β Scribed by Barr, D.M.
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Killer body or body killer? When fat shaming backfiresβ¦
Most people are dying to lose a few pounds. Not so in Slashing Mona Lisa , where it's the weight-loss advocates who are losing their lives.
Whenever Terry Mangel's body acceptance revival meeting rolls into town, local diet execs and "fat shamers" turn up dead, often in grotesque, ironic ways. All single murders in small suburbs, no one's noticed the patternβ¦until now.
Rookie journalist Camarin Torres is a crusader against discrimination, partially to assuage the guilt she feels over the suicide of her obese, bullied twin sister. She reluctantly accepts a job offered by handsome publisher Lyle Fletcher, a widower with a vendetta, who sees Torres as salvation for Trend , his fledgling fashion magazine. Torres, however, detests everything the publication stands for, and joins solely to transform its judgmental, objectifying content.
As an unexpected romance blossoms, the overconfident, justice-hungry reporter defies orders and infiltrates Mangel's worldβonly to find herself in the crosshairs of a vigilante group targeting the sixty-billion-dollar diet industry. Unmasking the killer may save her life but shatter her heart: every clue seems to implicate Fletcher, her mercurial mentor and lover, as the group's mastermind.
With a sassy, snarky voice and multi-cultural overtones, Slashing Mona Lisa explores body shaming and its victims: the disenfranchised who don't conform to society's arbitrary norms, and the lengths they will go to for love and acceptance.
Content Warning: contains some strong language, violence, and explicit sexual scenes
**
What Kirkus Reviews says about Slashing Mona Lisa:**
Barr (Expired Listings, 2016) has a knack for building stakes and maintaining a steadily intense pace throughout...the unusual premise of the murder plot brings a freshness to the thriller sections... A love story that becomes elevated by a dynamic psychological crime drama.
From Publishers Weekly's Booklife Prize:** *_
_ An unusual and entertaining mystery, Barr's narrative is built like a hedge maze, with every twist and turn suggesting additional possible outcomes. Lost in this intriguing maze, the reader is as eager to find the answers as investigative reporter Carmen Torres.
Barr's writing is packed with dry wit and tongue-in-cheek humor that adds levity and serves to balance the seriousness of the murder case. The dialogue is generally a treat to read...
Unlike many modern mystery-thrillers, Barr ensures that her story moves beyond cliched dialogue and cheap plot devices. The strength of Barr's narrative resides in its exploration of what it means to be a modern North American woman--to grapple with the socially-conditioned pressures they face to have a"perfect body." It is this angle that gives her story such immense power.
Barr gives character and dimension to both her heroes and villains. However, Barr's abilities are most brilliantly showcased in her depiction of Camarin Torres--the protagonist's "broken beauty" giving her a depth that makes her relatable to readers.*
*From Reader's Favorite
* **5 Stars
by Susan Sewell **
*Filled with intrigue and suspense, Slashing Mona Lisa is a stunning sleuth mystery novel. This mesmerizing story relates the sad truth about the difficulties and heartbreak experienced by those who are ostracized for their weight challenges. The accurate depiction of the repercussions which stem from the bullying and abuse these victims receive from their own families, peers, coworkers, and the world at large is heartrending. I could almost understand the rage that fueled the murderer.
Although fat shaming may be a significant portion of the plot, the murders and Camarin's investigation balance the scales, keeping the story fresh and exciting. Fabulous characters, a suspenseful and complex plot, and a brilliant story line make this an outstanding murder mystery novel. However, I would recommend it only to a mature audience as it contains explicit sexual scenes and is more suitable for adult readers.*
**
** 5 Stars
By Jack Magnus **
D.M. Barr's contemporary sleuth murder mystery novel, Slashing Mona Lisa,has marvelous characters, a mystery plot studded with red herrings, plenty of action and a romantic story that is one of the more intriguing I've come across in a while. All this, and Barr also manages to write an empathetic and compelling story about a current social ill -- fat-shaming in a culture that prizes thinness, youth and good looks over everything else.** *_
Barr's story crackles with tension as Camarin finds common threads in murders taking place across the nation and decides to go after the story on her own. I was instantly enchanted by her Chamorro identity, her idealism and her resourcefulness. I loved the story and hated for it to end. Barr's characters had come to seem like old friends, and her investigative journalist/sleuth surely does merit a few more good mysteries to solve. Slashing Mona Lisa is most highly recommended._
**
** 5 Stars
Reviewed By K.J. Simmill *****
Camarin Torres, investigative journalist. Or at least, that was the dream. She wanted to make a difference, be a champion for the underdog, and yet with university just a few weeks from over, she was the only [one of her schoolmates] without a job lined up. That was until fate intervened with an unexpected encounter [with a publisher]. But still, she had a vision of her future, and Trend, the guilt pumping, judgmental, "you are how you look" magazine was so far from who she was and what she stood for. But it was a job, and the new owner seemed intent on remaking the image into something she could align herself with. In her off-time Camarin works on her own story,the Blubber Be Gone murder, determined to expose the killer and give [the victims] a voice, but little does she know how dangerous a path she walks.
*_
Slashing Mona Lisa is a well-conceived, well-constructed murder mystery by D.M. Barr. Be prepared to be taken on an emotional journey of haters, shamers,and murder. You meet Camarin, and soon are rewarded with a deep insight into her character and motivations. The characters are as vivid as they are unique, from the cockney speaking Rachel to the sassy roommates struggling to make rent. There is no end to the thrills in this book. The investigation is beautifully scripted, creating tension, danger and urgency, with more and more bodies being discovered the deeper Camarin digs. This is one book you will not want to put down; you will find yourself wanting to see what happens next. Romance, love, danger, suspicions, murder, and mystery, all combined in one hell of a tale that also serves to make you more aware of the intolerance this world displays, and maybe, just maybe, realize the extent to which your own actions can affect others. A clear message in a gripping story._
D.M. Barr, author of Expired Listings, is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction who lives happily with her family in New York's Hudson Valley, She is a member of both the Romance Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.
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