Ballyhoo is the bait fish used for deep sea fishing. This romantic coastal crime thriller is where Miami Vice invites Miss 007 to a Mexican Siesta in Paradise luring the drug cartels in for the hook! The setting is Sarasota, and out in the Gulf of Mexico, where it showcases the fight against fentanyl, drug cartels and American businessmen. An undercover agent answers an Instagram follow and invites his old high school girlfriend to work with him. Should she? She is a cardiac nurse, stable and recently became a mother. The couple has a first date after years alone and things go well. But a character involved with Seth has Rachel on edge. When she learns about Operation Lexi, she becomes intrigued and finds herself compelled to help her former partner. After all, they work well together, she has skills he lacks and vice versa. What harm could three weeks out on the Gulf of Mexico do? She finds herself thinking of a much-needed vacation, and so, she says yes. Ballyhoo is a modern-day crime thriller with romantic suspense. The protagonists are Rachel, age thirty-three, a cardiac registered nurse and part time Mexican restaurant worker, and Seth, age thirty-seven, former CIA, marines, and undercover detective. Other characters are Patrick, age twelve, a nephew to Rachel who is curious, happy and honest, while his new friend Henry, age fourteen, likes adventure and has no boundaries. Scarlet is the opera singer turned businesswoman whose life hangs in the balance after a diagnosis a year earlier and is the key player for Operation Lexi. Jessie is her gentleman friend who has cared for her for many years, and now, becomes a partner in more ways than one. Valeria Dave is the antagonist and operative, secretly under a double cover. His prior history involved with the drug cartels puts him in center stage for this story. Exciting, terrifying, and good looking make him a mystery. Lexi is the young student buying drugs from an unknown woman. Xochiquetzal, an Aztec name for the beautiful little girl who becomes displaced. Ballyhoo is book three in the surveillance series followed by Three King Mackerel and a Mahi Mahi, and Magenta Fleurs. This book resolves the story-line. A hurricane is coming in the 4th novel. Get ready.