The Prostitutes' Ball (Shane Scully Novels) - Hardcover

Cannell, Stephen J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312557302 ISBN 13: 9780312557300

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2010

Synopsis

Detective Shane Scully responds to a call in the Hollywood hills at a once-immaculate mansion, the scene of an infamous murder twenty-five years prior. He discovers the remnants of a lavish pool party. The revelers have fled, leaving three dead bodies in their wake, all shot with the same gun. One is an acclaimed film producer. The other two, a pair of gorgeous women.

With his new partner, Sumner “Hitch” Hitchens, Scully begins to investigate what looks to be an open-and-shut case: The women were hired prostitutes, and there’s security video of an angry husband firing on all three. A simple case of brutal revenge. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems: There’s a single spent bullet casing that doesn’t match the rest.

 

From that single bullet emerges a story of love, murder, suicide, and one of the biggest financial frauds in L.A. history. Someone has gone to great lengths to cover up a decades-old crime, and as Scully and Hitch get closer to the answer, they find themselves in a killer’s crosshairs.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010) was the author of the bestselling Shane Scully books, including The Pallbearers and Three Shirt Deal. He was also an Emmy Award winning television writer and producer, and in his thirty-five-year-career, he created or co-created more than forty TV series. Among his hits were The Rockford Files, Silk Stalkings, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Hunter, Renegade, Wiseguy, and The Commish. He received numerous awards, including the Saturn Award - Life Career Award (2004), The Marlow Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Writers of America (2005), and the WGA Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement (2006). Having overcome severe dyslexia, Cannell was an avid spokesperson on the condition and an advocate for children and adults with learning disabilities.  He was a third-generation Californian and resided in the Pasadena area with his wife, Marcia, and their children.

Reviews

Cannell injects new life into his bestselling Shane Scully series by giving the LAPD homicide detective a new partner in his 10th outing (after The Pallbearers). Since Shane's regular partner is on leave, Shane teams with Sumner Hitchens, a handsome African-American detective widely disliked throughout the department. Hitch, who dresses like a menswear model, lives like the millionaire he has become as the result of selling the story of one of his homicide cases to the movies. This rubs Shane the wrong way, but after Hitch saves his life, Shane begins to see another side to the man. A quick resolution to a triple homicide they investigate--a famous movie director and two prostitutes shot dead at a party--leads them to another mystery that occurred 25 years before. Hitch and Shane are a powerful combination, both as characters and as detectives. Readers will look forward to seeing more of this dynamic duo. Author tour.
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Shane Scully, the L.A. homicide cop, isn’t sure what’s more challenging: his tricky new case or his flashy new partner. An old Hollywood mansion is the scene of a shooting that leaves three dead; evidence found at the scene seems to connect these crimes with a quarter-century-old murder-suicide. Shane and his new partner, a detective who sold one of his previous cases to the movies (and who seems interested in making sure this one turns out in a suitably Hollywood manner), dig into the old crime and uncover a modern mystery that puts both their lives at risk. Cannell has written several Scully novels, but he isn’t anywhere close to using up the character, or to sinking into formulaic mediocrity. The novel is perfectly fresh, and it’s a mystery why someone—veteran film producer Cannell, for example—hasn’t brought Scully to the big or small screen. He’s a great character, and this is another fine novel in the series. --David Pitt

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

This is a story about a story.

It’s also a story which, despite all my efforts to the contrary, seemed destined to become a major motion picture.

It began a few days before Christmas, but it’s not a Christmas story. It’s about lost generations and emotional desertion, and about a Los Angeles family with way too much money. So I guess at its heart, it’s a story about greed, corruption, and loss.

With those themes, what better place to start than at an office Christmas party? But before we begin, just a few preliminary remarks.

I’m a homicide detective, and as such, I’m carefully schooled in the three concepts mentioned above. I work at an elite LAPD detective division known as Homicide Special. Our unit was reconstituted after the O.J. Simpson case, another L.A. story of greed, corruption, and loss.

After losing that high-profile media trial, it occurred to our command floor managers that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have homicide detectives carrying blood evidence vials around a crime scene where they could later be accused of planting it.

As a result, Homicide Special was completely reorganized and staffed with our most seasoned detectives. I’m lucky to be assigned there. It’s a great gig.

My name is Shane Scully, and for this story I will be your host narrator. It’s going to be a fast ride through L.A. with a lot of reckless driving. Look out for abrupt lane changes, freeway shootings, and dangerous hairpin turns. As a police officer, I’m required to advise you to fasten your seat belts.

All set? Then let’s go. . . . Cue the opening theme music. Fade slowly up from black, and we’ll begin at:

 

THE PROSTITUTES’ BALL. Copyright © 2010 by Stephen J. Cannell. All rights reserved.  For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312557302
• ISBN 13: 9780312557300
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320