Stiletto

A Novel

By: Brenda Peterson

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Stiletto is a timely, fast-paced feminine mystery told in two diverse voices—a tense, erotic duet between the sharp, intuitive Detective Anna Crane and her prime suspect, the brilliant biochemist Eleanor Kiernan. Both women are haunted by the tragic loss of a sibling, but Kiernan's twin brother died of an overdose of the opiate she helped to create.

When a Big Pharma exec Leo Cushman is fatally stabbed, there are many other suspects: Obliterate Opiates activists, a disinherited ex-wife and stepson, a secret lover, an addict vowing vengeance. But Detective Crane prioritizes investigating Kiernan in her first high-profile case, even as she is unexpectedly drawn to her suspect. Can an antagonist also be an ally? Can a young detective be seduced by a murderer?

A cinematic, stylish psychological thriller, Stiletto is a suspenseful cross between the sensual obsessions of Killing Eve and the compelling drama of the award-winning television series Dopesick that exposes the greed of Big Pharma and its guilt in marketing an opiate that kills over 100,000 a year. But the real mystery in Stiletto is what its two protagonists discover as its twisting plot unfolds—about the real crime and about themselves.

©2023 Brenda Peterson (P)2023 Tantor

The test and turns with multiple potential suspects.

I like the book very much. Seems it is ripe for a movie given the currency of the issues (fentanyl, big Pharma).