The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air

Book excerpt: CUT HAIR - READ MINDS - SOLVE A MURDER Make your appointment for a fun amateur sleuth story that's one part "The Long Goodbye," a dab of "Blanche on the Lam" and "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," with just a little X-Men mixed in, too. DANICA LUMAN has used her secret psychic abilities to squeeze by in the San Fernando Valley. Her powers help her give great haircuts - she sees into customers' minds and knows exactly what styles they want. Things are steady until one day, while giving a strange man a high-and-tight, the image Danica sees is of a dead body. What Danica lacks in detective training, she makes up for in stubbornness. She takes on the role of amateur detective only to sink deeper into the muddy mystery, with each clue dragging her further into the weird underbelly of Los Angeles. Fighting off unpaid bills, attempts on her life and dangerous family squabbles, Danica gets tangled up trying to solve the murder and discover how it connects to the cops, a student newspaper, and an old man who calls himself "the Mayor of Bel Air." Read the book, and sign up for the newsletter at phillipmottaz.com to learn more about this intrepid woman detective!