The Lipstick Killers

This banal London-based crime-family saga from British author Martin (Gangster Wives) follows the four foul-mouthed Doyle sisters through corny tribulations that would make the most hardened soap opera heroines blush. Frankie, the oldest, left to parent her sisters after their mother dies of neglected breast cancer, weeps her way through her sister Sharon's abrupt widowhood and suicide. Rebellious Mags, a policewoman suspended for shooting the wrong bloke, investigates the suspicious death of Sharon's husband, a petty crook, in between invigorating snorts of cocaine and raunchy interludes with a hunky detective inspector. Roxie, the luscious youngest, goes on the lam after bumping off an inconvenient boyfriend in Spain. Vapid prose (""That night they dined in style, booked into a grand hotel and made love for hours"") goes hand in hand with an improbable plot and paper-thin characters.