Deadly Rich

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Homicide cop Vince Cardozo returns in another unstoppable thriller by the bestselling author of *Privileged Lives*For alcoholic former actress Leigh Baker, the moment will always be suspended in time: seeing her daughter plunge to her death from the terrace of a sixth-floor apartment. Months later, the man responsible is convicted by a jury of his peers. Four years after that, he is out on parole. And one by one, those whose testimony helped put James Delancey away meet violent ends.Manhattan doyenne Oona Aldridge is the first. She is found in the dressing room of a trendy Manhattan boutique, her throat slashed. As more grisly murders follow, NYPD cop Vince Cardozo assembles a task force to stop the serial killer dubbed the “Society Son of Sam.”Is Delancey himself the culprit? With the city in a panic and Cardozo’s attraction to Leigh threatening to undermine the investigation, he follows a twisting trail that exposes the sins and excesses of the rich and infamous . . . and a vendetta more chilling than anyone can imagine.From Publishers WeeklyIn Stewart's ( Privileged Lives ) latest, back-stabbing Manhattan socialites face the less metaphorical blade of serial killer "Society Sam." Actress and four-year AA veteran Leigh Baker, who went on the wagon after Jim Delancey was tried and convicted of murdering her daughter, is horrified to learn that Delancey has been paroled and works in a posh restaurant. Leigh blames him, despite his alibis, for the boutique-dressing-room murder of her obnoxious pal Oona Aldrich as well as the related slashings of several others in her uppity circle. As the elite hire bodyguards, keep to their busy party circuit and dress to impress at memorial services for the fallen, detective Lt. Vincent Cardozo and a special task force track a muscular, sweatclothes-clad suspect. The main character here is the flashy lifestyle; human players are suitably pretentious but otherwise loosely articulated. Readers may guess the perpetrator through hunches alone, but the true motives behind the slayings emerge only during a swift and clumsy wrap-up that leaves some loose ends. Nevertheless, this is a tasty, gossipy, suspenseful read filled with veiled references to New York hot spots. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus ReviewsSomeone is slashing the throats of New York's rich but worthless society figures, and no matter how amusing serial murder might be, it's got to stop. Detective Vincent Cardozo, who appeared in Stewart's Privileged Lives (1988), is in charge of clearing things up. Semidisguised figures along the lines of Liz Smith, Geraldine Ferraro, and Sister Parish are the primary attractions in this cheerfully gory, high-rent Manhattan thriller that begins with the sidewalk-cracking death of the daughter of beautiful alcoholic actress Leigh Baker. Within a couple of years, Jim Delancey, the young man convicted of the murder, is out on parole, and some of Leigh's swell chums who helped seal Delancey's case have died exceptionally grisly deaths. Police Detective Cardozo, a widower, heads the task force assembled to put a stop to the murders. Along the way, many, many loud and obstructive New Yorkers will clog the path to a solution, among them: a rotten Italian-American lady senator; her drug-connected son; a cowboy-booted gossip-columnist; a sexually inventive fashion designer; a British lady magazine editor; Jim Delancey's fanatically protective mother; a crooked cop from Internal Affairs; and countless drones and walkers. Cardozo, sweet on Miss Baker from first sight, leads his troops through the blood, trash, and drugs with patience and persistence. Tension and a perfectly serviceable plot take a back seat to name-dropping, celebrity-guessing, and the fun of seeing the too- rich get theirs. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.