Some of you may know that the real me – Jennie Bentley is a pseudonym – is starting a new series in 2010. Yes, published under my real name, which is Bente Gallagher.
A CUTTHROAT BUSINESS is the book I wrote before the DIY books, the book that started it all. The book that caused the powers that be at Berkley to ask me to write the Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation mysteries. It’s written from the point of view of Savannah Martin, new-minted realtor and Southern Belle, in Nashville, Tennessee, who gets more than she bargains for when she stumbles over the dead body of a fellow realtor in an empty house.
Lest you think this is another fluffy cozy, let me set your mind at ease: there’s actually a little more to it than that. See, Savannah is recently divorced. After doing everything in her life perfectly, the way she was supposed to do, fully expecting everything to fall into place in its turn and give her the perfect life she was supposed to have, she discovered that her perfect husband was cheating. So Savannah divorced the jerk and went out on her own, for the first time ever. After going from her parents’ house to finishing school to university to Bradley’s house, she’s on her own, and scrambling to make ends meet. As well as questioning all her previous assumptions.
Into this mix falls not only the dead body, but a new guy. And not just any guy. If Margaret Anne Martin, Savannah’s sainted mother, could have picked the next guy she’d like to see in her daughter’s life, Rafael Collier wouldn’t even have made the bottom of the list. Half black, half white trash, with a criminal past, a tattoo, and a Harley-Davidson, he’s Margaret Anne’s worst nightmare: the boy she – and every other mother in tiny Sweetwater, Tennessee – warned their daughters about.
Now Savannah has to figure out who killed real estate maven Brenda Puckett – the wicked witch of the South – and what Rafe Collier’s connection to the house on Potsdam Street is… all while keeping her involvement from her mother.
A CUTTHROAT BUSINESS will be released in trade paper format in June 2010, at a price of $13.95, but for a limited time, you can pre-order it directly from the publisher for 20% off. If it sounds like something you’d enjoy, please make my day!
Here’s the LINK!