In this terrific thriller, Poppy Rice, director of the FBI's crime lab, reinvestigates the case of an unlikely young female killer on death row in Texas. Poppy's puzzled that the jury accepted evidence that an 88-pound drug addict could murder two people with an ax, based on the testimony of a quack. But she's working against the clock (the execution of Rona Leigh Glueck, now a saintly and eloquent born-again Christian, is rapidly approaching) and against a network of good old boys, including the governor, who aren't eager to see the evidence reexamined. Though Poppy (whom some readers may remember as a sidekick in Mary-Ann Smith's An American Killing) is whip-smart and tenacious as an alligator, she can't get a stay of execution.

But Rona Leigh manages to cheat death dramatically: she survives Texas's lethal-injection cocktail and escapes, with the help of a rebel preacher and his group of New Shakers, who believe she's the second coming of Christ. Now Poppy's task is threefold: find Rona Leigh Glueck, find out how she survived, and find out if she's innocent. Smith's pacing and plot development are subtly perfect, and she renders just enough of Poppy's personal life to make her interestingly enigmatic. Good news: Love Her Madly is the first in a series. --Barrie Trinkle


From Publishers Weekly
In the first installment in a slick new series, the versatile Smith (author of four literary novels and the quality suspense tale An American Killing) introduces Poppy Rice, FBI agent and brassy gal all around, who blusters her way into a capital punishment case obviously inspired by that of real-life convicted killer Karla Faye Tucker, executed a few years ago. Rona Leigh Glueck awaits the execution chamber, "about to be the first woman put to death by the people of Texas since the Civil War," but Poppy deduces that Ms. Glueck's wrists were too dainty to have wielded a heavy ax in a double homicide. In a book long on hokey Texas dialogue (" `You learn anything a-tall in FBI school, ma'am?' ") but short on descriptive narrative, the reader misses a sense of place, but the plot drives along nicely, which is the novel's saving grace. Having turned to Jesus in prison, Rona Leigh seems to await chemical death with equanimity. For reasons that are unclear, a Catholic cardinal offers to be her death row spiritual counselor. While Rona Leigh may have been a loose woman and a liar, many now see her as an angel. Poppy believes that Rona Leigh didn't receive a fair trial, but the obstacles to reopening the case are daunting. The governor has promised himself, and his public, that this woman will die. The action builds to a surprising if implausible climax in the death house that should please most readers. Smith may be no Patricia Cornwell when it comes to detailing investigative work, but she knows how to tell a suspenseful story in an easy, colloquial voice women readers especially will appreciate. Author tour. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Move over V.I. and Kinsey-here comes Penelope (Poppy) Rice, FBI agent extraordinaire, as scrappy and effective as the best of the female operatives. Classed as a police procedural, this tale takes place mainly in Texas, where Rona Leigh Glueck, in jail for 17 years, is about to be executed for a gory double axe murder. Poppy takes a second look at the evidence and the trial transcripts and decides that Rona Leigh deserves, at the very least, a new trial. The cast of characters includes the low-life widower of one of the victims; Poppy's sometime lover Joe, from the department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the last remaining Shaker elder. Some totally unexpected twists keep the listener delightedly off-balance. The grim descriptions of the procedure of death by lethal injection are disturbing and unsettling, as is the result, in more ways than one. The program is read marvelously by Susan Ericksen, whose Southern voices are right-on. The review copy, unfortunately, was of poor sound quality, with one side nearly inaudible and voices murmuring in the background on several others; this might just have been a lemon. Check for quality, but purchase this item; it will be a winner.Harriet Edwards, East Meadow P.L., NYCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
For FBI Agent Poppy Rice, it isn't about whether women should suffer the death penalty, but about whether this woman actually committed the crime for which she has been condemned. Rice has some doubts and vows to reopen the investigation. Susan Ericksen brings a deft touch and performs the many characters from Texas to Washington with clarity. Her murderer-turned-Christian comes across as convincingly naïve and innocent, while her various Texas Rangers and prison officials bow under the weight of their own pomposity. Ericksen's minor characters receive no less attention, particularly Poppy's assistant, Darby, whose light black dialect fits her character perfectly. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Penelope "Poppy' Rice first appeared as an FBI crime lab director in Smith's well-received thriller, An American Killing (1998). She's back to launch a series of her own, now that she's done all she can to revamp the crime lab and has returned to investigative work. Watching a televised interview with convicted axe murderess and born-again Christian Rona Leigh Glueck, whose Texas execution date is fast approaching, Poppy is skeptical that such a serene woman with such tiny hands could have committed the crimes. She pulls the case file out of curiosity, and what follows is a mad rush to determine whether Rona Leigh received a fair trial and to delay the execution. Smith delivers a smart, irreverent heroine; pitch-perfect Texan dialogue; gasp-worthy plot twists; and quite a bit of substance along with the action. Poppy has some serious and scathing things to say about the death penalty, religion, and Texas politics. Readers may not agree with her, but they'll find a lot to think about here. Carrie Bissey
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Poppy Rice is home in her DC apartment with very little furniture and a stack of boxes she still hasn't unpacked after five years. It's 2 A.M. and she's suffering from her usual insomnia, so she watches a tape of the CBS Evening News. Dan Rather is interviewing convicted ax-murderer Rona Leigh Glueck, who in ten days will be the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. Poppy pauses the tape on a close-up of Rona Leigh's delicate, childlike hands." "So maybe it was a lightweight ax." "Poppy digs out Rona Leigh's case file to find - along with the grisly crime-scene photos - a physician's testimony that glee, not muscle, gave her the strength to commit the crime. When her public defender asked the crime lab for help determining whether such a frail woman, only seventeen years old, could physically commit these murders, he was turned away for not filing the correct paperwork." With the reluctant support of her colleague and sometime lover, Joe Barnow, the impetuous and relentless Poppy reopens the investigation to find out if Rona Leigh deserves a certificate that will read: Death by Legal Homicide as Ordered by the State of Texas.

FROM THE CRITICS

Patrick Anderson - Washington Post Book World

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has made Karla Faye Tucker's life and death the starting point of her quite fascinating novel Love Her Madly.

Daniel Stashower

Sharp, funny, and surprising. Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has crafted a wonderful novel of suspense.

John Wessel

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith's Love Her Madly is a Texas twister of a book, at once hilarious and suspenseful . . .

Publishers Weekly

In the first installment in a slick new series, the versatile Smith (author of four literary novels and the quality suspense tale An American Killing) introduces Poppy Rice, FBI agent and brassy gal all around, who blusters her way into a capital punishment case obviously inspired by that of real-life convicted killer Karla Faye Tucker, executed a few years ago. Rona Leigh Glueck awaits the execution chamber, "about to be the first woman put to death by the people of Texas since the Civil War," but Poppy deduces that Ms. Glueck's wrists were too dainty to have wielded a heavy ax in a double homicide. In a book long on hokey Texas dialogue (" `You learn anything a-tall in FBI school, ma'am?' ") but short on descriptive narrative, the reader misses a sense of place, but the plot drives along nicely, which is the novel's saving grace. Having turned to Jesus in prison, Rona Leigh seems to await chemical death with equanimity. For reasons that are unclear, a Catholic cardinal offers to be her death row spiritual counselor. While Rona Leigh may have been a loose woman and a liar, many now see her as an angel. Poppy believes that Rona Leigh didn't receive a fair trial, but the obstacles to reopening the case are daunting. The governor has promised himself, and his public, that this woman will die. The action builds to a surprising if implausible climax in the death house that should please most readers. Smith may be no Patricia Cornwell when it comes to detailing investigative work, but she knows how to tell a suspenseful story in an easy, colloquial voice women readers especially will appreciate. Author tour. (Jan. 11) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal