• Home
  • About
    • Straight Up
    • Jan Herman
    • Contact
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

A Maniac and His Muse

September 28, 2011 by Jan Herman


Susan Fleet — trumpet player and feminist music historian — set her first crime thriller, Absolution, in pre-Katrina New Orleans, where homicide detective Frank Renzi takes on a serial killer who preys on women. Fleet’s new killer thriller, Diva, is subtitled “a novel of psychological suspense.” That’s an understatement. Renzi is back, now in post-Katrina New Orleans, pitted this time against a lethal stalker whose prey is a beautiful classical musician on the cusp of stardom.
The psycho in Diva (paperback, Kindle, Nook) is not only a delusional former soldier with special martial arts training, he’s weaponized with some really nasty equipment. And the dazzling object of his sexual obsession is not just a talented beauty, she is — as pretty much everyone, including Renzi, sees her — a haughty egotistical bitch. Her sense of privilege is off the charts, and her all-consuming hunger for fame goes well beyond ambition. None of which means she deserves to be raped and slaughtered. The question is, will Renzi be able to keep that from happening? Fleet takes the answer down to the wire.
(Crossposted at HuffPo)

Share on email
Email
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on reddit
Reddit

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Suzanne Leroux-Lindsey says

    September 29, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Awesome…
    I enjoyed both books. I especially like the references to the Boston music scene. The New Orleans setting is great as well.
    Great suspense!
    Can’t wait to read your next book.
    Suzanne

  2. Judy Chaikin says

    September 29, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Love the trailer…can’t wait to read the book!

  3. Susan Fleet says

    September 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Thanks, Suzanne, so happy you enjoyed it. My next book should be out in 2012.

  4. Stu Gunn says

    September 30, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    I enjoyed Sue Fleet’s first book, ABSOLUTION, and after reading these
    positive comments I’m looking forward to DIVA. Maybe there will be a book about a tuba player in the future.

  5. Louis Ricci says

    October 2, 2011 at 8:50 am

    Terrific ‘thrillers’. Ms. Fleet’s insight in describing characters, events, and surroundings made all come vividly to life.

Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
Another strange fact... Read More…

About

My Books

Several books of poems have been published in recent years by Moloko Print, Statdlichter Presse, Phantom Outlaw Editions, and Cold Turkey … [Read More...]

Straight Up

The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

Contact me

We're cutting down on spam. Please fill in this form. … [Read More...]

Archives

Blogroll

Abstract City
AC Institute
ACKER AWARDS New York
All Things Allen Ginsberg
Antiwar.com
arkivmusic.com
Artbook&
Arts & Letters Daily

Befunky
Bellaart
Blogcritics
Booknotes
Bright Lights Film Journal

C-SPAN
Noam Chomsky
Consortium News
Cost of War
Council on Foreign Relations
Crooks and Liars
Cultural Daily

The Daily Howler
Dark Roasted Blend
DCReport
Deep L
Democracy Now!

Tim Ellis: Comedy
Eschaton

Film Threat
Robert Fisk
Flixnosh (David Elliott’s movie menu)
Fluxlist Europe

Good Reads
The Guardian
GUERNICA: A Magazine of Art & Politics

Herman (Literary) Archive, Northwestern Univ. Library
The Huffington Post

Inter Press Service News Agency
The Intercept
Internet Archive (WayBackMachine)
Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Doug Ireland
IT: International Times, The Magazine of Resistance

Jacketmagazine
Clive James

Kanopy (stream free movies, via participating library or university)
Henry Kisor
Paul Krugman

Lannan Foundation
Los Angeles Times

Metacritic
Mimeo Mimeo
Moloko Print
Movie Geeks United (MGU)
MGU: The Kubrick Series

National Security Archive
The New York Times
NO!art

Osborne & Conant
The Overgrown Path

Poets House
Political Irony
Poynter

Quanta Magazine

Rain Taxi
The Raw Story
RealityStudio.org
Bill Reed
Rhizome
Rwanda Project

Salon
Senses of Cinema
Seven Stories Press
Slate
Stadtlichter Presse
Studs Terkel
The Synergic Theater

Talking Points Memo (TPM)
TalkLeft
The 3rd Page
Third Mind Books
Times Square Cam
The Tin Man
t r u t h o u t

Ubu Web

Vox

The Wall Street Journal
Wikigate
Wikipedia
The Washington Post
The Wayback Machine (Internet Archive)
World Catalogue
World Newspapers, Magazines & News Sites

The XD Agency

Share on email
Email
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on reddit
Reddit
This blog published under a Creative Commons license

an ArtsJournal blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in