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Holy Hell

Lillian Byrd Crime Series, Book 1

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Holy Hell

By: Elizabeth Sims
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
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About this listen

Lillian Byrd is a small-time reporter with a flair for making big-time mistakes—like getting fired for fending off the boss's son with an X-Acto knife and breaking up with her girlfriend for no good reason—so her investigation into the disappearances of women in the Detroit area might not be the best idea. But when one of the missing women turns up dead and Lillian recognizes the bizarrely mutilated corpse, she's in too deep to get out. Of course, it doesn't help that she's still fighting off the boss's son and ducking the aggressively amorous overtures of the roughest dyke in town. Now, after simultaneously blowing the case for the police and revealing herself to the off-kilter killers, she's completely on her own. Can she catch the murderers before they catch up with her?

©2002 Elizabeth Sims (P)2023 Tantor Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime Boss Suspense
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Lillian Byrd is an investigative reporter who has worked her way up to being editor of a local paper. Misogyny and the wandering hands of the proprietor's son push to drastic retaliation.

Lillian is a great character with a keen eye for red flags and when a chance encounter and potential romantic interest disappears and is found murdered she sees a pattern that has seen at least 5 other women go missing.

Lillian starts her own sleuthing but now the object of interest is a murderer and murderers are not passive in the face of investigation.

This is not a sterotypical serial killer of women story. The characters are well developed and Lillian's foray into PI work has good intentions face planting with lack of experience and sheer bad luck. Lillian is resilient and does not shrink or crumble in the face of adversity.

I am onto book 2 in the series.

Opener in a great series

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The writer and narrator match brilliantly. Lilian Bird is a stoic character who has suffered in her life from an early age. Personally I think the books are written at such a pace that we don’t have enough of a chance to get inside the feelings of characters. However as adventure stories they are great.

A jaunty storyteller

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