Lambert, Mercedes 1948-2003 (Douglas Anne Munson)

PERSONAL:

Born February 17, 1948, in Crossville, TN; died of cancer, December 22, 2003, in Norwalk, CT. Education: Graduate of the University of New Mexico and the University of California, Los Angeles, law school.

CAREER:

Practiced criminal law in Los Angeles, CA; University of California, Los Angeles, writing instructor; taught English in the Czech Republic.

WRITINGS:

(As Douglas Anne Munson) El Niño (novel), Viking (New York, NY), 1990.

"WHITNEY LOGAN" MYSTERY SERIES

Dogtown, Viking (New York, NY), 1991.

Soultown, Viking (New York, NY), 1996.

Ghosttown, Five Star (Detroit, MI), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mercedes Lambert is the pseudonym of the late Douglas Anne Munson, who wrote one novel under her own name then three as Lambert. The author, who was named after an uncle who died in World War II, was born in Tennessee, attended college in New Mexico, and earned a law degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. Working in the criminal courts, she spent most of her legal career representing children who had been abused and neglected. Her first novel, El Niño, was based on those experiences. After leaving the legal profession, Lambert taught writing, including to students in the United States and to soldiers, farmers, and missionaries in the Czech Republic.

Lambert's final three books, written as Mercedes Lambert, feature heroine Whitney Logan, a twenty-something lawyer based in Los Angeles. In Dogtown, Logan is recently graduated from law school and is in debt to her landlord. Desperate for income, Logan accepts the offer of an attractive divorcée, Monica, eager to determine the whereabouts of her missing maid, who hails from Guatemala. After accepting the assignment, the plucky Logan discovers that her own investigative skills are rather inefficient, especially when information leads her into some of Los Angeles's more dangerous areas. Logan eventually teams with Lupe Ramos, a savvy prostitute who helps her navigate the back streets of Los Angeles. Despite their wildly different backgrounds, Logan and Ramos form a partnership, one that includes some unsettling discoveries and some violent responses to the equally violent actions of others.

A Library Journal reviewer enjoyed the team and stated that the "duo contributes magnetic staying power." Armchair Detective critic Allen J. Hubin called Dogtown "an interesting story," and Publishers Weekly contributor Sybil Steinberg noted that "this promising first novel is a rough-and-tumble mystery-thriller."

In Soultown, Logan reunites with Ramos after the latter has completed serving a prison sentence for soliciting an undercover police officer. Logan and Ramos travel to Koreatown, an ethnic neighborhood in Los Angeles, for their new adventure. Upon arriving at their destination, the home of a woman tending Ramos's child, Logan and Ramos witness a shooting and theft. They learn that the stolen goods are funds collected annually as part of a lottery, and the theft seems to be an inside job. Logan and Ramos agree to unravel the crime, and in their subsequent investigation they meet individuals spanning the socioeconomic spectrum of the Korean subculture. In addition, they once again find themselves occasionally embroiled in violent activities.

A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the author "has a sympathetic eye for troubled souls." A Library Journal critic praised the "in-your-face language, humor, and … jaunty heroine" of Soultown. In Kirkus Reviews, a contributor suggested that readers "fasten your seatbelt for a breathtaking tour."

In an interview with David Chute in Los Angeles magazine, the writer noted that "Los Angeles is the greatest city for crime fiction because of all the conflicts and potential for conflict."

Lambert was diagnosed with breast cancer while she was writing her first book, but she never fully recovered, and she returned to the United States to be treated in Connecticut. She was able to make one more trip back to the Czech Republic before dying in a Connecticut hospital. In a San Francisco Bee article, Allen Pierleoni commented on a conversation that he had with Lucas Crown, the writer's literary executor, friend, and author of the afterword of Ghosttown. Crown told him that the third book in the series had been rejected and not been published until four years after Lambert's cancer returned, she became homeless, and finally succumbed to the disease. Crown succeeded in getting it published, and it was well reviewed.

In the final volume, Logan has hit bottom, and her only income is as a public defender. Here she defends Tony Red Wolf, who claims that he did not kill the woman whose dismembered body is now in a trash can, but that he did see her murder in a vision. Booklist reviewer Thomas Gaughan concluded his positive review by writing that "Crown's lovingly crafted afterword offers some insight [into] the late author's sad, tortured life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, winter, 1993, Allen J. Hubin, review of Dogtown, p. 18.

Booklist, August, 2007, Thomas Gaughan, review of Ghosttown, p. 44.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2007, review of Ghosttown.

Library Journal, February 1, 1991, review of Dogtown, p. 108; June 1, 1996, review of Soultown, pp. 155-156.

Los Angeles, June, 1996, David Chute, interview, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, June 1, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of El Niño, p. 46; February 8, 1991, Sybil Steinberg, review of Dogtown, pp. 49-50; June 16, 1997, review of Soultown, p. 57; June 18, 2007, review of Ghosttown, p. 38.

San Francisco Bee, August 19, 2007, Allen Pierleoni, "Between the Lines: Talented Writer's Last Book."

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2004, p. B16.

United Press International, January 4, 2004.