Esther Diamond is currently making ends meet by waiting
tables, albeit at a restaurant frequented by Italian
mobsters. Just your typical New York actress -- other than
that little incident during her last acting job, when she
had to help a local sorcerer stop his evil apprentice from
unleashing a deadly demon on New York City. But things have
calmed down, Esther is making great tips at Bella Stella,
and she's in the early stages of a relationship with hunky
cop Connor Lopez. Things could be worse...
Like witnessing a mob hit, for example. Charlie Chiccante,
a regular at Stella's, is gunned down by an unseen assassin
who can apparently shoot around corners, leaving Esther as
the only witness and a potential suspect. But the strange
part is that shortly before his death, Charlie claimed to
have seen his exact double, or a doppelganger,
traditionally said to be a harbinger of death. As Lopez
investigates and tries to protect Esther, she is drawn into
the case by her own curiosity and by another of the
restaurant's patrons, "Lucky" Battistuzzi, who has been
charged by his bosses to find out who ordered the hit.
When more "doppelgangsters" start appearing, followed by
more murders, Esther once again finds herself working with
Max the Sorcerer, as well as a local Catholic priest and
some goodfellas, to try to prevent a mob war. Lopez is
suspicious of Esther's apparent friendliness with some very
unsavory characters, but she can't tell the practical,
realistic cop what's really going on, which strains their
budding relationship. Then Esther discovers that her
own doppelganger is roaming the city, and keeping
her new boyfriend happy is the suddenly the least of her
problems.
Esther Diamond certainly shines (forgive the pun) in the
ever-more-crowded urban fantasy genre. Tough, funny, yet
vulnerable, this reluctant heroine can hold her own, not
only in the cutthroat acting business, but in the
supernatural realm as well. The secondary characters, from
the sexy Lopez to the tech-challenged Max to the charming
but deadly Lucky, are all entertaining and well-drawn, and
the story is a nonstop thrill ride with plenty of laughs,
some chills and a little romance along the way. You'll find
yourself wishing Laura Resnick had a double so she
could write twice as many books!
"In Laura Resnick's Doppelgangster, the New York actress is
'resting' between roles by working as a singing waitress at
a Manhattan mob restaurant because wiseguys tip well. Then
duplicated gangsters appear, bullets start flying, and it's
up to Esther and her friend Max the Magician to fight Evil
by stopping the gang war before it starts killing the wrong
people.
And if she has time, maybe Esther can actually keep a hot
date with her hunky detective friend Lopez, who doesn't
believe in magic. Yet. Unplug the phone and settle down for
a fast and funny read." --New York Times bestselling author
Mary Jo Putney
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