Red Herring Mystery

As a reporter, she's used to covering the news. Now she's the headline. Alex Vlodnachek has been a reporter for 12 years, a P.R. rep for three months, and a murder suspect for all of 24 hours. When her agency's double-dealing CEO is stabbed, scheming co-workers cast the new redhead as a compelling red herring. The story is media catnip-especially her salacious nickname: Vlod the Impaler. Even Alex has to admit she looks guilty. Out of a job and under suspicion, Alex is running low on cash, when she's visited by a second disaster: her family. Soon her tiny bungalow is bursting with her nearest and not-so-dearest. To keep herself out of jail-and save what's left of her sanity-Alex returns to her reporting roots. She goes undercover to reclaim her life, break the story, and unmask a murderer. Pretty much in that order. What she doesn't know: The killer also has a to-do list. And Alex is on it.

If it wasn't for art thieves, spies and killers, Alex Vlodnachek's life would be bliss. Her freelance career is catching fire. Her relationship with B&B owner Ian Sterling is flirty and fun. She's even attending a glittering cocktail party at his sprawling Victorian inn. But, to this ex-reporter, something seems "off." And it's not the canapés. When Ian's father vanishes, the enigmatic innkeeper asks for her discretion. And her assistance. Meanwhile, Alex is having the opposite problem at her tiny bungalow: People keep piling in uninvited. Including a mysterious intruder found sleeping in her kitchen. Her grandmother, Baba, who shows up "to help"-with Alex's own mother hot on her heels. When the intrepid redhead discovers a body in the B&B's basement and a "reproduction" Renoir in the library, she begins to suspect that Ian is more than just a simple hotel owner. With editor pal Trip, brother Nick, and rescue-pup Lucy riding shotgun, Alex scrambles to stay one step ahead of disaster-and some very nasty characters. Can she find the missing man before it's too late? Or will Alex be the next one to disappear?

Freelance writer Alex Vlodnachek hasn't had a vacation in ages. So when her sister invites her-and pup Lucy-for a girls' get-away to Miami, it's too tempting to resist. Big sister Annie wants Alex to savor a little fun in the sun at her South Beach condo. Redhead Alex just wants to escape complications at home, enjoy a little R&R and find an industrial-sized bottle of sunscreen. But trouble is hot on her heels-along with a few stray friends and relatives on the eve of the condo association's hotly contested election, everything in the luxury high-rise is going haywire. But board president and social butterfly Leslie McQueen seems curiously absent amidst the chaos. Along with a good chunk of the association's cash. When several of Annie's friends are left holding the bag, Alex jumps in to help-and discovers the tony condo tower offers no shortage of shady characters, murder, and mayhem. But when her brother, Nick, arrives-with their irrepressible grandmother, Baba, and Alex's pal Trip, in tow-is the gang riding to the rescue? Or plunging Alex into more hot water?