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Libby Fischer Hellmann

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A Shot To Die For: "Desperate Housewives" Meets "24" In Filmmaker 4th Outing (The Ellie Foreman Mysteries) Kindle Edition

by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.9 80 ratings

Book 4 of 6: The Ellie Foreman Mysteries

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In this fourth crime thriller of the Ellie Foreman series, the Chicago documentary filmmaker finds herself in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Returning from a video shoot at the Lodge, a newly renovated, upscale resort, Ellie befriends a woman who claims her ride abandoned her at a highway rest stop.

But Ellie’s kindness is brutally cut short when a pickup truck pulls up, the rear window opens, and the woman is shot dead. Even with her history of sleuthing, Ellie is not eager to get involved. Then the victims’s family arrives and begs for information. When a second shooting occurs, Ellie starts to investigate on her own.

She is soon drawn into the history of a wealthy and prominent family, deeply rooted in a magnificent mansion on the shores of the lake. But Ellie discovers she's surrounded by an elaborate web of lies, murder, and family secrets that have plagued the summer resort for years—secrets that now place Ellie in the crosshairs of a killer.

From the Publisher

"The best one yet... masterful... intriguing." -Midwest Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Incest and murder, plus the power and attraction of wealth, provide the menacing and murky background for Hellmann's less than compelling fourth novel to feature Ellie Foreman (after 2004's An Image of Death). The Chicago documentary filmmaker has a way of stumbling into murder and romance, and then coping with their competing demands in entertaining and effective fashion. Ellie's at a rest stop near Lake Geneva, Wis., when an apparently random shooting snuffs out Daria Flynn, a young woman with whom she'd just been talking. But the shooting turns out to have deep roots that lead back to Lake Geneva and the resort where Ellie had been filming. When Daria's family approaches Ellie to learn about her last moments, Ellie is drawn into the resort's dark history. She also meets handsome, rich, arrogant Luke Sutton, scion of the influential Sutton family and, because of a rumored link to Daria, a possible suspect. As usual, Hellmann creates a vivid setting, but Ellie's dithering over one fading relationship-and a bad case of raging hormones more appropriate for her 16-year-old daughter-reduce her appeal.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ellie Foreman witnesses a sniper attack at a highway rest stop on her way back to Chicago from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where she is producing a video about the Lodge, a newly renovated resort. Since Ellie was talking to the victim, Daria Flynn, at the time of the shooting, the police are pressing her for any details she might remember, and Daria's mother and sister visit her, also looking for answers. Ellie launches her own investigation, dredging up an old mystery involving the death of a teenager and finding a new love interest in the process. Ellie is a likable character, the first-person narration is involving, and the movie-producer frame story adds interest, but--as in numerous amateur-sleuth adventures--Ellie's motivation for becoming involved in the investigation is notably weak. Similarly, her sudden strong attraction to a possible murder suspect seems unlikely. Still, Hellmann's strong characters and filmmaking detail overshadow the lapses in credibility. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008EOCPFC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Red Herrings Press (November 16, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 16, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3263 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 313 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #821,872 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,991 in Domestic Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #3,825 in Domestic Thrillers (Books)
- #7,727 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Kindle Store)

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3.9 80 ratings

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Libby Fischer Hellmann

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Libby Fischer Hellmann left a career in broadcast news in Washington, DC and moved to Chicago a long time ago, where she, naturally, began to write gritty crime fiction. She soon began writing historical fiction as well. Seventeen novels and twenty-five short stories later, she claims they’ll take her out of the Windy City feet first. She has been nominated for many awards in the mystery and crime writing community and has even won a few. She has been a finalist twice for the Anthony and four times for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year. She has also been nominated for the Agatha, the Shamus, the Daphne, and she won the The Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year in 2021. In the past she has won the IPPY, Foreword Magazine’s Indie Awards, and the Readers Choice Award multiple times.

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3.9 out of 5

80 global ratings

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Jay

this book is a winner

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

What a terrific surprise. I really didn't think it would be that good but it is.
The author developed the story line while giving the reader insight as the characters interact. Well done. I will buy other books by this author

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2013

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Lake Geneva is one of those places every 20th century Wisconsin resident knew about, but few knew personally. It was a summer hideout for Chicago's very rich (including mobsters). Today it is more a playground, even if the playing is to pretend you belong there by dining fancy at The Geneva Inn. In the 1960's and 70's it was the location of the first Playboy Resort. Readers will learn something interesting about Bunny culture in this post-Playboy mystery, which begins with an overheard phone call.

At a busy Interstate rest stop, halfway between Lake Geneva and her North Shore suburb, Ellie Foreman, a corporate video producer, chats with a woman apparently waiting for a boyfriend to pick her up. In a flash the woman is dead, and the shooter disappears in the back of a green pickup. The event stays in the news because it is the second sniper killing of a female in the Chicago area that year. Then there's a third. A tiny bit of knowledge from the victim's cell phone conversation, and the coincidence of having to shoot a film in Lake Geneva, where she was from, gets Ellie interested in the case, especially once she meets a fascinating man allegedly involved with the murdered Daria Flynn. The question is why the sous chef was murdered at all.

This is definitely a woman's story, with the glamour of society marred by tragedy and family secrets. Ellie has a daughter she worries about losing to her ex-husband's girlfriend. She is Jewish, has a best friend named Susan, a widower father, and a gardener named Fouad Al Hamra. Ellie falls out of love with a friend and possibly in love with a dangerous stranger during the course of this story laced with history and feminism. It is a hot (if old) summer read; a page turner, written intelligently.

There is just one thing that bothers me. Smack dab in the middle is a character named Pari Noskins Taichert, an uneducated waitress and a gossip. This is the name of a real life writer of mystery novels whom I've met by attending her writing workshops. What is going on here? Hellman gives us no clue in her acknowledgments. Is it an insider joke? A payback? Are the two authors cousins? I found it distracting.

The Clovis Incident: A Mystery (Sasha Solomon Mysteries)

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Gerania

Lackluster

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2023

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I always find Ellie's job interesting: the ins and outs of non-show biz videography. I had a little more trouble than usual maintaining interest in the progress of the mystery in this book. Paragraphs were wasted on questions Ellie had about the mystery. Readers are subjected to "commercial breaks" on behalf of Ace Hardware, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, and Diet Coke. The Dairy Queen ad included of a paragraph-long paean to the wonders of soft-serve ice cream. There are several instances where one speaker's remark and another's response run together as a single quote and you have to stop and figure out which part of the quote was attributable to whom. I'm mystified by Ellie's so-called friend, who keeps pushing her to reconcile with her cheating boyfriend, a pathetic fellow who left Ellie for a scam artist and came back with his tail between his legs after getting taken. Ellie's so-called friend thinks Ellie hasn't tried hard enough to patch things up with this piece of work.

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Irish Lass

Great story, love this series

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2018

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My first Hellman was a Georgia Davis story. Loved it so much,I devoured the entire series. I then went to the Ellie Forman series and it’s just as good. Highly recommend this book and all of both the Georgia Davis and Ellie Forman series.

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Kindle Customer

Differences in deliveries

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2013

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I enjoyed reading this book. The insight into the feminine mind's workings, it's many twists and turns and constant motion, has not been so accurately been developed in the many books I've recently as in this one. The author is bold enough to include her religious background without equivocation. And the mannerisms--"I'll just ask one more question." Asked and answered and then, she asks another one with a follow up. Just like my mom. Then there are the self-control issues in dealing with the teenage daughter's foibles. I should have done so well. What a wonderful main character is Ellie--so real and flawed and great!! The story with its twists and turns, all most logical (hear me, Gentlemen?) was so enjoyable that I purchased several more of the Ellie books. Also enjoyed the romance, vulgar- free, and right-on grammar. What a joy!. Thank you.

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ILgarden

Don't waste your time

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2013

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What a stupid, unbelievable plot with characters that I never cared about. No character development at all. Plot was ridiculous - the main character, who had no police background or training, decides that she is going to solve the murder mystery on her own. She went searching for clues to prove the suspect was innocent, and trying to talk to witnesses from 30 years earlier. You don't think the suspect's lawyer and the police would have been doing any of that? This is the first and will be the last book I read by this author. Need to stick to my favorite authors, and stop falling for Amazon's bargain books.

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2013

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Too much conversationWriter need to show instead of tell. Plot is too loosely constructed. Ideaof the two main characters is good but they do not have depth.

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Dee's Kindle review

This book is the bomb!

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book has so many twist and turns that kept you on your toes! I loved the way that knew evidence and suspects was introduced. I read the book in a couple of days, considering my job searches. I would definitely read more of Ms. Hellmann's books.

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A Shot To Die For: "Desperate Housewives" Meets "24" In Filmmaker 4th Outing (The Ellie Foreman Mysteries) Kindle Edition

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Libby Fischer Hellmann

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