Cat DeLuca Mysteries

Caterina DeLuca, burned by her run-around now ex-husband, Johnnie Ricco, took the skills she mastered during marriage and opened her own private-eye agency. Now she's armed with a camera, ready to print the evidence on 8 × 10 glossies for use in divorce court. The men in her big, crazy family, all Chicago cops and one a crook, aren't sure what to make of Cat's career choice. But hey, it's serve and protect! Then one Rita Polansky retains Cat. Rita's liar-liar husband is the mysterious but seriously hot Chance Savino. Cat is in fact hot on his heels when an exploding building hurls her out of her stilettos and into the hospital. The FBI claims Savino was killed in the fireworks, but Cat's memory replays a different scenario. She escapes the hospital to meet with her client, another liar. When Rita doesn't show, Cat breaks into her home to find a dead Rita, a knife in her chest, and two clues at the murder scene: a clutch of Starburst candy wrappers-and Chance Savino, rummaging through Rita's drawers. As one surprise after another piles up and no one else sights Savino, everyone around Cat thinks she's nuts-everyone except a determined killer who has put her on his "kill" list. Botched attempts force Cat to suspect Johnnie Ricco, or liar-liars from her earlier cases, or a Chicago power broker. Can Cat, catcher of cheaters, catch a killer? And even if she does, this is Chicago, so what would she do then?

Sticks and stones may break my bones-or they might actually kill me. What does a woman do when she discovers her husband is an incurable cheater? If she's Cat DeLuca, she launches the Pants on Fire Detective Agency. Now Cat does what two years of unholy matrimony taught her to do: she catches cheaters. When a client, Cleo Jones, shoots her cheating husband's bum full of buckshot, he disappears, taking her money, dog, and sister with him. Private Investigator Cat DeLuca promises to retrieve the dog and money if her client stops shooting at Walter. Cleo agrees. The detective finds the dog and a mysterious bag full of cash. And then she finds Walter. His very dead body is still warm. The case is a slam dunk for the cops who arrest Cleo for the killing. She had motive and opportunity, and a dozen witnesses heard her scream bloody murder. One even made a video. Cat DeLuca is determined to prove her client's innocence, and it's not an easy job. Walter was an unsavory character. Over the years he had acquired numerous enemies. Now, Cat will have to sift through all the ones who didn't pull the trigger. Her investigation leads to four players with secrets: a childhood friend, a gambler, a construction tycoon, and a legendary Chicago designer. When forensic evidence suggests the detective knows more about the murder than she's telling, Cat faces the certain loss of her agency. Cat DeLuca is smart and charming, but she's an unlikely heroine, and her partner, a beagle named Inga, is quite likely to eat the evidence. Sticks and Stones delivers steamy romance, intrigue, and laugh-out-loud humor for a wickedly delicious read.

When an old friend buys a trench coat and opens his own detective agency, PI Cat DeLuca sees a train wreck coming. Everything Billy Bonham knows about being a private eye he learned from Humphrey Bogart. And that's just enough to make him dangerous. The bungling detective is in way over his head on a case involving murder and a stolen pair of Marilyn Monroe's dazzling diamond earrings. His outrageous client, Cristina McTigue, is pursued by men who want her dead. Five minutes after meeting the woman, Cat would cheerfully kill her too. When Billy is gunned down on the street, it's up to Cat to save his crazy client and nail a murderer. She soon finds herself knee-deep in trouble, dodging bullets and chasing diamonds. Before it's over, she'll have to look for help from her sexy FBI boyfriend, a hunky ex-spy, her outrageous Italian family of Chicago cops, and even her interfering mama. With a cast of zany characters and a pace that's unrelenting, K. J. Larsen serves up another laugh-out-loud Cat DeLuca caper.

Chicago's Pants on Fire Detective Agency targets liars and cheats. But private investigator Cat DeLuca is once again up to her smokin' skinny jeans in murder. Cat is out running in a neighborhood park when she crashes over the faceless body of Bernie Love. Bernie was the finance guy for the scary Provenza family and a friend to Cat's shady uncle Joey, a Ferrari-wheeling cop. As she hauls out her phone, Cat is assaulted by someone with a Rolex, a stun gun, and a wheelbarrow. When the cops show up, the killer is gone-and so is the body. Captain Bob, a stickler for habeas corpus, blows off Cat's story. Stung by a chorus of snickers from the Ninth Precinct, home base for DeLuca men, Cat vows to make her case and goes after the Rolex man. The murderer, desperate to silence the only person who can place him at the park, comes after Cat. She's quickly on a collision course with the deadliest adversary she's ever encountered-but she has the help of her beagle partner, her gun-happy assistant, a former spy (or two), and her outrageous, interfering Italian family. Meanwhile, her hot FBI boyfriend seems sidelined in Vegas. In Bye, Bye, Love, K. J. Larsen delivers another nail-biting tale rife with unexpected plot twists, zany characters, fabulous food, and laugh-out-loud humor.

Life is looking up these days for Chicago PI Cat DeLuca. Her Pants on Fire Detective Agency is booming, and FBI boyfriend, Chance Savino, still curls her toes. She both adores and dodges her outrageous Italian family. Mama's latest scheme to marry her off involves a romantic cruise, insane amounts of champagne, and a hijacked priest to tie the knot. But Cat's near-perfect world is thrown into a tailspin when Captain Bob's dog is kidnapped and a ghost from the past threatens to expose a terrible secret. Cat launches an investigation that leads her to a decades-old armed robbery, an unsolved murder, and a fresh body. But when she unearths a wicked truth about Papa and Bob, her trust is shattered, and the detective finds herself faced with the most daunting dilemma of her life. Cat DeLuca is an unexpected heroine. She's tenacious, unstoppable, and rocks the heck out of a pair of Jimmy Choo's. In a wild race against time, she inches closer to the truth and into the sights of a killer. And all the while, a man who got away with murder twice is closing in on Cat. There Was a Crooked Man is a labyrinth of twists and turns packed with suspense. It's a tale of betrayal and second chances and the utterly astonishing things we do to save the ones we love.