Cold Call

Cold Call is the first in the critically acclaimed Iris Thorne Mystery series by Los Angeles Times bestseller Dianne Emley.

Iris Thorne traded her job teaching the deaf for a career in Los Angeles' glittering financial district, where the day starts on Wall Street time at 6:00 a.m., and - in the "greed is good" late 1980s - all of life's questions have numbers for answers.

Big numbers. With her not-quite-paid-for Anne Klein suits and Triumph sports car, which leaks a little oil, Iris is a high-stakes success. Still, the only man at the office who knew the real Iris was Alley, the deaf and handicapped mailman. When Alley is killed, the police insist he was a victim of random gang violence. Iris doesn't buy it - and Alley's death has left her with several problems. The first is lanky, red-headed police detective John Somers. . . Iris's first love, back in her life after twenty years. Then there's Alley's secret legacy - a safe deposit box filled with souvenirs and some well-worn items of sentimental value: 238,000 of them, in hundreds, bundled together with rubber bands.

The cops are looking for a killer. Some professional hard guys are looking for revenge. And, for a lost friend, Iris is looking for justice - a high-priced commodity in L.A., where life can be even cheaper than dreams

Genre: Mystery

"Robert B. Parker had Boston, Sara Paretsky Chicago, and now L.A. belongs to Dianne [Emley]." - Nancy Pickard