JUST MURDERED After all she’s endured with her divorce and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen getting a job at Millicent’s Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. But no amount of cash is worth having to deal with the abominable Kiki—a wealthy witch who’s lording it over her daughter’s wedding plans. She also thinks her money makes her invulnerable…but she’s proven wrong when she’s found smothered to death with her daughter’s wedding dress. And worse, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible. MURDER UNLEASHED Helen has gotten a job at the Pampered Pet Boutique in Fort Lauderdale where the dogs are treated better than the people. A drive to the lavish home of Tammie Grimsby to deliver a freshly fluffed Yorkie has Helen discovering Tammie stabbed to death with a pair of grooming scissors. In a panic, Helen runs—but doesn’t report the murder, lest her past comes to light. But that doesn’t mean she can’t look into the stabbing on the sly. MURDER WITH RESERVATIONS Helen has found employment as a maid at Fort Lauderdale’s Full Moon Hotel, picking up after clueless tourists and keeping her head down. But staying discreet gets a bit more difficult when Helen opens the hotel dumpster and discovers the dead body of a fellow hotel employee. Things get worse when a hotel guest is murdered in the shower, and Helen’s ex-husband Rob arrives in town in search of the money the court said he deserves. With the police suspicious, Helen knows the only way to clean up the mess is to find the killer. But if she’s not careful, the killer just might find her first…
Author
As a young girl, Elaine Viets was taught the virtues of South St. Louis: the importance of hard work, housecleaning, and paying cash. She managed to forget almost everything she learned, which is why she turned to mystery writing. Living in South Florida has not improved her character. But it has given her the bestselling Dead-End Job series. Like her amateur detective, Helen Hawthorne, Elaine actually works those rotten jobs. Perhaps her early training has given her a lifelong fascination with jobs. She and Helen both know working for a living can be murder. To research her novels, Elaine has been everything from a salesclerk to a survey taker. Her first book in the series is SHOP TILL YOU DROP, a novel of sex, murder and plastic surgery. It's set at a fashionable dress shop that caters to kept women. Book two, MURDER BETWEEN THE COVERS, takes place at a bookstore. Elaine worked at a Barnes & Noble in Hollywood, Florida, for a year. For the third, DYING TO CALL YOU, Helen works as a telemarketer. Elaine sold septic tank cleaner and did telephone surveys. She actually asked women if they shaved their armpits. In the fourth Dead-End Job mystery, JUST MURDERED, Elaine and Helen explore big-money matrimony for better or worse. Elaine did her research in Zola Keller’s posh bridal salon in Fort Lauderdale. For the fifth novel, Elaine and Helen go to the dogs. MURDER UNLEASHED is set at a high-end dog boutique, where people spend two hundred dollars for canine cuisine, women sneak illegal pets into condos using high-priced designer purses, and the dogs at the store have bigger wardrobes than the salesclerks. MURDER UNLEASHED is Elaine's first hardcover mystery. Publishers Weekly calls it “wry social commentary.” Although Elaine lives in Fort Lauderdale, her heart – and her viewpoint – remain in the Midwest. Like Helen Hawthorne, another transplanted St. Louisan, she observes the outrageously rich Florida culture (and lack thereof) with wide-eyed fascination. Elaine’s second series takes her back to work in St. Louis. It features Josie Marcus, a mystery shopper and single mom. The debut novel, DYING IN STYLE, tied with Stephen King on the bestseller list for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Elaine won both the Agatha and the Anthony Awards for her short story, "Wedding Knife," in CHESAPEAKE CRIMES. Some honors don’t come with plaques and award banquets. Elaine was thrilled when her short story, "After the Fall," was featured on the same cover of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as the master, Ed Hoch. Her short story, "Red Meat," is in BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, the Mystery Writers of America anthology edited by Lawrence Block. "Blonde Moment" is in the MWA anthology, SHOW BUSINESS IS MURDER, edited by Stuart Kaminsky. "Sex and Bingo" is featured in the HIGH STAKES gambling anthology. And if you've ever wondered about the early life of purple-loving landlady Margery Flax, read "Killer Blonde" in DROP-DEAD BLONDE. Elaine has served on the national boards of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with her husband, actor Don Crinklaw, where they collect speeding tickets. Please buy her novels so she can pay her MasterCard. Series: * Dead-End Job Mystery * Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper * Francesca Vierling Mystery
