Miss Demeanor Suspense Series
GENRE: Mystery/Crime Contemporary Romance
Four women meet in an internet group called “Lady Cops.” All work for police departments in small towns and realize that they have no hope of being promoted over their male counterparts. They band together and buy a private investigation business in Seattle and name it “Miss Demeanor Private Detective Agency.” Follow the women on their journeys as they are thrown into the dark under belly of drugs, murder, kidnapping, counterfeiting, and all the lies and unthinkable deeds the big city draws.
Book One ~ P.I. ~ I Love You
Rivers don’t let rocks hold them back.
River Nightingale has decided to blow past the rocky men in her life. She’s played by the rules for too long—especially when it came to her career as a cop. She was the top closer of cases for years, but promotions in her small town cop shop went to her less productive male counterparts. River’s friends, three other women cops, are also ready to change careers. Together they leave behind their small towns, become their own bosses, and purchase a Seattle private detective agency.
Homicide Detective Gage Hamlin takes pride in his job; he closes cases and fosters justice. All that changed the day River Nightingale sauntered into his office. River has him questioning his pride, his cases, and his aversion to private detectives, especially beautiful private detectives.
River’s client thinks Gage got it wrong, and River is forced to prove Gage missed a murder. Will River and Gage find a way to play nice, or will River be forced to leave Gage behind?
1st EXCERPT
She put her mojito down on the coffee table, and stretched out on her sofa. Laptop on her lap desk, she switched it on, sipped on her mojito, and waited for the screen to come to life. She opened her favorites and clicked on Lady Cops. Chats were in full swing as she scrolled through to see what was happening.
“Hey River, what no hot date tonight?” Maile asked.
“Not hardly, Bear Creek is lacking in the hot date department. What about you?”
“I do have a date, with my newly purchased novel, print copy I might add.”
“Now that’s pitiful—a date with a book.” River giggled. “Are Cassie and Shay on-line?”
“Hey, I’m bored. Please tell me one of you ladies have something juicy to share,” Shay said.
“Have you been following the discussion on the shipment of guns intercepted here in Arizona? Not anywhere near me, of course,” Cassie said.
“Guns? At least there’s action where you live,” River said. “We had a herd of mountain goats on Main Street this week—that’s what qualifies for action in Bear Creek.”
“It’s all about your perspective. Mountain goats walking down a street in Prescott, Arizona would be news here.” Cassie laughed.
2nd EXCERPT
“Ah yes, River Nightingale is one of our primary investigators. She just happens to be in the office. If you would take a seat, I’ll ask if she can see you now.” She disappeared into the next room.
The receptionist returned moments later followed by a petite girl. She smiled directly at him, her blue eyes quickly tracking up and down his body. He nearly blushed. As she rounded the counter she held her hand out to him.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Baxter, I’m River Nightingale. Cory tells me that Mike referred you?”
“Um, he did, but I understood you to be a seasoned policewoman,” Blake said. Geeze, she couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty. Is this a joke? he wondered.
“Yes. I served in a police department in Montana for ten years and no, I’m not a teenager, I assure you. I happen to be in my mid-thirties.”
“I see. I’m sorry for my ill manners.”
“No worries, you’re not the first person who has thought that and certainly won’t be the last. My only hope is when I’m seventy, people will think I’m fifty.” She smiled at him again. “If you’re still interested in a P.I., I’m sure I can help you.”
“Yes, by all means, Ms. Nightingale.”
Joanne was born and raised in Sherburne, New York, a quaint village surrounded by dairy farms and rolling hills. From the moment she could read she wanted to explore the world. During her college years she slowly crept across the country, stopping along the way in Oklahoma, California, and finally Washington State, which she now proudly calls home. She lives with her husband and Dobermans, in their home located on the Olympic Peninsula with a panoramic view of the Olympic Mountains.
Joanne writes romantic suspense, paranormal, and contemporary romance. She loves to submerge herself in the world of her characters, to live and breathe their lives and marvel at their decisions and predicaments. She enjoys a wide variety of books including paranormal, suspense, thriller, and of course romance.
Joanne is a member of Romance Writers of America, and past President of Peninsula Romance Writers, which was Debbie Macomber’s home chapter.
Book Two ~ Bare
Small town cop Shay Brooks leaves her charming safe community of Connell and moves to Seattle to open the Miss Demeanor PI Detective Agency. She’s thrown into the world of drugs, murder, and all the lies and unthinkable deeds the city draws. Renee Mills hires Shay to save her daughter. Renee believes her daughter, Beth, a straight-A student; dropped out of college to strip. Her mother blames the owner of the club and drugs. Shay goes undercover as a waitress at the club in hopes to save Beth and crack open a drug operation. An inevitable mutual attraction with the bartender, Dante Pierce, is a distraction. But is he involved in the drug operation?
“Careful with that one,” Shay said and startled her brother. She couldn’t believe how much she’d collected in four years, even after she’d sold most of her furniture. She wouldn’t need a houseful in her new apartment.
“This must be Grandma’s china in here,” her brother teased as he reached down for the box.
“My guns.”
Her brother rolled his eyes and laughed. “Figures. No wonder you can’t get a date.”
“Ha, ha, Ray the comedian. Everybody here is either married, in a relationship or old.”
“So you’re moving to Seattle for a man.”
Shay knew Ray loved to torment as most brothers did.
“I’m moving for a career, not for a man.” She made her point with her arms crossed. Silently she hoped that Seattle offered more choice than Connell.
Angela Ford originates from Nova Scotia…Canada’s Ocean Playground!
Her love of the ocean and sunsets are always in her heart and give her inspiration. Her love for words keeps her turning the page. She is never without a book, whether she’s reading or writing. Now residing in Ontario, Angela works in Finance – numbers by day – words by night. Her dedication to volunteer and involvement with cyber safety seminars gave her an Award of Distinction and sparked the idea for her first book Closure – suspense with a dash of romance that hit the best- selling Action/Adventure and Women’s Fiction. Angela continued this FBI suspense with Forbidden and will deliver the final of the series in 2015. She also writes contemporary romance, sometimes sweet…sometimes spicy and sometimes with a dash of suspense. Unforgettable Kiss delivers a spicy romance with a dash of suspense. Blind Tasting of The Love List series and The Christmas Wreath of the Forever Christmas series are sweet reads. 2015 kicked off with a new Romantic Suspense Surrender.
Between two jobs, being a mom with a home always filled with young adults and rather interesting stories; she is lucky to have one very patient and understanding man. But it is the furry family members who rule the house – a Puggle (Pug/Beagle), a new Chug puppy (Pug/Chihuahua) and two loveable cats. Every possible quiet moment she finds, she treasures and just writes about the moments to come. Angela is an avid reader of romance, a member of the RWA, KOD (Kiss of Death – Suspense Chapter) and Mississauga Writers Group. You can follow her at BTGN www.bookstogonow.com or visit her website/blog Romantic Escapes at http://www.angelafordauthor.com to connect with her on her social network sites. She loves to hear from her readers – they keep her smiling!
Book Three ~ Choreographed Crime
Maile Kuhiwinui is tired of her dead end job as a police officer in Hilo, Hawai’i, so when she joins a group of lady cops on vacation and one proposes opening a detective agency in Seattle, Maile goes all in. She’s excited about the prospects Seattle offers, but after the grand opening of The Miss Demeanor Detective Agency, Maile finds herself sitting on the sidelines feeling inadequate while her three partners are hired to solve cases.
Kalama Haleamau considers himself a simple guy who loves to cook. When the wahine from the Big Island starts to hang out at his Happy Hawaiian Food Truck, he figures they’d make a pretty good pair and asks her to spend time with him.
When Maile finally gets her first case, she’s thrust into a world of refined deceit as she investigates the murder of a principal dancer at the Seattle Ballet. When she discovers Kalama’s murky association with the key suspects, she’s forced to separate her feelings for Kalama in order to identify the killer.
Lama whipped up a Spam loco moco. The smell of the rich brown gravy drew Maile into the kitchenette. “Thanks for showing me the skyline. It reminds me I live in a beautiful place. It’s not Hawai’i, but Seattle has its own charm."
He turned from the stove and looked at her as if he adored her. On impulse, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him until her lips ached.
When he released her, she helped herself to a beer.
“I thought you didn’t want to drink and drive.” Lama looked over his shoulder as he stirred the gravy.
“Who’s driving?” Maile smiled and raised her eyebrows.
Jackie Marilla writes contemporary romance from the Hawaiian Islands and beyond. She and her husband live on a macadamia nut farm on the island of Hawai'i where they feed a clowder of cats and a flock of hodgepodge chickens. In a past life, she was an elementary school teacher.
Book Four ~ Golden Ribbons
Cassie Holmes has made a big change. She left sunny, warm Arizona and moved to Seattle to join three friends in a new endeavor. They started Miss Demeanor Private Detective Agency. She wants to carry an umbrella, but is told by people around her that to live in the Northwest means not using the dreaded thing.
Her first case involves the disappearance of a fourteen year old girl, Cami Reynolds. Her mother is desperate to find the young girl and, even though she doesn’t have much money, hires Cassie for the job. The new private detective finds a dark underworld lurks under the Via-duct that runs along the Seattle Waterfront. Some kids are used, some turn to prostitution, and others find solace in drugs.
In the process of her search, she meets Jack Donovan, a undercover detective connected to a Seattle drug task force. He’s six-foot-four and tries to be an imposing presence in her life. He appears to her as a homeless man, but she knows he’s a cop and as the two compare notes, discover their cases criss-cross paths.
After a rocky beginning, the two begin to work side by side to take down one of the worst child prostitution rings in the Northwest.
“What’s your name?”
“Cassandra Holmes. You?”
“Miss Holmes, you might as well give up. You’re chasing a lost cause.”
Cassie wanted to give this guy a swift-kick. “God, Mr. Negative, who died and made you the expert? Do you work vice?”
“No, drug task force, and I know these streets. Your girl is probably in Bangkok by now.”
“She was seen here just last Friday. What do you know about Sally Skinner?” Cassie felt ready to pull her Glock out and shoot him in the foot.
“Sally Skinner works for Fred and Rick Powell, two of the biggest drug traffickers in the Northwest. Fred’s hobby is prostitution—the younger the better. The guy’s sick.”
“One of this kid’s friends said she was being watched by some guy named Fred. I’ve heard of the Powells. I worked drugs down in Arizona...”
“Yeah, if those pansy-asses down in Arizona and Texas kept the doors closed to Juarez and Nogales, we wouldn’t have this situation up here.”
“Focus, please. Where can I find Sally Skinner?”
He leaned against the dumpster and stared, again. She wanted to slap him across the cheek just to wake him up.
Lauren Marie is the author of Golden Ribbons - story 4 of the Miss Demeanor Private Detective Agency series, I’m Not What You Think, Love’s Embers - book 1 of the Canon City Series, Love on Ice - book 2 of the Canon City Series, One Touch at Cob’s Bar and Grill - story 3 of the Montana Ranch Series, Love’s Touch - Then and Now, Going to Another Place and The Men of Haller Lake - Trilogy.
When she isn't pounding the keys, she is an amateur paranormal investigator. She formed her own group in 2006 to hunt ghosts and some unusual experiences have put in an appearance in some of her stories.
Lauren likes to receive feedback. If you want to send her likes and dislikes, you can go to the contact us page on the web-site laurenmariebooks.com or write to her at laurenmariebooks@gmail.com, themenofhallerlake@hotmail.com. or friend her at facebook.com/laurenmariebooks. She does respond to feedback.
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