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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

New Release -- The Case of the Vanishing Chef (A P.I. Berger Mystery Book 2) by Harol Marshall #FemaleSleuth #MysteryNovel


When Cinda Mae Bradbury, former stripper turned restaurateur, asks Hollywood P.I. Polly Berger to find her missing chef, Polly ends up tracking down a murderer instead. Is a “killer” mole poblano recipe enough to murder someone for? Cinda Mae believes someone kidnapped her chef, Henry, but L.A. Detective Johnny Birdwhistle thinks Henry could be on the run after murdering his competitor.

Polly’s caught in the middle—trying to stay alive long enough to solve the case one way or the other. Throw a gun-wielding brother-in-law in search of Polly’s twin sister in the mix, and another murder is imminent!

When Polly’s sister is kidnapped, Polly understands that family is more important than she ever realized before—and she’ll do anything to protect Franny. But to save her sister, she’s got to solve THE CASE OF THE VANISHING CHEF!



EXCERPT


     When my part-time secretary Bernardo 'Bunny' Contreras, ambled into my private office in Hollywood and closed the door behind him it meant one thing. It used to mean two things, but based on the current state of our relationship a new client must have walked in our front door—a prosperous client, I hoped, because the balance sheet of my firm, Berger Investigations, Inc., read Red with a capital R.
     My name is Pauline Isabel Berger, which makes me a P.I. by name, as well as by trade, and I’ve been in business going on three years. My offices are located in 'Tinsel Town,' seven blocks from the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, which puts us on the wrong side of the tracks, but the right side of the law.  
     In addition to working for me, Bunny is also my karate instructor and swing dance partner. On weekends he earns his chops as a standup comic, which is why he only works for me part-time. At the age of twenty-six he's twelve years my junior. Well, twelve years I admit to.
     I looked up to see Bunny leaning against the frame of my office door grinning his lop-sided grin. "You'll never guess who's here." My heart sank.
     "Do I wanna know?" I hadn’t meant to sound so grouchy, but Mondays are not my favorite day.
      "Y'all might," he drawled.
     I interpreted his drawl to mean the visitor waiting in the outer office was our previous client, one Cinda Mae Bradbury, former stripper turned restaurateur.
     "Okay, fill me in. Bun. How long's it been anyway?"
     "Coupla weeks. Enough time for her to finish shutting down The CatWalk and open La Gringa's, and I quote, ‘the best Mexican food west of east L.A.' She's been open for two weeks but you've kept me so busy running errands for the shyster frats, I haven't had time to give it a try. Wanna go there for lunch?"
     "Depends on whether I have an appetite after we meet. Show her in." I took a deep breath preparing to face my client whose murdered husband almost led to my own death, though not by her.



      

10 comments:

  1. Another great story with some of my very favorite characters, Harol. You really made Bunny, Polly, Johnny, and Cinda Mae -- and of course, all the other "players" -- come alive. I was wondering how in the world this could all work out, but once again, you had them just where you wanted all of them and I was surprised at the ending--and I had a big smile on my face when I finished! Congratulations on your new release!

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  2. Thank you so much, Cheryl, and thanks for all your help. (And don't worry about Johnny...) :-)

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  3. Congratulations! Release day is always exciting. I've noticed a theme with your book covers: Red background. I sense a story about why you have red covers. (??)

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    1. Red suggests excitement, I think, and happens to be one of my two favorite colors along with blue. I wish I had some great story to tell you, like a strange woman in a red dress once saved my life, but the red backgrounds are the choice of my favorite publisher and I love them!

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  4. I agree with Kaye. I love to see branding in books. It's an immediate hint that there are more in that series. And I've always loved red on a cover. It draws immediate attention to your book. Congratulations on your launch.

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth. I agree and I love the covers FireStar is doing for that series.

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  5. Congratulations on the release of your book with Fire Star, my friend. Love the cover. Since I've read your Polly books, I know you have a winning series here. People are going to love them.

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    1. Thanks, Lyn, er, Agnes. I miss you my dear friend, and hope we can get together soon. Waiting for another ice cream date when your sister is feeling better. X,O

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  6. Like usual, I'm late to the party. What is the first of the series called? It looks fun. And congratulations on #2.

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    1. Thanks, Mollie. The first is "The Case of the CatWalk Saint," the CatWalk being a Hollywood strip club and the saint being Santa Muerte, aka Holy Death. Lots of craziness as you can probably guess. :-)

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