Dark Lady
Richard North Patterson

    Richard North Patterson is an accomplished mystery writer, whose novels have been compared with Dashiell Hammett.  In "Dark Lady" he brings us to Steelton, a "rust belt" town on the banks of Lake Erie. The history of Steelton's development is central to the story because it brings together all the ethnic groups, who came to work the steel mills in the 1900's. First there were the Irish, then the Poles and then the Italians, who as immigrants formed their small communities on either side of the Onandaga River. Then came the black migration from the south, which was always viewed with suspicion and prejudice, especially after the riots erupted in Steelton in the Sixties. But now the mills are closed and with high unemployment the politicians are bent on reviving the town with urban renewal. In the center of their plan is a mega-stadium for the Steelton Blues, the hometown baseball team. This appears to an easy sell to the taxpayers because of their popularity and it becomes the theme upon which the current mayor, Thomas Krajek, will base his reelection.
    From each of these ghettos, the politicians draw their political base and look for political ways to buy their remaining support.  Each area of the city has produced its second generation of accomplished politicians.  Krajek, the Polish mayor, claims that the stadium will produce hundreds of new jobs and new development around the stadium will expand concentrically. As a sweetener to the bond sale, "Steelton 2000" will return to the city 50% of all monies saved if the project comes in under budget. His opponent in the Mayoral race is the Erie County Chief Prosecutor, Arthur Bright, a black attorney, who is everything his name connotes and has had a meteoric rise from his side of the river to control the police, the courthouse and the attorneys in his employ.  One of these attorneys is Stella Marz, formerly Marzefsky, who as an unrelenting assistant prosecutor has won all of her cases save one. That one involved a teacher accused of raping a student.  But even though he was found innocent he committed suicide after her grueling cross examination.  That's when she acquired the name the "Dark Lady" from her colleagues. Now Stella, who works for Arthur, is contemplating her political future, as the first woman Chief Prosecutor if Arthur is elected Mayor. She asks for his support in the black community in return for her cooperation when each is elected and he agrees.  But in this campaign season complications are presenting themselves to the police and the prosecutor's office.
   After a lengthy and detailed introduction of all the protagonists by the author, Stella is called to the murder scene of Tommy Fielding, the Chief Financial Officer and Manager of "Steelton 2000".  He is found naked on his bed with a dead hooker and heroin paraphenalia in the kitchen. It appears both have died from a heroin overdose with the needle still in his vein. Now while the hooker was a known addict, this was most uncharacteristic of the gay Tommy Fielding.  But with further investigation it appears that two prostitutes saw the pickup in his car and a neighbor saw him bring a drunk prostitute into his apartment.  But the coroner has other ideas.  Tommy has traces of the date rape sedative in his blood and probably died hours before the hooker.  Stella informs Chief of Police, Nathaniel Dance, that this is probably a homicide and not an accidental death. But she is confused about whom she can trust.  Then there is the unsolved murder of a prostitute on "crack" who was found in a trash bin. This brings up another unsolved murder from years ago, when a prostitute was found hacked to pieces and dumped in the river.  The recent victim had told Stella that she figures the police were involved in the first murder and that is why it went unsolved. And maybe that is why she was murdered. And when it rains, it pours, murders that is.
 While this murder is on the front burner, another more bizarre murder occurs.  Jack Novak, a well known attorney for drug lord, Vincent Moro, is found hanging in his room wearing black stockings, a black garter belt and completely castrated. The speculation in the press is that the kinky murderer was a homosexual acquaintance. But we all know better and so does Stella because as a paralegal, she had an affair with her boss, Jack Novak. When he asked her to wear the above items with black four inch heels, she broke off the relationship.  Foolish Girl!  Now to whom should Stella confide her suspicions, but to her present boss, Arthur Bright.  Arthur feels that she should recuse herself from the case, but stubborn Stella wants one week to solve these murders.
 So as she probes into the finances of "Steelton 200", she uncovers the graft and greed that underpins the politics of every small city.  During this week her life is threatened multiple times, her cat is murdered and the statue of her beloved Saint decapitated in her bedroom.  One key piece of evidence that Stella uncovers in Jack's apartment and keeps to herself is a video tape of another "Dark Lady". A "double entendre", if ever there was one.  It shows a male TG in black stockings, black garter belt and black four inch heels receiving oral sex from a prostitute and then having auto-asphyxiation performed with a nylon stocking. As he falls unconscious on the bed she recognizes the young TG and recognizes a police detective, Thomas Curran, strike the hooker and check to see if she is alive. She is dead and he removes her from the scene. Now this key piece of evidence has almost certainly been used as blackmail against the TG over the years. Now this is getting interesting because Stella must turn Curran to solve the recent murders and convict the man who ordered them. So she turns to Chief of Police Dance and the rest of the story is in your hands.  It would be remiss for me to tell you how all this comes together. But you can guess that everyone is in bed with everyone else.
   While most fans of Patterson found this novel slow to end, you can believe me that you will relish all the details. So enjoy this recommendation in Hardcover and Audio only. The paperback will be out in the summer. Luv Ya, Cerise