Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead Mystery

"In this entertaining, sexy debut, Allie is a sharp Stephanie Plum paired up with a hot partner... The original voice, humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers." —Library Journal STARRED review Lonely and broke, Cleveland divorce-survivor Allie Harper believes all her problems would be solved if she could find a nice, smart, hot guy and enough money to get her car fixed. The hot guy arrives first: he's in a crosswalk clutching a bag of groceries while a blonde in a Hummer is leaning hard on her horn, sending the man's groceries and white cane flying. How has this woman missed the fact that the man is blind? From the curb, an outraged Allie jumps to his rescue, rebagging the groceries as well. The money is in the bag. Literally—Thomas Bennington III, for that's who the handsome guy proves to be, has bought a MondoMegaJackpot ticket along with canned tomatoes. Allie takes him home and turns his groceries into dinner for two. Later that night, Tom hears the numbers announced. He's won. And he's less than thrilled. PhD Tom had gambled on the odds of losing (175 million to one) to prove a point to Rune, a kid from the projects he's befriended, that only losers buy lottery tickets. Instead, Rune, who'd helped pick the Mondo numbers, will share Tom's jackpot. Allie and Tom grasp two things: one, they're hot for each other, and two, the ticket is a hot target, and now so are they. Every scheming weasel in Cleveland will be after Tom's millions. $550 of them. Yes, once the Mondo ball drops, it's game on with killers and kidnappers as players. Allie and Tom need to get smarter about the threats all around them. On the run from one fancy hotel refuge to another and from one danger moment to the next, with only Allie's feisty landlady, Margo, and a couple of Cleveland cops for back-up, Allie and Tom evolve a strategy. First, turn in the ticket and claim the jackpot. Second, set up accounts to manage the millions. Third, stay alive to the end of the week...if they can. Too Lucky to Live debuts a talented writer in Annie Hogsett and a couple in Allie and Tom, a modern Nick and Nora Charles, who can power a compelling, amusing series with an excellent future. Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead series: Too Lucky to Live (Book 1) Murder to the Metal (Book 2) The Devil's Own Game (Book 3) Praise for Annie Hogsett: "Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plum-like main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning." —Booklist for Too Lucky to Live "The bittersweet mystery, with the open-ended threat of a villainous mastermind, is reminiscent of P.J. Tracy's early 'Monkeewrench' novels." —Library Journal for Murder to the Metal

Mondo mega money is a murder magnet. Ten months ago Allie Harper—smart, feisty, too broke to get her car fixed—rescued Thomas Bennington III—a hot, blind, college professor—from a crosswalk in her dicey Cleveland neighborhood. When Allie saved Tom and his groceries from traffic, she unwittingly retrieved his winning $550 million MondoMegaJackpot ticket. The payout steered the two of them into a wild dash from romance to mayhem and multiple murders. Nothing's changed. Sure, Allie and Tom now reside in a rented nine-thousand-square-foot lakeside mansion with a sky-lit shower and breathtakingly high-thread-count sheets. True, Otis Johnson, Allie's deliverer from last summer's would-be-kidnapper, is now their live-in bodyguard and gourmet chef. Yes, Allie's dream of creating the T&A Detective Agency to solve "mysteries of the heart" by using Tom's money, Otis' P.I. credentials, and Allie's intrepid...intrepidness... now has its first case. That's where the real trouble kicks in. Lloyd Bunker's obsession with avoiding stoplights has run him and his '67 Pontiac GTO off the road, maybe for keeps. As they race to figure out what's happened to Lloyd, T&A recruits Allie's former nemesis, Officer Tony Valerio, plus her best friend and ex-landlady Margo and television reporter Lisa Cole, to help them follow a lethal trail of escalating crimes ranging from scrapping to pushing opioids to multiple murders. It's no longer just about Lloyd. An assault on the mansion's high-tech security system by a talented hacker signals the presence of a formidable adversary, one with big bucks and a ruthless plan to destroy the lucky couple. As the action ramps up, Allie and Tom are plunged into a high-speed race against danger and death.... It's Murder to the Metal. Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead series: Too Lucky to Live (Book 1) Murder to the Metal (Book 2) The Devil's Own Game (Book 3) Praise for Annie Hogsett: "The original voice, humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers." —Library Journal STARRED review for Too Lucky to Live "Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plum-like main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning." —Booklist for Too Lucky to Live "The bittersweet mystery, with the open-ended threat of a villainous mastermind, is reminiscent of P.J. Tracy's early 'Monkeewrench' novels." —Library Journal for Murder to the Metal

The murder is the message What you don't see is what you get. When a sniper targets a blind man walking along the lagoon of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the bullet is a wake-up call aimed straight for Allie Harper and Tom Bennington, shattering their illusion that the Mondo Mega Jackpot Nightmare is over. On the day Allie—sassy, lonely, broke—met Tom—smart, hot, blind—he won $500 million trying to show a kid that gambling doesn't pay. Romance—and multiple murders—ensued, along with a new, opulent lifestyle that the couple had never dreamed possible. Then a ruthless man of formidable skills and resources hacked into the security system in their rented 9,000 square-foot lakeside mansion, and they learned just how far someone who begrudges their good fortune would go to destroy them. Now they know the past six months of peace and quiet were the calm before a rising storm of mayhem and revenge. The new game begins tonight. An old devil. A new devil. And a new case for The T&A Detective Agency. (Yes. They should have put Allie's initial first.) Tom and Allie aren't on the case long before they discover a strong lead that takes them into the heights of Cleveland's upper-crust, where husbands and wives weave webs of betrayal with unfathomable sums of money at the center. As the threats–and murders—multiply, Allie, Tom, and the T&A must fight to beat the devil's own game. Will they get out alive? Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead series: Too Lucky to Live (Book 1) Murder to the Metal (Book 2) The Devil's Own Game (Book 3) Praise for Annie Hogsett: "The original voice, humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers." —Library Journal STARRED review for Too Lucky to Live "Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plum-like main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning." —Booklist for Too Lucky to Live "The bittersweet mystery, with the open-ended threat of a villainous mastermind, is reminiscent of P.J. Tracy's early 'Monkeewrench' novels." —Library Journal for Murder to the Metal