The Blonde Died First

When Jim Steele got to Brenda Carroll's Park Avenue apartment, the package she had sent him to get was gone, and two fresh corpses had been left there instead.

Blondes may have more fun, but not at the hands of these mistresses of mystery... They’re beautiful blondes with style, money, and men falling at their feet. But now these perfect women are becoming perfect victims. In Drop-Dead Blonde, four of today’s top mystery authors spin four all-new tales of fair-haired sirens, secrets, and seduction.

Among the moss-covered trees and wrought-iron balustrades of southern Louisiana, Detective Michele Knight (Micky to her friends) takes on the seemingly simple job of shooting a few photos for a client, but the going gets rough as Micky finds herself slugging through thugs and slogging through swamps in an attempt to expose a dangerous drug ring. The trail leads to the Hundred Oaks Plantation, a transvestite named Eddie, a beautiful doctor named Cordelia, and memories Micky thought she had buried twenty years ago. Hard-hitting prose in the style of Sam Spade and Mike Hammer with a lesbian twist. The first book in the Micky Knight mystery series.

It's 1988 and Lily Bloom, a 65-year-old American lies dying of cancer in a London hospital. As her two daughters buzz around her and the nurses pump her full of morphine, she slides in and out of consciousness, outraged that there is so little time left and so many people still to disparage.

I don't know how you got here but this page isn't for you. This is an extremely dangerous book with a very deadly secret. It is an alarming account of two extraordinary adventurers, a missing magician's diary, a symphony of smells and a deadly secret... If you're both curious and brave, visit www.thenameofthisbookissecret.co.uk - but remember - I warned you. "Many different types of readers will thoroughly enjoy this tale including fans of Anthony Horowitz and Lemony Snicket. The book is an interesting read where many types of emotions overwhelm you such as horror, grief, mystery, anxiety the lot. Mixed with a hint of sweet satisfaction that you have finally read the story. I honestly do not know how I lived without reading the book - it baffles me." - Guardian Children's Books Shortlisted Bedforshire Children's Book of the Year Award 2009, selected for the Premier League Reading Stars programme