Slow Squeeze by Dianne Emley

You’re probably familiar with LA Times bestselling author Dianne Emley’s outstanding Detective Nan Vining thrillers, but did you know that before there was Nan there was Iris? Emley first entered the writing scene in the 90s (under the name Dianne G. Pugh) with a mystery series featuring investment counselor Iris Thorne. That series is now being reissued, both in paperback and ebook formats.

Slow Squeeze by Dianne Emley“You know that first instant you set eyes on a person, that gut reaction? It’s like the essence of them is there, if you just pay attention to it.” – Iris Thorne

Having made it through the fallout from the scandals that rocked the investment firm where she works, McKinney Alitzer (Cold Call), Iris has risen to the position of senior investment counselor. She’s hit something of a slow patch of late in both her professional and personal life, however, and is looking for a jump start.

That’s probably why Iris doesn’t pay close enough attention to her gut instinct – and all those internal alarm bells going off – when wealthy widow Barbie Stringfellow breezes into her life out of nowhere. With a larger than life personality to accompany her fast talking and outrageous sense of fashion, the Atlanta transplant hits LA like a hurricane.

In fact, before she knows it both Iris and her coworker, Art Silva, are swept up by the power of Hurricane Barbie, who seems set on seducing both of them. By the time Iris realizes Barbie hasn’t delivered on her financial investment promises, and also seems to be asking a lot of strange questions about the money that went missing from McKinney Alitzer during the scandal, things have gotten extremely complicated in the three-way game of manipulation between Iris, Barbie and Art. When Barbie’s mentally unstable former lover hits the scene, however, that’s when things get downright deadly.

As author Dianne Emley noted in her guest post yesterday (“Beware the Sophomore Jinx”), Slow Squeeze is a very different book than the first in the series, Cold Call. Though the mysteries presented in both are very entertaining, there is a noticeable step forward in Emley’s confidence in her writing in Slow Squeeze. Whereas the overall tenor of Cold Call was a little more light, fast and loose, things in Slow Squeeze are much darker and more intense, with Emley severely narrowing the playing field, squeezing it down to a core of four players. As each tries to manipulate, con, and outwit the others, the result is a highly charged, slightly claustrophobic environment in which the proverbial noose slowly tightens around the characters as each chapter unfolds. You’ll have to discover for yourself exactly who’s left hanging when all’s said and done.

A more than worthy followup to Cold Call, Slow Squeeze was proof positive that both Iris and her creator would be going places; Iris on to three more sequels, and Emley on to her LA Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.

Slow Squeeze is out now from Arroyo Bridge Books, as is the first in the series, Cold Call. The rest of the Iris Thorne series reissues, Fast Friends, Foolproof, and Pushover, will be out later this year.

Dianne Emley is a Los Angeles Times bestselling author who has received critical acclaim for her books, which include the Detective Nan Vining thrillers (The First Cut, Cut to the Quick, The Deepest Cut, and Love Kills) and the Iris Thorne mysteries (Cold Call, Slow Squeeze, Fast Friends, Foolproof, and Pushover). A Los Angeles native, Dianne’s never lived more than ten minutes away, except for the year she lived in Southern France. She now lives in a hundred-year-old house near L.A. with her husband Charlie and two over-indulged cats. To learn more about Dianne, visit her website.

3 Comments

  • sabrina ogden

    February 10, 2012 - 12:46 PM

    Wonderful review, Elizabeth! I’ve got these books added to the list. I’m looking forward to reading about the other books in the series, and I’m hoping Dianne continues the guest posts, as well. I really like this cover.

  • Dianne Emley

    February 10, 2012 - 12:37 PM

    What a lovely review, Elizabeth. Thank you so much.

    • Elizabeth A. White

      February 10, 2012 - 3:25 PM

      You’re quite welcome. Thank you for Iris. Can’t wait to get to Fast Friends and see how it compares to the first two. 🙂

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