
Murder Under Her Skin
A Pentecost and Parker Mystery, Book 2
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Narrated by:
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Kirsten Potter
About this listen
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice • Rex Stout meets Agatha Christie with a fresh twist in the new Pentecost and Parker Mystery, a delightfully hardboiled high-wire act starring two daring women sleuths dead set on justice as they set out to solve a murder at a traveling circus
“A delight.... It’s a pleasure to watch [Pentecost and Parker] sifting through red herrings and peeling secrets back like layers of an onion.” The New York Times Book Review
Someone’s put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel to the circus, where they find a snake pit of old grudges, small-town crime, and secrets worth killing for.
Will called Hart & Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go.
To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren’t playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink.
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Critic reviews
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice • Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Mystery Finalist
“A delight. . . It’s a pleasure to watch [Pentecost and Parker] sifting through red herrings and peeling secrets back like layers of an onion, all while revealing even more of themselves without guilt or shame. Just like his mystery-writing ancestor [Rex Stout], Spotswood understands that the detective story should be sound, but spending time with unforgettable characters is paramount.”—The New York Times Book Review
"Spotswood’s ability to subvert genre tropes with intriguing and distinctive characters… make this whodunit a delightfully unusual read. Readers will look forward to Pentecost and Parker’s further adventures."—Publishers Weekly
"Will’s slangy first-person narrative is captivating, and fans of circus life, such as it was, will enjoy this tale, as will followers of the 1940s hard-boiled detective genre, considerably enlivened here by having two no-nonsense women do the sleuthing."—Booklist
Nero Wolfe twist - women focused, excellent voice
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Another Homerun from Spotswood and Potter
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Great follow-up book in the series
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Clever!
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Two Women Sleuths
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My only (slight) disappointment is the lack of interplay between Will Parker and Lillian Pentecost compared to the first book. But, I hope their past and present will be developed in future books of this promising series.
Mystery worthy of the Big Top
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Enjoyable Sequel
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My first P&P detective novel. It won’t be my last.
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Another wonderful mystery in the series
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Like these dames
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