SANDRA SCOPPETTONE

¿Quién ha podido matar a Kirk, un chico modelo, al que todos parecían querer? Esto es lo que se pregunta Anna; ella ha sido la última que lo ha visto, mientras jugaban con sus amigos al juego del asesino. Aunque el detective Smolley parece tener pistas, Anna decide investigar por su cuenta. Pronto descubrira con horror que detras del dulce y tierno Kirk que habia conseguido enamorarla, se escondia otra persona, cruel y despiadada, y que son muchos los que lo odiabanEncuadernacion: rustica.

"I didnt start out to be a private eye. I thought I was gonna be a secretaryget my boss his java in the morning, take letters, and so on. Hell, I didnt get my degree in steno to put my life on the line. It was true I wanted an interesting job, but that Id end up a PI myself . . . it never entered my mind."New York, 1943. Almost anything in pants has gone to serve Uncle Sam in the warincluding Woody Mason, the head of a detective agency in midtown Manhattan. Left to run the show is his secretary, Faye Quick, who signed on to be a steno, not a shamus. At twenty-six and five foot four, theres not much to Faye, but shes got moxiewhich shell need when she stumbles over a dead girl in the street and takes on her first murder case.This victim wasnt any ordinary girl. Claudette West was a student at NYU and the daughter of a Park Avenue family. Faye, who lives in bohemian Greenwich Villagewhere no one cares how you lookventures uptown, where people care enough about money to kill for it. Claudettes father is convinced greed was the motive, and that Claudettes working-class boyfriend, Richard Cotten, killed the girl because she threw him off the gravy train.Faye, however, isnt so sure, not when she learns about all the other men Claudette was secretly seeingfrom her lecherous literature professor to an apparent con artist. For Faye, there are more shocking surprises in store than turns and dips in the Coney Island Cyclone.Going after the bad guys and fighting a good fight on the home front, Faye is as scrappy and endearing as any character Sandra Scoppettone has ever created, and This Dame for Hires period setting is rendered so real you can hear the big band music, see the nylons and fedoras, and feel the rumble of the Third Avenue El. When it comes to an irresistible detective and a riveting new series, you must remember this: Heres looking at Faye Quick.

Id had two murders since last spring, solved them both. The first one was prime and it got a lotta attention in the fish wrappers, so I had a bunch of clients for awhile. Just cause people saw my name in the paper they figured I was the best (which I might be). Not bad for a twenty-six-year-old gal from Newark, New Jersey.Its the middle of World War II, but not all the killing is happening overseas. In a sweltering New York City summer, scrappy steno-turned-sleuth Faye Quickkicked upstairs when her boss ships outtakes on a new case that would make even the most experienced P.I. sweat bullets.It all starts with a beautiful woman. Heartbroken Claire Turner turns on the waterworks in Fayes office, begging for help in finding her beau, Private Charlie Ladd, gone missing while on leave from Uncle Sams army. But when Faye busts into Charlies hotel room, she doesnt find anyoneanyone alive, that is. But wheres Charlie? Because the corpse in the hotel room might not be him. And that leads Faye to wonder if the unfortunate stiff was Charlies target practice.In a case with more twists, starts, and stops than the Third Avenue El, Faye learns that some shocking truths are hidden behind the fog of wara personal war being fought on the home front.Brimming over with big band music, hairdos in snoods, and unfiltered smokesthe same irresistible 1940s detail that made This Dame for Hire such a treatthe second adventure of indefatigable Faye solidifies her status as one of Sandra Scoppettones most appealing characters. Too Darn Hot is sizzling fun readers are sure to make Quick work of.