Tramp

July 31, 1997
U.S. Marshall and Wyoming social register refugee Lilly Bennett takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of regional theater in her third romp, after Curtsey. Multimillionaire theater patron Cyrus Vaile, a nonagenarian, privately tells Lilly he suspects that $20 million of the funds behind his pet project, the Roundup Repertory Company, have been displaced. In front of the assembled company, he announces that Lilly's the newest member of the board of directors. Then he drops dead. Suspicious about his death, Lilly requests an autopsy. While acquainting herself with the company's personnel at the annual meeting, she hears from the pathologist that Cyrus may have been poisoned. Almost immediately, she is trapped in a fire in a theater office. Lilly juggles her investigations into Cyrus's death and the arson with her god-daughter's wedding and her own tumultuous love life--wondering, as more company members die, if someone is seeking revenge or hopes to close the company. Kellogg backs up Lilly's outspoken manner and spontaneous good will with the comparable delights of her supporting cast and, setting them all in the highly structured social milieu of wealthy cowboy country, offers swift, satisfying entertainment.

August 1, 1997
Series sleuth Lilly Bennett holds an enviable position. As member of a wealthy ranching family, head of her own security firm, and local U.S. marshall, she can do anything she wants--especially when it comes to finding out who poisoned the 90-year-old, much-hated patron of the Roundup Repertory Company. Lilly's ready wit, simmering sexuality, and intrusive interrogations make this a delight to read. More crisp action, prose, and dialog from the author of Bad Manners (LJ 3/1/95) and Curtsey (LJ 4/96).

September 1, 1997
Lilly Bennett is pushing 50, smart, old-money rich, and the marshal of Bennett's Fort, a real position despite its tourist setup. Lilly has been a cop and has the toxicology and criminology degrees to prove it, but an earlier indiscretion with a married judge sends her back to her family's Wyoming homestead, flashing her legs, her wardrobe, and her bitchy sense of humor. Lilly is newly named to the local repertory theater board by an elderly and lascivious donor who drops dead at a party. Soon the tangled finances and personalities of the theater troupe begin to unravel, and the body count grows, complete with some very imaginative deaths. In the course of finding whodunit and extolling the beauties of Wyoming, Lilly finds time to express her unabashed views--she doesn't have kind words for feminists, gays, theater folk, or pretty much anyone not her family or her boyfriend. But there's no denying she's entertaining, especially on her favorite subjects: sex, booze, clothes, and jewelry. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)