Dead-End Job Mystery

Author Elaine Viets kicks off this funny and fresh cozy series, about a woman on the run from her ex, with a rollicking tale of crime and vanity in the shadow world of wannabe molls. When unlikely sleuth Helen Hawthorne flees St. Louis, she fetches up in Fort Lauderdale, suddenly surrounded by the beautiful and the Botoxed. They all shop at the same place, Juliana's, the overpriced boutique where Helen works. And they're all looking for a wealthy wise guy to take to the cleaners. It's a dead-end job with no perks, but one that pays in cash. A little shady, but it beats leaving a paper trail. Turns out shady's only the beginning. Juliana's holds more secrets than a confessional, beginning with theft and drug sales, progressing to ever more ambitious scams, and inevitably, given the escalating level of crime, the murder of a felonious fashionista. The good news is there's a reward-and Helen needs money. The bad is that she could die before she collects it.

From award-winning author Elaine Viets, comes a thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while other people are making a killing. Helen Hawthorne is still on the run because of her refusal to pay her worthless ex-husband alimony. But a girl's gotta eat...and pay rent, utilities, etc. So, she's taken a cash-paying job at Fort Lauderdale's own Page Turners bookstore. And while the job is decent enough, the owner of the store is anything but. Page Turner III is a boor with more money than brains: he's cheating on his wife while running his family business into the ground and has a list of enemies longer than any bestseller. So, when he turns up dead, no one is too surprised. What is surprising is where, in the bed of Helen's glamorous gal pal Peggy, whose usual bedmates are more cultured, refined...and still breathing. Worse still, it turns out that Peggy once had a tryst with the late Mr. Turner that ended quite badly, with a scorned Peggy promising the lothario payback, and someone is making it look like she finally collected. With Peggy as the prime suspect in a murder, it's up to Helen to prove her friend innocent before the police throw the book at her...

Still living under the radar in Fort Lauderdale due to her refusal to pay her ex-husband's spousal support, Helen Hawthorne's latest workaday job might just be the lowest rung on the employment ladder-telemarketing. While Helen is conducting a phone survey with the wealthy Henry Hank" Asporth, Helen is convinced she heard a murder being committed/ With no solid proof, Helen is driven to find out what really happened with Hank and the mystery woman. But if she's not careful, she just might end up holding a deadline of her own.

After all she's endured with her own marriage, divorce, and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen Hawthorne getting a job at Millicent's Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. The newest client is Kiki, a wealthy witch who's making her daughter's wedding day all about Kiki. When Kiki is found smothered to death with her daughter's wedding dress, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible. Now, Helen must prove her innocence before the bride and groom read their wedding vows-and the police read Helen her rights.

Still on the run from the long arm of the law, Helen Hawthorne has found employment as a maid at Fort Lauderdale's Full Moon Hotel, picking up after clueless tourists and keeping her head down. But staying discreet gets a bit more difficult when Helen opens the hotel Dumpster and discovers the dead body of a fellow hotel employee. Then, a hotel guest is murdered in the shower, and Helen's no-good ex-husband Rob arrives in town in search of the money the court said he deserves. With the police already suspicious, and her friends frantically trying to keep Rob off her trail, Helen knows the only way clean up the mess is to find the killer. But if she's not careful, the killer just might find her first...

The Superior Club is where Fort Lauderdale's wealthiest - and snobbiest - come to play. But for Helen Hawthorne, it's all work and no play. As a customer care clerk, it's her job to cater to the clients' every little whim and take care of their every little problem. But Helen has a very big problem of her own. After an acrimonious reunion with her ex-husband Rob, she ends up belting the bum in the mouth - which invites suspicion when Rob goes ominously missing. And when a club employee and a philandering member are found beaten to death with a golf club, the police assume Helen was the deadly duffer. With her freedom - and yet another job - on the line, Helen has no choice but to prove that someone else at the high-class club is a low-down killer...

Miguel Angel's chic salon is where Fort Lauderdale's high society hairdos get done. Even though Helen Hawthorne is just a gofer at the upscale salon, she has to admit the fabulous Miguel Angel is a master at the craft of coif. But with great heads of hair come great headaches. Especially when Miguel Angel and Helen try to prepare the pregnant fiancée of Kingman "King" Oden for her nuptials. King is a bloated, loudmouth bully with a gossip blog, a TV show, and a lousy attitude. When King tries to throw his weight around the shop, Miguel Angel delivers a vicious dressing down - along with a killer threat. Unfortunately, that's why Miguel Angel is named the prime suspect when King's body is found drowned in a pool at his own wedding. Helen knows her boss might have a temper, but murder? That's just not his style. So, it's up to Helen to find out which of King's countless enemies wanted to give him a final, fatal rinse...

When Fort Lauderdale's wealthiest want to discreetly trade their best barely-worn threads for cash, they bring it to Snapdragon's Second Thoughts-which is where Helen Hawthorne finds herself selling the most chic second-hand clothing in Florida. But the usual haggling turns homicidal when a particularly petty customer turns up dead-dangling by a darling Gucci scarf-and Helen's boss Vera is eyed as a suspect. Helen knows Vera can drive a hard bargain but can't believe Vera would resort to murder. And while she would like to help, a sudden tragedy forces Helen to return to St. Louis-where she has the chance to face the past she's been running from. Now, if Helen doesn't quickly deal with her fugitive status-as well as her own fractious family-she won't make it back home in time to prevent the police from making a very unfashionable arrest…

Newly married, Helen Hawthorne can't wait to start her life anew-and start an investigation agency with her PI hubby, Phil. Her penchant for working dead-end jobs comes in handy when they're hired to look into a fitness fanatic who may be cheating on his wife. Taking a receptionist job at their subject's gym, Helen soon discovers that she has to start pumping her own iron if she wants to keep an eye on the weight-lifting lothario. And after Helen and Phil land another case that has them investigating a murder committed in the 80s, Phil is reminded way too much of the bad old days of cocaine cowboys and blood-soaked streets. With her past finally behind her and a duo of dangerous mysteries to solve, Helen is all set to start sleuthing for real. But if she wants to make a living of it, she's going to have to do some heavy lifting...

: Husband and wife PI team Helen and Phil are hired to investigate a customers death at Sunny Jims Stand-Up Paddleboard on South Floridas Riggs Beach. Life for Sunny Jim has been one catastrophe after another: cutthroat competitors are poaching his territory, a restaurant owner wants to turn his beach spot into a parking lot, the city wants to revoke his license, and now the husband of the dead paddleboarder has filed a wrongful death suit. Helen and Phil discover dark undercurrents of corruption behind the facades of cute beachfront businesses, as well domestic secrets. Helen and Phil have to solve this crime soon, before theyre all up a creek without a paddle.

Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont are hired by Trish Barrymore, who is divorcing her no-account accountant Mort. When Mort is found dead, Trish is the main suspect. She wants Helen and Phil to find out who killed Mort Barrymore and more importantly, kidnapped Justine, the couples pedigreed Chartreux show cat. Helen goes undercover as an assistant to a woman who shows prizewinning Persians. Under the primping, posing, and purring, cat shows are a high-pressure world, and now the stakes are life and death.