Munch Mancini's past catches up with her in this sixth adventure featuring the reformed bad girl turned garage mechanic and single mother--a series that's gaining fans with every new outing for a good reason--Munch is an authentically original creation with grit, wit, and determination, which often serve her better than her loyalty to old friends. Now one of those friends turns up murdered, and when homicide Detective Mace St. John finds Munch's prints and photo on the corpse's records, a bloody part of her past threatens to blow Munch and her daughter's future away. If that's not enough, the teenage son of another old friend turns up on Munch's doorstep, but of course it's no coincidence. By the time Sernaella ties a boy named Bug, a drug-fueled murder spree the cops have long since closed the books on, and a dead woman in a storm drain together in a fast-placed plot, she's brought another piece of Munch's history into sharper focus, making her hard-fought struggle to turn her life around even more interesting, involving, and inspiring. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
While Seranella has been justly praised for the grittiness of her Munch Mancini novels (No Man Standing, etc.), this, the sixth installment, could have benefited from less grit and more storytelling gruel. When homicide detective Mace St. John runs prints on a murdered woman, he finds Munch's photo in the arrest report, since 10 years earlier Munch used the dead woman's name in beating a DUI charge. But now Munch, in an attempt to clean up her act, has moved on to the quiet life, bringing up her eight-year-old daughter and keeping a lid on her past transgressions. Unfortunately, the past won't stay past. Rico Chacon, her boyfriend-detective, discovers a link between the current case and a triple homicide. Pressed to the wall, Munch deliberately baits the killer and runs the risk of winding up on his hit list. The author has the makings of a suspenseful mystery here, but she overdoes the down and dirty elements. A cast of junkies, bikers, criminals and assorted forms of lowlife overwhelm the reader, with nary a ray of hope among the unrelieved gloom. Realism may have been the intended goal, but after awhile the effect is simply depressing. Another, equally serious drawback is the unconscionable amount of padding throughout. The inevitable result is tedium rather than tension, ennui instead of edginess. Let's hope that better things lie ahead for Munch. For now, the unpaid dues are to the reader. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Successful mechanic and loving mom Munch Mancini hopes that she's finally left her checkered past behind, but her past proves once again that it's not quite through with her. When an analysis of a murdered woman's fingerprints yields a mug shot of Munch, she is forced to confess to her confidantes on the police force that she once posed as the dead woman, Jane Ferrar, to weasel out of a drunk-driving charge. What she doesn't say is that she and Jane were involved, once upon a time, in something much more serious, and that something probably led to Jane's death. As more friends and foes from her drugs-and-drinking days resurface, Munch is faced with a choice between keeping quiet or revealing secrets that could ruin everything she's worked so hard to accomplish. Seranella's sixth Mancini novel provides some valuable backstory and promises more misadventure to come for her flawed but appealing heroine. Carrie Bissey
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
George P. Pelecanos Author of Soul Circus and Hell to Pay Barbara Seranella is a writer's writer who has lived a life and is unafraid to tell the tale. Unpaid Dues is honest, hard-hitting, exciting crime fiction. Give this a try.


Book Description
Munch Mancini is one of those fictional characters who jump off the page and into readers' hearts. Mechanic, limo driver, mom, Munch -- short for Miranda -- has lived a hard life and done it all: sex, drugs, you name it. But now she has her adopted eight-year-old daughter, Asia; she has a house; she has a job she loves. And she has trouble. The battered body of her former pal New York Jane has washed up in a Los Angeles drainage canal. Munch's policeman friend Mace St. John runs the dead woman's prints: She's Jane Ferrar, but in her arrest report Mace finds Munch's photo and fingerprints. What's the tie between the two women? Who killed Jane and dumped her in the ditch? And what is the significance of the baby doll tied to her arms? Munch tells Mace that ten years earlier she had used Jane's name to beat a drunk driving rap. She'll do what's necessary now to clear her record, but that's where she wants it to end. She wants no more police digging into her past. It's done. It's over. She's severed all ties with the people she used to know, especially Jane Ferrar and a dangerous man named Thor. Or so she hopes. It's not that easy, though, to escape one's history. There are always reminders, such as the fifteen-year-old boy who shows up at Munch's door one day asking for help. He's the son of an old friend, and he's a kid, so how can she say no? But is he what he says? Is Munch wrong to bring him into the house with little Asia? Munch will do anything to protect Asia from harm. Anything. Meanwhile, Munch's boyfriend, homicide cop Rico Chacón, is investigating a cold case of triple murder that may be heating up and heading straight toward Munch. Her whole new life may unravel unless she can stop a killer. And Munch's life with Rico may unravel too unless his other girlfriend leaves town -- soon. With Unpaid Dues, Barbara Seranella, one of the most passionate and resonating voices in all of crime fiction, gives us a gripping and suspenseful novel about the debts we owe but can never fully repay.


Download Description
"Munch Mancini is one of those fictional characters who jump off the page and into readers' hearts. Mechanic, limo driver, mom, Munch -- short for Miranda -- has lived a hard life and done it all: sex, drugs, you name it. But now she has her adopted eight-year-old daughter, Asia; she has a house; she has a job she loves. And she has trouble. With Unpaid Dues, Barbara Seranella, one of the most passionate and resonating voices in all of crime fiction, gives us a gripping and suspenseful novel about the debts we owe but can never fully repay. "


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 Man Standing; Unfinished Business, a Los Angeles Times "Best Book of 2001"; Unwanted Company; No Human Involved; and No Offense Intended. She and her husband, Ron, and their dogs divide their time between Laguna Beach and La Quinta, California.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Munch Mancini is one of those fictional characters who jump off the page and into readers' hearts. Mechanic, limo driver, mom, Munch - short for Miranda - has lived a hard life and done it all: sex, drugs, you name it. But now she has her adopted eight-year-old daughter, Asia; she has a house; she has a job she loves. And she has trouble." "The battered body of her former pal New York Jane has washed up in a Los Angeles drainage canal. Munch's policeman friend Mace St. John runs the dead woman's prints: She's Jane Ferrar, but in her arrest report Mace finds Munch's photo and fingerprints." "What's the tie between the two women? Who killed Jane and dumped her in the ditch? And what is the significance of the baby doll tied to her arms?" "Munch tells Mace that ten years earlier she had used Jane's name to beat a drunk driving rap. She'll do what's necessary now to clear her record, but that's where she wants it to end. She wants no more police digging into her past. It's done. It's over. She's severed all ties with the people she used to know, especially Jane Ferrar and a dangerous man named Thor." "Or so she hopes. It's not that easy, though, to escape one's history. There are always reminders, such as the fifteen-year-old boy who shows up at Munch's door one day asking for help. He's the son of an old friend, and he's a kid, so how can she say no? But is he what he says? Is Munch wrong to bring him into the house with little Asia? Munch will do anything to protect Asia from harm. Anything." "Meanwhile, Munch's boyfriend, homicide cop Rico Chacon, is investigating a cold case of triple murder that may be heating up and heading straight toward Munch. Her whole new life may unravel unless she can stop a killer." And Munch's life with Rico may unravel too unless his other girlfriend leaves town - soon.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

While Seranella has been justly praised for the grittiness of her Munch Mancini novels (No Man Standing, etc.), this, the sixth installment, could have benefited from less grit and more storytelling gruel. When homicide detective Mace St. John runs prints on a murdered woman, he finds Munch's photo in the arrest report, since 10 years earlier Munch used the dead woman's name in beating a DUI charge. But now Munch, in an attempt to clean up her act, has moved on to the quiet life, bringing up her eight-year-old daughter and keeping a lid on her past transgressions. Unfortunately, the past won't stay past. Rico Chacon, her boyfriend-detective, discovers a link between the current case and a triple homicide. Pressed to the wall, Munch deliberately baits the killer and runs the risk of winding up on his hit list. The author has the makings of a suspenseful mystery here, but she overdoes the down and dirty elements. A cast of junkies, bikers, criminals and assorted forms of lowlife overwhelm the reader, with nary a ray of hope among the unrelieved gloom. Realism may have been the intended goal, but after awhile the effect is simply depressing. Another, equally serious drawback is the unconscionable amount of padding throughout. The inevitable result is tedium rather than tension, ennui instead of edginess. Let's hope that better things lie ahead for Munch. For now, the unpaid dues are to the reader. (May 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Auto mechanic and sleuth Miranda "Munch" Mancini once stole a woman's identity to bypass a traffic rap. Now, the woman's been murdered, police are looking into Munch's background, and an unsolved triple homicide case ties in with that of the dead woman. It could all mean trouble for Munch! For series fans and others. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

When they run the fingerprints of the corpse found in a drainage ditch at the Riviera Country Club, LAPD detectives Mace St. John and Tony Cassiletti get back the name of Jane Ferrar, an ex-doper with an arrest record for prostitution, petty theft, and DUI. But when her rap sheet comes back with a picture of his good friend, mechanic Miranda "Munch" Mancini (No Man Standing, 2002, etc.), paper-clipped to it, St. John goes ballistic until he finds out that Munch—who￯﾿ﾽs alive and well, still working at Lou￯﾿ﾽs garage, dating sexy detective Rico Chacon, and lavishing love on her eight-year-old daughter Asia—once used Jane￯﾿ﾽs name to finesse her way out of that drunk-driving charge. What Munch doesn￯﾿ﾽt tell St. John is that on that momentous day ten years ago, she and New York Jane, along with Asia￯﾿ﾽs father, "Sleaze John" Garillo, and two other stoners named Deb and Thor, did a lot more than drive under the influence. Now Munch is afraid she￯﾿ﾽll be dragged into an ancient murder investigation, seriously impairing her capacity to care for Asia and for Deb￯﾿ﾽs son Boogie, now grown up and living with Munch while his mother freaks out in Amsterdam. And if Jane￯﾿ﾽs murder isn￯﾿ﾽt solved, Munch￯﾿ﾽs corpse may be next. Caught in the middle, Munch struggles once again to outrun her past, balancing her longing for serenity against her need to let the truth be told. Like a well-tuned engine, Seranella￯﾿ﾽs fifth glides perfectly right up to its elegant finish. (STARRED REVIEW)

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Unpaid Dues is Barbara Seranella's best crime novel to date! Taut, complex, and pitch-perfect. — Sue Grafton

Barbara Seranella delivers the goods with Unpaid Dues, and here's how: Seranella made me believe that Munch Mancini is real, and she made me care. I was totally involved as Mancini risks the life she has created for herself against chaos, disillusion, and danger of her own past. — Robert Crais