Munch Mancini Books In Publication Order
- No Human Involved (1997)
- No Offense Intended (1999)
- Unwanted Company (2000)
- Unfinished Business (2001)
- No Man Standing (2002)
- Unpaid Dues (2003)
- Unwilling Accomplice (2004)
- An Unacceptable Death (2005)
Charlotte Lyon Books In Publication Order
- Deadman’s Switch (2007)
Munch Mancini Book Covers
Charlotte Lyon Book Covers
Barbara Seranella Books Overview
No Human Involved
Munch Mancini wants a new life. To make ends meet, she is working as an auto mechanic in Venice, California, and trying to lose old habits. But she has more to kick than a hero*in addiction she’s wanted for murder. As usual, there’s no one to turn to for help, so it’s up to Munch alone to clean up her act, clear her name, and save her life.
No Offense Intended
If only expert mechanic Munch Mancini could keep her life running as smoothly as the cars she repairs. A former substance abuser, Munch is doing her best each day to keep the sins of her past behind her, but it seems that there’s always some old friend or temptation blocking her path. Like her ex lover, Sleaze Garillo, a shady hustler who comes around looking for a favor. When Sleaze drops out of sight under troubling circumstances possibly as the victim of a sniper attack on the freeway Munch can’t help but get involved. The cops are after her for answers. But Munch doesn’t have any yet. Unlike the police, she’s the only one with the friends and connections to find the truth. Of course that means revisiting the lingering characters from her past friend and foe and dealing with them once and for all. She’s used to battling drug smugglers, bikers, and the law, but this time, she’s facing the hardest fight of her life protecting the baby daughter Sleaze left behind.
Unwanted Company
Miranda ‘Munch’ Mancini has seen the worst of times, but she’s still looking for the best. A recovering addict and auto mechanic, she’s now a single mother and a fledgling businesswoman trying to run a limousine service. But being her own boss means she can’t afford to turn down a client, even when a seedy government type offers her big money to drive around a foreign businessman…
The problems start when Munch promises to hire Ellen, an old friend fresh out of prison, as a driver. Next thing Munch knows, though, her friend, her client, and her Cadillac are missing in action, and the police are at her door. With the custody of her adoptive daughter on the line and Ellen’s life in Jeopardy, there’s nothing Munch won’t do to help her pal, police detective Mace St. John, solve the case. But if there’s a brutal murderer on her trail, what can Munch do which won’t get her killed to stop him?
Unfinished Business
Munch Mancini finally has her life together. A former drug addict and biker who lived rough on the streets, she’s now a respectable mom with a regular job. By day, Munch is one of the Brentwood Texaco’s best mechanics. By night, she drives a limo. Even better, she owns the limo, and at forty six bucks an hour, it brings in some nice change. Like tonight, when the meter metaphorically ticks as she takes in the view outside a cliffside Pacific Palisades mansion while the glamorous types inside drink champagne at a charity gala. Munch sees things while she waits. Two people come out of the house. They argue. Munch senses a threat. Soon one of her customers will be murdered, another will be raped and tortured, and Munch will find herself trapped in the mayhem. She knows something important, perhaps from that night in the Palisades, perhaps from her work at the garage. Whatever it is, it’s significant enough for her to become a target. Munch has much to worry about already. There’s her seven year old adopted daughter, Asia. Munch would sacrifice anything to keep her safe and secure. There’s the current man in her life, Garret Dimond. He’s perfect in many ways. She’s always prayed for a lover who won’t drive her crazy, but she also needs a guy who will keep her awake. Which brings her to Mace St. John, the cop who arrested her back in her biker days. Now they are friends, but Munch sometimes yearns for more. That’s impossible. It won’t happen. It mustn’t. All is tested when they’re thrown together in the hunt for a killer. Vulnerable, courageous, unpredictable, Munch Mancini packs a powerfully entertaining punch in this riveting novel from one of the brightest new stars of crime fiction.
No Man Standing
A new Munch Mancini novel from the nationally bestselling author whose ‘Unfinished Business’ was a ‘Los Angeles Times’ ‘Best Book of 2001’ Munch Mancini is a busy woman, what with her auto mechanic’s job, her fledgling limo business, and single motherhood, but she hasn’t forgotten her old friends: she’s still close to Ellen Summers. Munch and Ellen were young and foolish together. They drank, they did drugs, they did other things they’d rather forget. But somewhere along the line, Munch went straight and Ellen went to prison. Now, Ellen is about to be freed form the California Institiution ofor Women. She’ll have another chance to make a life. Or will she? Just a day before her release, her world falls apart when someone tortures and murders her mother and stepfather, Lila Mae and Dwayne Summers. Ellen may be the next target. Ellen has something the killer wants, and she’s not about to give it up. Alone and threatened, she flees to Munch. Munch wants to help, but is Ellen telling her the truth? Too much of Ellen’s story doesn’t make sense, and what if helping Ellen puts Munch’s eight year old daughter, Asia, at risk? That’s where friendship stops and motherhood takes over. Where Asia’s concerned, Munch takes no chances. Unwilling to confide completely in the police because the whole truth would send Ellen back to prison, Munch embarks on a mission to find the killer and to cut the best possible deal for her friend. Work, friendship, loyalty, motherhood, men, and even Munch’s sobriety are all put to the test in the six harrowing days leading up to a heartbreaking showdown. Munch must ask herself some tough questions. If she comes through this one, she’ll never takeanything for granted again. Besides her dealings with Ellen, Munch has some problems of her own. The jealous mother of one of Asia’s playmates is stalking Munch, convinced she’s stealing her husband. The woman could be dangerous. She can’t be ignored. She’s wrong about the husband, though. The chemistry is between Munch and Homicide Detective Rico Chacin, who’s investigating the Summers murders. Munch hasn’t felt this way about a man in a long time, but canshe trust him? With riveting action and one of the most unconventional and appealing hero*ines in all of crime fiction, ‘No Man Standing‘ is the best yet from a superbly gifted author.
Unpaid Dues
Munch Mancini is one of those fictional characters who jump off the page and into readers’ hearts. Mechanic, limo driver, mom, Munch short for Miranda has lived a hard life and done it all: sex, drugs, you name it. But now she has her adopted eight year old daughter, Asia; she has a house; she has a job she loves. And she has trouble. The battered body of her former pal New York Jane has washed up in a Los Angeles drainage canal. Munch’s policeman friend Mace St. John runs the dead woman’s prints: She’s Jane Ferrar, but in her arrest report Mace finds Munch’s photo and fingerprints. What’s the tie between the two women? Who killed Jane and dumped her in the ditch? And what is the significance of the baby doll tied to her arms? Munch tells Mace that ten years earlier she had used Jane’s name to beat a drunk driving rap. She’ll do what’s necessary now to clear her record, but that’s where she wants it to end. She wants no more police digging into her past. It’s done. It’s over. She’s severed all ties with the people she used to know, especially Jane Ferrar and a dangerous man named Thor. Or so she hopes. It’s not that easy, though, to escape one’s history. There are always reminders, such as the fifteen year old boy who shows up at Munch’s door one day asking for help. He’s the son of an old friend, and he’s a kid, so how can she say no? But is he what he says? Is Munch wrong to bring him into the house with little Asia? Munch will do anything to protect Asia from harm. Anything. Meanwhile, Munch’s boyfriend, homicide cop Rico Chac n, is investigating a cold case of triple murder that may be heating up and heading straight toward Munch. Her whole new life may unravel unless she can stop a killer. And Munch’s life with Rico may unravel too unless his other girlfriend leaves town soon. With Unpaid Dues, Barbara Seranella, one of the most passionate and resonating voices in all of crime fiction, gives us a gripping and suspenseful novel about the debts we owe but can never fully repay.
Unwilling Accomplice
Munch Mancini and little daughter Asia are doing just fine. Munch rejoices in her job as an auto mechanic at the Brentwood Texaco. She and Asia have a house not in tony Brentwood and a dog, and Munch has been off drugs for years. She plans to stay that way. It’s tough, though, when people from her old life resurface. Such a person is Lisa Slokum, Asia’s aunt. Lisa has always meant trouble, and why should now be any different? It seems she has bolted from the Witness Protection Program with her two daughters, fifteen year old Charlotte and eleven year old Jill, and she needs Munch’s help. Would that it were so simple. Munch will need to call upon Rico Chac n, a fine cop but not so fine boyfriend whose commitment to her on the nonprofessional side seems to be wavering. And before Munch can sort out her love life she must try on the role of auntie to Asia’s new cousins not easy when the teenaged Charlotte goes missing and her mom, Lisa, lands in jail. Why did Charlotte run away, and where is she now? Is she in danger of becoming one of Hollywood’s lost street children? Does she have information about the recent death of school friend Steven Koon? And why was a lock of her hair found stuck to a piece of duct tape in a ransacked storage locker? Munch must unravel the mystery of young Charlotte’s complex life before it’s too late to save her. To do that, she needs help from Rico, who’s investigating the Koon boy’s death. Will their professional alliance rekindle their romance? Should she take him back? Does he want to come back? Can she trust him? With its pulsating suspense and penetrating look at family relationships and the universal need for love and affirmation, Unwilling Accomplice is the best yet from a versatile author whose passionate voice shines through her fast moving prose.
An Unacceptable Death
The eighth book in this series finds Munch Mancini much removed from her former life of abuse and prostitution. She now works as an automobile mechanic, work she loves and does so well that even her male co-workers acknowledge her skill if somewhat grudgingly. She has a daughter, a little girl left in her care by a dying friend. And she is about to marry a police officer whom she loves deeply. It all comes crashing down when a friend in the Police Department calls to tell her that her fiancZ is dead, shot down by his fellow cops in a drug bust gone wrong. Refusing to believe the explanation she is given, Munch goes on a dangerous mission, first for knowledge, and then for revenge.
Deadman’s Switch
From the author of the acclaimed Munch Mancini crime novels comes a new mystery series featuring an appealing and resourceful sleuth.
Charlotte Lyon is a woman who can handle a crisis. She’s turned that talent into a lucrative business in crisis management, in which she supplies excellent, and often unusual, advice to suddenly troubled company heads about how to handle the press, shareholders, and the public. When necessary, she goes beyond the basic job description to discover the cause of the crisis itself, and whether it was an accident or not.
The job she has now is one of the latter. The mysterious derailment of a train has killed both the engineer and a famous movie actress. The disaster gets international attention and Charlotte is brought in to manage the heated situation. But Charlotte has her own demons to contend with—the recent death of her husband and a dangerously narcissistic mother. And the more she investigates, the more danger surrounds her. But no matter the threat, she will get to the bottom of this tragedy, or die trying.
Barbara Seranella, a unique and beloved voice in crime fiction, delivers a crafty puzzle and vivid, unforgettable characters in this first book of an exciting new series.
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