Blurb:
Phones, light typing...and murder.
Think breaking into show business is hard? Try landing a temp job without office skills. That's the challenge facing aspiring actress Isobel Spice when she arrives in New York City, fresh out of college and deficient in PowerPoint. After being rejected by seven temp agencies for her lack of experience, Isobel sweet-talks recruiter James Cooke into letting her cover a last-minute vacancy at a bank. New to his own job, and recently sober, James takes a chance on Isobel, despite his suspicion that she's a trouble-magnet. His misgivings are borne out by lunchtime, when she stumbles across a dead secretary in a bathroom stall. With her fingerprints on the murder weapon, Isobel sets out to prove her innocence by investigating the crime herself. While learning to juggle phone lines and auditions, she discovers an untapped talent for detective work--a qualification few other office temps, let alone actresses, can claim.
Excerpt:
“I wouldn’t go back if I thought there were an insane murderer on the loose,” Isobel said. “On the contrary, whoever did this was very sane. Let me tell you, I wanted to kill that woman after three hours.”
Delphi looked askance at Isobel. “You…didn’t, right?”
For some reason, Delphi asking her point-blank bothered her less than James’s confused hinting. “Of course I didn’t. But I don’t blame you for asking. You hardly know me.”
“It sounds like whoever did it also wanted to humiliate her,” Sunil mused. “I mean, think about it. Captured for all eternity on the pot!”
“Could it have been somebody from outside who came in, waylaid her in the bathroom, pulled the emergency bell and left?” Delphi asked.
Isobel shook her head. “She was such an unpleasant person that it just doesn’t seem random.”
“Then you definitely should not go back there, paycheck or no paycheck,” Delphi said.
Sunil nodded. “Delphi’s right.”
“You’re sweet to be so concerned, but I’ll be fine.” Isobel smiled. “It was really nice meeting you both. Good luck with everything.”
“I think you need it more than we do,” Sunil said.
As Isobel rode south on the subway, sardined between a bike messenger in need of deodorant and a young mother juggling twin toddlers, she wondered whether to take her new friends’ advice. No job was worth risking her life. But what about the other people at the bank? They were all continuing to show up for work, weren’t they? They had no choice. They all had jobs to do.
Well, so did she. She needed the money. James didn’t have anything else for her, and even if he did, he might not send her out again. She still hadn’t proven herself, not really.
And that was what she had come to New York to do. Prove herself.
Blurb Blitz for The Temporary Detective:
June 10: My Devotional Thoughts
June 11: Straight from the Library
June 12: Sharing Links and Wisdom
June 13: Deal Sharing Aunt
June 14: J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer
June 14: STOP 2 fuonlyknew
Standard tour (includes interviews or guest blogs) for The Temporary Detective:
June 17: The Dan O'Brien Project
June 18: Musings and Ramblings
June 19: STOP 2 Fantasy Powered by Love
June 20: It's Raining Books
June 21: Welcome to My World of Dreams
June 21: STOP 2 Read Your Writes Book Reviews
Blurb Blitz for Bad Publicity:
June 24: Brianna Lee Book Reviews
June 25: Book 'Em North Carolina
June 26: Bea's Book Nook
June 27: Fantasy Powered by Love
June 28: J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer
June 28: STOP 2 fuonlyknew
Review tour:
July 8: Kaisy Daisy's Corner
July 9: Beckstar Reviews
July 10: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
July 12: The Muse Unleashed
July 12: STOP 2 Shelley's Book Case
Author Bio and Links:
The Temporary Detective:
Bad Publicity:
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Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt. Perfectly designed to make us all want more.
ReplyDeletedebby236 at gmail dot com
Thanks, Debby! Not always easy to choose an excerpt, so I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for hosting me today!
ReplyDeleteI do love that excerpt. I'm also going to have to go and read PANDORA'S BOTTLE.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com