Murder is a Girl's Best Friend

Book excerpt: From the national bestselling author of Murderers Prefer Blondes. All Paige Turner wants for Christmas is to make it through the season alive. New York City in 1954 can be bad for a girl’s health, especially if she’s a staff writer for a pulp mystery magazine who can’t help getting a little too involved in her work. Not that she’s looking for trouble this time; Detective Dan Street, her new love, has forbidden her from ever making like Sam Spade again. But what’s a girl to do when her late husband’s army buddy turns up with a tale like something out of Daring Detective magazine? His sister murdered. A stash of diamonds to die for hidden in a box of oatmeal. The mystery is a Christmas present Paige can’t resist opening. But with the killer hot on her trail, Paige faces the chilling possibility that this Christmas might be her last. “Paige Turner is the liveliest, most charming detective to emerge in crime fiction in a long time. . . . She is irresistible, a force of nature.”—Ann Waldron, author of The Princeton Murders “1950s New York City comes alive. . . . This is great writing by a fresh talent.”—Nelson DeMille “Prepare to be utterly charmed by the irrepressible Paige Turner.”—Dorothy Cannell