Miranda "Munch" Mancini is quite a woman. She's a recovering drug and alcohol abuser; she's a southern California auto mechanic; she's the sole proprietor of a fledgling limo service; she's a loving mother to her 7-year-old adopted daughter, Asia. Set in the early 1980s, Barbara Seranella's fourth Mancini novel, Unfinished Business, has Munch and her friend, detective Mace St. John, in hot pursuit of a serial rapist-murderer who's killed one of her clients, the socialite Diane Bergman, and raped another, the actress Robin Davies. Worse--for all concerned, including the rapist--the rapist has come close enough to Munch's daughter to pin a note to her coat, and now Munch is getting threatening calls: The phone rang again. Asia reached for it.

"No," Munch said, with more force than she had intended. Asia jumped back. Munch picked up the receiver, tried to give Asia a comforting smile, and said "Hello?"

"You have a nice house," the strangely distorted voice said. It vibrated, sounding like the voice of that robot in that old television show Lost in Space. The cadence was slow, as if the speaker needed an extra moment to prepare each word. "But you really shouldn't take the same route home every day." Gritty, creepy in the extreme, and at times positively harrowing, Unfinished Business is a most welcome entry into the Mancini line (No Human Involved, No Offense Intended, Unwanted Company). Seranella's characters are wholly yet finely drawn, their dialogue is true, and the mounting urgency she packs into this novel's pace, particularly down the home stretch, is palpable. --Michael Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
Seranella's lady mechanic is back fixing cars and catching criminals in this fourth Munch Mancini crime novel (Unwanted Company, etc.), featuring the spunky auto-repair gal and her sidekick, Det. Mace St. John. In mid-'80s L.A., Munch, mechanic to the rich and famous, is distraught when a customer, philanthropic socialite Diane Bergman, is found dead on the side of the freeway, dressed in a negligee with electrocution marks on her body. The details of Diane's murder resemble a rape case Mace has been investigating for a few months; when he discovers that a third case suggests the same modus operandi and that the victim, Robin Davies, is also a customer at Munch's garage, the mechanic and the cop join forces once again. Along with her friend D.W. from the Meals-on-Wheels program, Munch tries to comfort Robin, who has not left her home since being raped. As soon as Robin begins to accept support, Munch starts getting threatening phone calls from the rapist, who knows too much about her life and the routine she follows with her seven-year-old adopted daughter, Asia. Robin disappears, Mace has a heart attack and suddenly Munch is left alone to catch the bad guy. More threats to Munch and her daughter follow, to everyone's dismay, yet the reader feels little trepidation. A cast of one-dimensional secondary characters take their places as stock suspects until the perpetrator's identity is revealed with little clue as to a motive. All flaws considered, Munch is a likable protagonist, and Seranella's 20 years as a mechanic puts an unusual spin on this series. Yet among so many other crime novels boasting strong heroines, this one doesn't stand out. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Seranella's unconventional auto mechanic, Munch Mancini, first seen in the well-received Unwanted Company (1999) is back in action. When hired as a limousine driver for a fancy society benefit party, she overhears the hostess arguing with someone. The woman later turns up dead on a Los Angeles freeway, and Munch is very curious about what really happened. After another customer, a woman who was brutally raped, disappears, Munch finds herself helping her friend, homicide detective Mace St. John, with the investigation. Soon she begins to receive threatening phone calls and becomes concerned about the safety of her young daughter. Dealing with all of this while analyzing her relationship with a new boyfriend keeps Munch busy. A strong female protagonist, lots of action, and a surprising conclusion drive this solid entry in a strong series that deserves wider recognition. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Romantic Times
Author Barbara Seranella, a former auto mechanic who shares much of her heroine's background, makes Munch's adventures entirely believable. She writes with a riveting combination of grittiness and warmth that will keep you glued to your seat until the final, heart-stopping, and extremely satisfying conclusion.


Review
Los Angeles Times The writing is crisp, the action fast and furious, the thrills never sag...hard to put down.


Book Description
Munch Mancini finally has her life together. A former drug addict and biker who lived rough on the streets, she's now a respectable mom with a regular job. By day, Munch is one of the Brentwood Texaco's best mechanics. By night, she drives a limo. Even better, she owns the limo, and at forty-six bucks an hour, it brings in some nice change. Like tonight, when the meter metaphorically ticks as she takes in the view outside a cliffside Pacific Palisades mansion while the glamorous types inside drink champagne at a charity gala. Munch sees things while she waits. Two people come out of the house. They argue. Munch senses a threat. Soon one of her customers will be murdered, another will be raped and tortured, and Munch will find herself trapped in the mayhem. She knows something important, perhaps from that night in the Palisades, perhaps from her work at the garage. Whatever it is, it's significant enough for her to become a target. Munch has much to worry about already. There's her seven-year-old adopted daughter, Asia. Munch would sacrifice anything to keep her safe and secure. There's the current man in her life, Garret Dimond. He's perfect in many ways. She's always prayed for a lover who won't drive her crazy, but she also needs a guy who will keep her awake. Which brings her to Mace St. John, the cop who arrested her back in her biker days. Now they are friends, but Munch sometimes yearns for more. That's impossible. It won't happen. It mustn't. All is tested when they're thrown together in the hunt for a killer. Vulnerable, courageous, unpredictable, Munch Mancini packs a powerfully entertaining punch in this riveting novel from one of the brightest new stars of crime fiction.


Download Description
Straight from the top of the Los Angeles Times bestseller lists comes Barbara Seranella and her critically acclaimed Munch Mancini crime novels. A lady auto mechanic with a colorful past, Munch is drawn into the search for a rapist who works the Brentwood section of Los Angeles using electrical shocks to manipulate his victims. Two of the women are customers at Munch's garage: one, a philanthropic socialite, is dead; the other, Robin Davies, a starlet, survived but is severely traumatized. Then Robin goes missing, and Munch joins homicide cop Mace St. John, in the race to save her. Even as the rapist's focus turns toward her, Munch carries on with wit and courage, raising her wedding-obsessed seven-year-old, debating her future with her boyfriend, and struggling against an inappropriate attraction to the married Mace St. John.


About the Author
Barbara Seranella was born in Santa Monica and grew up in Pacific Palisades. After running away from home at fourteen, joining a hippie commune in the Haight, and riding with outlaw motorcycle clubs, she decided to do something normal, so she became a mechanic. Her Munch Mancini novels are No Human Involved, No Offense Intended, and Unwanted Company. She and her husband, Ron, and their two dogs divide their time between Laguna Beach and LaQuinta, California.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Unforgettable sleuth Munch Mancini is back for more! The recovering addict, ex-prostitute, ex-con, and auto-mechanic Renaissance woman who starred in Unwanted Company and No Offense Intended returns for another round. Just as she thinks she's finally going to get her life back to normal, Munch finds herself in the thick of another deadly mystery -- and she has to fight her way out in Unfinished Business.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly