Publisher: THE PHOENIX GROUP
When a former NSA analyst is targeted for assassination by rogue elements of the Chinese and U.S. governments, she's forced to team with a renegade CIA spy and fight back using technology to extract the ultimate form of justice. The tension and suspense locks in on the first page and doesn't let up until the last.
Lily Barlow came back to her sleepy hometown of Marshall, Virginia, for one reason and one reason only―to rescue her family’s bakery from financial ruin after her dad’s heart attack. She successfully managed that without even donning an apron, but before heading back down to the University of Virginia, Lily unraveled a case of mistaken identity. She uncovered some evidence that her elderly landlady, Miss Delphine, is up to something, and got blindsided by her best friend, Jack Turner, who suddenly declared he and Lily should start dating. How’s that for a week of being home? The identity of the woman with the purple flower tattoo remains a mystery, however. Pouring over a website that tracks unidentified murder victims, Lily got sucked into the profile of a woman whose decapitated body was found in a Florida swamp. The victim wasn’t Lily’s acquaintance after all, but she is haunted by the fact that this woman remains nameless. Lily and her friend, Storie Sanders, pursue a lead that draws them from the quiet backroads of Virginia to the tropical mangroves of the Keys. Things take several unexpected turns as they work their way deeper into the mystery. Is their investigation leading them dangerously close to the murderer himself? A devotee of Stephanie Plum, Lily is inspired by this chain of events and starts to wonder if she could go from an amateur sleuth to a professional one, or at the very least get a minor in sleuthing. You gotta start somewhere, right? After all, she’s certain Mis Delphine is busy burying bodies out back, and if she just had a little more crime scene training, she could probably blow that case sky high. Not that she necessarily wants to bust a crazy old lady who has been nothing but kind, letting her live rent-free in the efficiency apartment above the garage. Regardless, Miss Delphine is hiding something. Or is it someone? Lily’s dad, George Barlow, is recovering quite nicely from his heart attack, although Lily is stuck in alert mode. She lost her mama at the age of six and is painfully aware that she’s one parent away from orphan status, even if she is a legal adult at this point. Maybe the University of Virginia in Charlottesville is too far away to keep tabs on her dad. It’s only a two-hour drive, but that seems like forever when your dad is being taken by ambulance to the hospital. If she moved back to the stifling little town, would she go completely bonkers? And what in the name of fishing lures and French fries is going on with Jack these days? This whole change in their status is bizarre. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten, never having tested the waters of a physical relationship. That’s probably because the brotherly/sisterly bond was so strong. Jack has clearly lost his mind with this crazy suggestion the two start dating. He’s taking his Principle of Proximity way too far, crossing every line Lily can manufacture with his neck smelling and his eye contact and his powers of seduction. Her gut says this is a risky little game that could cost her the most important person in her life. Her instinct is to tell him it’s a hard no on the dating question even if the romance is simmering down in the Keys. Is the Florida heat playing tricks on her or is Jack winning? As if she didn’t have enough to keep her occupied between Jack, the family crises, school starting back up…and you know…murder victims, a curious question surrounding her dead mama, Connie Barlow, has suddenly surfaced. There’s a missing piece in that puzzle, but where should she look?Show book
Whether it's poker or trial law, wisecracking Rita Morrone plays to win, especially when she takes on the defense of the Honorable Fiske Hamilton, a prominent federal judge accused of sexual harassment. And it's no coincidence that the judge is her live-in lover's father. Then the action turns deadly, and Rita finds herself at the center of a murder case. She probes deep into the murder, uncovering a secret life and suspects in shocking places. When the killer viciously ups the ante, Rita decides to end this lethal game. She lays it all on the line for the highest stakes ever—her life.Show book
Mary DiNunzio has become a big-time business-getter at Rosato & Associates. But the last person she expects to walk into her office one morning—in mile-high stilettos—is super-sexy Trish Gambone, her high-school rival. Back when Mary was becoming the straight-A president of the Latin Club and Most Likely to Achieve Sainthood, Trish was the head Mean Girl, who flunked religion and excelled at smoking in the bathroom. These days, however, Trish needs help. She is terrified of her live-in boyfriend, an abusive, gun-toting drug dealer for the South Philly mob. Mary remembers the guy from high school, too. She had a major crush on him. Then Trish vanishes, a dead body turns up in an alley, and Mary is plunged into a nightmare that threatens her job, her family, and even her life. She goes on a one-woman crusade to unmask the killer, and on the way finds new love in a very unexpected place.Show book
Judy Carrier takes the case of her career to defend Anthony Lucia, fondly known as "Pigeon Tony," who freely admits to killing his lifelong enemy in order to settle a personal vendetta. Her client's guilt, however, is only the beginning of Judy's problems. The victim's family wants revenge and is determined to finish off Pigeon Tony and Judy before the case goes to trial. Then there's Pigeon Tony's hunky grandson, who makes Judy think about everything but the law. In a case steeped in blood and memory, it will take brains and a lot of luck to save Pigeon Tony. But if anyone will see justice done, it's this gutsy girl who'll risk everything to win -- including her life.Show book
Katie Maguire is one of Ireland's best detectives. So why can't she catch these killers? In a secluded cove just outside the reaches of the city of Cork, a woman wakes up into a nightmare. She is buried in the sand, unable to escape. The gulls wheel silently overhead. Nobody could imagine the cruelty of her fate... Katie Maguire of the Cork Garda is soon on the trail of a terrifying gang of torturers calling themselves the High Kings of Erin. She'll do anything to stop them before they can claim their next victim – but somehow they are always one step ahead. Is Detective Katie Maguire losing her touch? Or is somebody close to her less trustworthy than they seem?Show book
Anne Murphy is the redheaded rookie at the Philadelphia law firm of Rosato & Associates, and one morning she wakes up to front-page headlines proclaiming lawyer murdered -- above her own picture. If she wants to stay alive, she's got to play dead. She'll have to trust people she barely knows -- colleagues who hate her, homicide cops who want her out of the crime-fighting business, and a new love who inconveniently happens to be opposing counsel. But her knack for courting trouble makes it almost impossible for Anne to play well with others, and an unexpected event places her in lethal jeopardy and leaves her with everything to lose.Show book
