Desiree Shapiro Mystery Series

Her love affair with boyfriend Nick is in jeopardy, and her career is currently in free fall. So when full-figured Manhattan PI Desiree Shapiro is invited to speak at a mystery writers’ convention in Connecticut, she figures a few days away will do her good and she accepts. (Even though the very idea of speaking in public shakes her to the roots of her glorious, hennaed hair.)
 
To Desiree’s surprise, her talk is a hit. But she receives an even bigger surprise the following morning, when eccentric author Belle Simone approaches her with a truly bizarre proposition. If Desiree can solve the mystery in Belle’s yet unpublished novel, she’ll be paid $24,940! A tantalizing whodunit and an astonishing payout. How can she possibly resist?
 
Desire soon becomes engrossed in Belle’s story of adultery and murder in a wealthy New York family. But there’s a much bigger mystery to be resolved. Why would anyone pay her such an exorbitant sum to solve a homicide that exists only on paper?

Rich-as-Croesus Uncle Victor has only a few months to live. Edward, his favorite nephew and heir to his fortune, was recently shot to death. Now a second nephew, John Lander—next in line to inherit—is enlisting the help of Manhattan PI Desiree Shapiro. It seems that just days ago John himself managed to avoid a close encounter with a bullet.
 
Desiree soon learns that three of Uncle Victor’s other relatives stand to benefit handsomely if both John and Edward should die before the old man does. Which makes the dedicated foodie’s new client far from the ideal life insurance candidate. But her persistent sleuthing among the decidedly devious trio of suspects fails to uncover a single clue to the assailant’s identity. And eventually Desiree begins to fear that she’s been overlooking someone. Someone who’s stayed one step ahead of her all the time.