Bad, Bad Seymour Brown - by Susan Isaacs (Hardcover)

About the Book

"When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she'd opted for when she left the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her dad gets a call from genial and slightly nerdy film professor, April Brown--one of the victims of the case he was never able to solve. When April was five years old, she'd emerged unscathed from the arson that killed her parents. Now, two decades later, she's asking for help. Someone has made another attempt on her life. It takes only a nanosecond for Corie and her dad to say yes, and they jump into a full-fledged investigation. If they don't move fast, whoever attacked April is sure to strike again. But while her late father, Seymour Brown, was the go-to money launderer for the Russian mob--a brilliant, volatile, and violent man with a penchant for Swiss watches and cheating on his wife--April Brown has no enemies. Popular with her students, esteemed by colleagues, her only connection to crime is her passion for the noir movies of Hollywood's golden age. Who would want April dead now? And who set that horrific fire, all those years ago? The stakes have never been higher. Yet as Corie and her dad have come to understand, they still live for the chase"--

Book Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Susan Isaacs returns to a pair of her readers' favorite characters, former FBI agent Corie Geller and her retired cop dad, who must solve one of the NYPD's coldest homicide cases--before the crime's sole survivor is killed.

When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she'd opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI.

But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from good-natured and slightly nerdy film professor April Brown--one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve. When April was a five-year-old, she'd emerged unscathed from the arson that killed her parents. Now, two decades later, April is asking for help. Someone has made an attempt on her life. It takes only a nanosecond for Corie and her dad to say yes, and they jump into a full-fledged investigation.

If they don't move fast, whoever attacked April is sure to strike again. But while her late father, Seymour Brown, was the go-to money launderer for the Russian mob - a mercurial and violent man with a penchant for Swiss watches and cheating on his wife - April Brown has no enemies. Well-liked by her students, admired by her colleagues, her only connection to crime is her passion for the noir movies of Hollywood's golden age. Who would want her dead now? And who set that horrific fire, all those years ago?

The stakes have never been higher. Yet as Corie and her dad are realizing, they still live for the chase. Savvy and surprising, witty and gripping, Bad, Bad Seymour Brown is another standout hit from the beloved Susan Isaacs.

Review Quotes

Praise for Bad, Bad Seymour Brown:

"Susan Isaacs has spent her career writing about what she once characterized as "brave dames" assertive, self-possessed women -- sometimes saddled with a neurosis or two -- who were fulfilled by marriage and family but hardly defined by them, and who had a natural ability to solve murders... The thoroughly enjoyable plot brims with misdirection and red herrings. And like other Isaacs characters, Corie Geller is wonderful company for the reader." --Sarah Weinman, New York Times

"Offbeat characters, witty narration, and a winsome father-daughter dynamic complement Isaacs's clever if madcap plot. Fans of breezy suspense will be delighted."--Publishers Weekly

"As a narrator, [Corie] is a formidable raconteur, as generous with details as Proust, as full of anecdote as a suburban Scheherazade. She and her father make a good team, pooling resources and pulling in a host of ex-colleagues and guest experts to assist them. They need all the help they can get to combat a most determined villain and save their brave and endearing client." --Wall Street Journal

Praise for Susan Isaacs:

"I can think of no other novelist--popular or highbrow--who consistently celebrates female gutsiness, brains and sexuality. She's Jane Austen with a schmear." --NPR's Fresh Air

"A witty, wry observer of contemporary life." --The Washington Post

"Nobody does smart, gutsy, funny, sexy women better than Susan Isaacs." --The Washington Post

"The women who inhabit Isaacs' books are smart, sexy, a little snarky, and filled with some serious chutzpah." --Rachel Martin NPR's Weekend Edition

"Ms. Isaacs is a witty author, but comedy gives way to terror as Corie's inevitable confrontation with her dangerous quarry nears. All the foreshadowing and presaging pays off in spades, and the scenes that tie up loose ends are a pleasure to read."--Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

"What is it that makes Susan Isaacs' books so delicious to read? She's funny, for starters. And that humor combined with romance and old-fashioned murder mystery tickles every feel-good bone in our bodies. Her characters are whole and flawed and lovable, and you want only the best for them, even as you ardently wish to find them in danger -- repeatedly -- along the way."--New York Newsday

"There are so many layers -- and thrilling twists and turns -- that you won't want to put it down."--InTouch

About the Author

SUSAN ISAACS is the author of thirteen novels, including Takes One to Know One, As Husbands Go, Long Time No See, Any Place I Hang My Hat and Compromising Positions. A recipient of the Writers for Writers Award and the John Steinbeck Award, Isaacs serves as chairman of the board of Poets & Writers, and is a past president of Mystery Writers of America. Her fiction has been translated into 30 languages. She lives on Long Island with her husband.