HARD WOMEN: A Cat Marsala Mystery **REVIEWE COPY**

Farmington Hills, MI, U.S.A.: Scribners, 1993. 1st edition with complete number line beginning with 1. Light remains of sticker at fep, else fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. .REVIEW COPY with slip laid in. "D'Amato turns in another excellent Cat Marsala mystery (after Hard Luck ) despite the tension-destroying, flash-forward opening in which free-lance journalist Cat finds prostitute Sandra Lupica, her houseguest, dead in the alley behind her apartment building. Cat first meets Sandra while seeking women to interview for her "TV essay" on prostitution in Chicago; later her research includes a guided tour with Ross Wardon, a helpful but gratingly sexist vice cop who knows red-light life from streetwalkers up to high-priced escort services. Cat is getting a sense of the varied nature of the prostitution scene when Sandra shows up on her doorstep with her clothing torn, a lump on her head and a fat lip caused by "My boyfr--my father." She'll grant an interview if Cat will put her up temporarily. When the police show only a lukewarm interest in how Sandra went from being safe inside the apartment to dead on the pavement, Cat plunges even deeper into a world where it's tough to tell who your friends are. Although her tale carries a determined social conscience, D'Amato spins an engrossing story, convincing us again that Cat is as likable as she is clever." -- Publishers Weekly. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Review Copy.