the debut author I was then. I blogged about it here.

As far as brand-new books? I don’t like talking about my works in progress. Just superstitious that way. Just know that I’m always writing… always writing.

Happy new year.

Slow Squeeze

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:47:12 +0000

“[Emley’s] approach to her material is strikingly unusual. The characters, including Iris Thorne herself, have a lifelike complexity, and the portrait of Los Angeles . . . is masterfully drawn . . . . SLOW SQUEEZE is a distinguished crime novel.” —Jon L. Breen, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Iris Thorne survived the purge following McKinney Alitzer’s chain of scandals. The murders, money-laundering, and million-dollar embezzlement were front-page dirt—and rumor has it that Iris knows where the bucks are buried. Now she’s the firm’s highest-paid and most senior investment counselor. But happiness is a rare commodity in Iris’s private life—she and her LAPD lover are approaching a dead end.

Enter, on purple three-inch heels, the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow’s a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow ready to invest. She’s brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she’s a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing in her head, Iris heads for Sunset Boulevard and margaritas with Barbie and sexy office colleague Art Silva. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations, the squeeze is on—but it’s anybody’s guess who’s zooming whom. Then Barbie’s found dead in bed, with evidence that implicates Iris. But there are things the cops don’t need to know, so Iris is taking this case solo. In a city that thrives on scandal, a murdered client takes its toll on even the most ironclad reputation….

Brightly written and fleetly paced . . . Great fun.” —Kirkus Reviews

Pushover

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:07:51 +0000

Sexy and savvy Iris Thorne has made it to the big corner office of the glittering yet cutthroat Los Angeles investment firm, McKinney Alitzer. She’s looking ahead to a bright future with new boyfriend Garland Hughes when the past comes calling. Iris’s ex-fiancé Todd Fillinger surfaces after many years and invites Iris to participate in a lucrative new venture in the wild and woolly emerging Russian market–red-hot yet dangerous in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Iris is intrigued, not least because she has some personal business still to settle with Todd. But only hours after she’s been met by Todd in Moscow, he’s gunned down in front of her.

Horrified, Iris manages to return at least physically unscathed to the comforting familiarity of her L.A. beachfront bungalow and Garland’s arms. She’s brought with her Todd’s ashes which she’s agreed to deliver to his devastated sister. Only then does she learn that L.A. can be even more terrifying than Moscow and that the guilt-laden legacy of Todd Fillinger could destroy her.

The Deepest Cut

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:20:53 +0000

Detective Nan Vining investigates what appears to be a routine gang shooting, only to discover there is nothing typical about it. While the bodies pile up, Nan’s renewed romance with her partner Jim Kissick reaches a crisis point as Nan careens into a dangerous, perhaps final confrontation with her own nemesis, T.B. Mann.

Love Kills

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:19:35 +0000

Homicide police detective, single mother to a teenage daughter, and lover of partner Jim Kissick, Nan Vining wishes life was a little more serene — like it is at Georgia Berryhill’s Malibu Canyon compound. Or like it’s supposed to be, anyway. A healing ground for the well-heeled, three bizarre deaths bring Vining and Kissick through its exclusive gates. First there’s the double homicide of a celebrity private eye and his nude, drugged-out lover. Then there’s the inexplicable drowning of a Pasadena socialite. Georgia Berryhill—the charismatic self-help guru to the stars–is one improbable element linking both investigations. Another is Vining’s own mother, who was a friend to one of the victims and was being wooed by another. Now, A-listers and wannabe poseurs, lost souls and keepers of long hidden secrets all converge at the Berryhill Compound. Some search for love and happiness, while others come for murder.