Bitch Slap: A Mark Manning Mystery

by Michael Craft

Book Overview

Journalist Mark Manning has been successfully running his family's newspaper, The Dumont Daily Register , for several years now, and he sits on the board of two local companies, Quatro Press and Ashton Mills. So when the respective CEOs of these companies discuss a merger, it is only natural that Manning be interested in the proceedings. What's more, Manning's lover Neil, an architect, is designing a new house for Ashton's CEO, Gillian Reece. Reece...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312342705
• ISBN13: 9780312342708
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

7 is Michael Craft's lucky number

This, the 7th Mark Manning novel, is the best. If you've been reading these books, you'll find the character doing some self-reflection that is different than the previous books. If you haven't read the other books, you will enjoy this twisty mystery. Mark Manning, a journalist, sits on the board of a local company whose CEO, Gillian Reece, is definitely not the winner of the Miss Congeniality award. That's only one of the reasons she gets a bitch slap from character Glee Savage. Later, though, Reece is found murdered. Further complicating the stew is the fact that Mark's lover, Neil, is designing a house for Reece. Didn't Glee kill Reece? You won't have a clue--and you won't guess how this turns out till you read it. The outcome is definitely a shocker, and will have you pondering the meaning of justice. Definitely a captivating, exciting mystery.

Creative and Insightful

If you have never read a Mark Manning Novel or if you are a huge fan of this series, as I am, then you are in for a treat. "Bitch Slap" is so well written and so real. It is one book that is hard to put down. Michael Craft is one of the most talented and shining authors of his time. If you have never read a Mark Manning Novel I suggest you get all seven as soon as you can. You will not be disappointed. My hats of to Mr. Craft for another outstanding Novel!!!!!

Wonderful Close to a Terrific Series

The author has stated that he is particularly proud of this work, the last in the Mark Manning mystery series. He should be proud; this is one of his finest efforts to date. If you have followed this series from the first novel (Flight Dreams) as I have, you have no doubt become attached to these characters. Unlike some other authors, Michael successfully wraps up this series for ALL of the characters we've come to know and love through the years. Mr. Craft's wry sense of humor is even more evident in this final installment than in earlier ones, and I daresay you'll find yourself laughing out loud more than a few times. As usual, there is a wonderfully erotic scene or two as well. All in all, fans of the series will find this to be a wonderfully funny, somewhat touching, and altogether satisfying conclusion. Kudos to the author for an absolutely marvelous series--from first book to last!

A wonderfully written final installment

I won't rehash the plot here; it always seems redundant to do so. Suffice to say that Michael Craft has deftly [albeit too soon] written the final installment in the Mark Manning series. As always with Mr. Craft's work, there are memorable characters and intriguing plot twists, some highly unexpected ones at that. Despite being fiction, the main characters are like real people to me. They seem more like friends that I haven't seen in a while but occasionally catch up with. That's the mark of good writing. Without divulging plot twists, I was pleasantly surprised to see Mark struggling with some personal issues. He's always been a "tight ass" in the best sense of the term, but here he had to grapple with uncomfortable issues. It made him less perfect and more human. Kudos to Mr. Craft for that touch. Thanks, also, for giving us a glimpse into the future of these friends with the epilogue. Too often a series will end, whether by accident or design, and we'll be left with a sense of "what next?" for the characters. Knowing that things continue helps with also knowing that we've paid our last visit to Dumont to spend time with old and very dear friends. If you've never read any of the series, this book does stand alone..... but I HIGHLY recommend that you go back to the beginning of this series with Flight Dreams and read them in sequence. You'll be very glad you did.

This one will surprise you!

Many residents of tiny Dumont WI are excited that two of its largest employers, Ashton Mills and Quatro Press, are in the process of merging, a move designed to ensure the financial and commercial future of both. On the Board of Directors of both is Mark Manning, publisher of The Dumont Daily Register, the local paper, and he gave the merger his blessing. Now he is becoming aware of some possible financial irregularities having been disclosed in the pre-merger "due dilligence" audit, which Aston's CEO, Gillian Reese, discounts as irrelevant to the merger. While Reese is a business associate with whom he is on generally good terms, Mark knows that he is generally disliked for her confrontational lack of people skills, so it isn't too much of a shock when Reese turns up dead at the her new home being designed by Mark's lifepartner, Neil, who is one of the few individuals who seems to get along with her. Mark considers that the death may or may not be an accident, as the coroner initially rules it to be. After all, off the top of his head, Mark can think of several people who may have wished Ms. Reese dead, including his own society editor, Glee Savage, and Todd Draper, a curtain designer who actually was slapped by Gillian in an argument over how the curtains should look. Author Craft includes a preface to the novel that warns that this, his seventh and final "Mark Manning Mystery" in the series, includes a few twists and turns designed to make it less predictable and more enjoyable. I can't go much into that without divulging important points of the story, but suffice it to say that the changes will make the reader realize he may not have known Mark Manning as well as he thought. It's a life-altering adventure, and not just for Mark and Neil. The epilogue to the novel, which goes on to update you on some of the characters in the years after the action, make it apparent that Craft indeed plans to retire his Mark Manning character, at least as the star of his series of books (He may appear in the "Claire Gray" series, which include Manning's nephew as one of her students). I may be reading more into the final paragraphs than he meant, but it sounds like a hint that the decision isn't carved in stone, and, given the right circumstances, we may hear from this interesting character again. I hope so.