From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Mortman (Rightfully Mine, etc.) presents another blockbuster with this eighth novel, which features an ex-movie star who runs a powerful, Martha Stewart-like empire. Vera Hart is the 59-year-old "Goddess of Perfection" behind Hart Line International (HLI), and her company's array of makeup, fashion, decorating and cooking products has a devoted following. She's also the cool-as-ice matriarch of a seriously dysfunctional family. Her daughters, Greta and Martie, who were separated in youth by their parents' divorce, "can't stand each other." And their sibling rivalry heats up even more when Vera appoints Martie to head a new line of HLI skin products at the same time that she hires the daughter's mutual love interest, attorney Bryan Chalmers, to look into some serious problems at HLI, including Enron-like fiscal shenanigans, poisoned lipsticks, death threats and murders. Can all that's wrong be just a coincidence, or is one mastermind behind it all? Mortman hits hard on all fronts, giving readers enough love entanglements to keep romance readers hooked while delivering enough suspense to please thriller fans as well. Particularly strong are her portrayals of working mothers and sorrowful childhoods. And the fact that Martie is a decorated officer and talented doctor, plagued by memories of her experiences as a POW during Desert Storm, gives credibility to her tough thinking while connecting the novel to current political events. All in all, Mortman layers on the suspense like so much rich mascara, leaving readers eager for the outcome of the murder investigations, the love triangle and the Hart family compact. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Fiction imitates life as Mortman conjures up a domestic diva under criminal investigation for the financial operation of her enormous empire based in New York. But Vera Hunt's case is direr than her real-life model because someone is killing women with her tainted products, and threatening to kill her and her family. Vera's older daughter, Greta, has always been by her side as a ruthless executive with the company, and now Vera tries to reconcile with her youngest daughter, Martie, who grew up with her army general father and served under his command as a doctor during the first Gulf War, where she was taken prisoner and decorated for her service. Reluctantly, Martie joins the company, but the sibling rivalry between her and Greta intensifies as they clash over company matters and Bryan Chalmers, who is currently seeing Greta but who was once in love with Martie. Mortman has fashioned a great bit of escape literature, a decadent diversion rich in suspense, family peccadilloes, and multifaceted characters. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Shades of Red FROM THE PUBLISHER
From New York Times bestselling author Doris Mortman comes a novel about the rivalry between sisters, the ruthless determination of their mother, and the seething hatred of an enemy set on destroying them.
Vera Hart has it all: a cosmetics empire along with international recognition as the authority in taste, style, and domestic bliss; a devoted daughter; and adulation and acclaim from a legion of fans. But this world is about to come crashing down around her. First, someone is sabotaging her company. Next, her enemies move in and surround her. And then someone begins to kill using the most insidious means possible---cosmetics that bear Vera's name.
Martie Phelps is estranged from Vera, her mother. A military doctor in the first Gulf war, Martie has scars and demons she holds close. As a single mother, all she wants is a quiet life with her daughter. Now the glamorous, complicated Vera Hart is making overtures to her: Vera wants Martie back in her life.
Greta Hart wants her sister, Martie, to stay gone. Greta has always been the dutiful daughter whom Vera has taken for granted. The current crisis is helping Vera pull Martie closer. And Greta doesn't like it.
All three women are searching for answers. Who wants to bring down Vera Hart? How intense can a rivalry between estranged sisters get? And when will the killer strike next? Suspenseful, compelling, peopled with the multifaceted women who are Doris Mortman's trademark, Shades of Red is a page-turner of the first order.
FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Reviews
Poison lipstick! Bitchy, beauteous tycoons! Decadent playboys! Just in case no one wants to read about such fun things, there's also a noble assistant DA (a flyboy in the first Gulf War) who pines for a dedicated cancer researcher with a heart of gold (also a Gulf vet). Yes, Mortman is back (Before and Again, 2003, etc.) with another improbable suspenser and the usual machine-gunned adjectives and tons of turgid prose. Meet the CEO of Hart Line International, a cold-as-ice hybrid of Estee Lauder, Martha Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor. Look into Vera Hart's eyes, if you can stand it. "Not a pure sapphire blue nor an absolute emerald green . . . nor the bleached-out green of a backyard pool overdosed with chlorine. They were pure aquamarine gems: rich and precious and mesmerizing." Vera Hart-former movie star, self-made woman, neglectful mother-now runs a cosmetics/lifestyle/gourmet-coffee empire worth zillions and even has her own TV slot, where she shows America how to pipe meringue out of an icing gun. But it's not good when Vera discovers that someone's been cooking the books at HLI. Worse: someone's tainted a batch of her famous Valentine Red lipstick with mercuric chloride. A disgruntled employee? Why, everyone loves Vera-or maybe not. Bryan Chalmers, assistant DA, takes the case. There's a personal connection: Dr. Martie Phelps, Vera's daughter, an urban ER doc and skin-cancer researcher and single mom (whew!), is his former lover. Martie can't forget her torrid affair with Bryan-and is all the more vulnerable because she still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder thanks to her hostage ordeal years ago under Iraqi baddies. No one really understands her but Bryan . . . GretaHart, Vera's other daughter, sure as hell doesn't. She resents her brilliant sister and hates the idea that her mother is trying to mend fences with Martie by making her a Hart Foundation honoree. So who poisoned the lipstick? Turn, turn, turn the pages. . . . Lots to chew on, if you're a fan.
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