The Black Stiletto: Secrets & Lies: A Novel
Desire for revenge lives on for decades, threatening middle-age accountant Martin Talbot as it threatened his mother, Judy, the internationally known vigilante called the Black Stiletto, in the early 1960s. With Judy now in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Martin is reading his mother’s diaries and reveals the secret of her crime-fighting alter ego to his daughter, Gina, a budding expert in the self-defense system Krav Maga. In alternating chapters from 1961 and the present, Judy leaves New York when the Black Stiletto becomes a prime target of the NYPD, landing in L.A., where she’s smitten with charismatic mobster Leo Kelly, who hides his work from her. As Kelly advances in his hierarchy, the Mob wants the Black Stiletto’s head for helping the district attorney. This fourth entry in the Black Stiletto series is darker than earlier ones, given the escalating violence in both past and present story lines. But it’s no less entertaining, as fast-paced action leads to a cliff-hanger; closure is likely in the next entry, and there’s potential for a spin-off. Addictive escapism. --Michele Leber