A BIG GORGEOUS PI, AN UGLY FRAME-UP, AND A CATFIGHT OF EPIC PROPORTIONS…The kind of villain you love to hate can really make a mystery, but every once in awhile you get something even better-- one who steals the show. For sheer hate appeal, bad-to-the-bone Tawny Bledsoe’s right up there with Nurse Ratched and Hannibal Lector. You just want to leap onto the page and take her out before private investigator Casey Jones does.And you know you’re going have to be fast— because Tawny’s made it personal by posing as a battered wife and hiring Casey to find her kidnapped daughter. Casey finds the kid all right, but when she’s tricked into participating in a frame-up engineered by none other than wily, poisonous Tawny, she’s understandably as mad as Captain Ahab after meeting a certain marine mammal. And she only gets madder when Tawny stiffs her on her fee.But her quest to bring Tawny down no matter what it takes is driven not so much by the need for revenge as by something no one else realizes—big, badass Casey is as softhearted as she is bullheaded. Deep down, what she really cares about is separating that little girl—the one she was hired to find—from the nastiest piece of work since Beatrix Lestrange. And it would take Moby Dick himself to stop her.Throughout this tasty tale of obsession and betrayal, some of Casey’s most appealing qualities are on spirited display—she’s hot, she’s hilarious, and she’s so headstrong her quasi-boss Bobby D. can only shake his massive head and do as the lady says. The hot and hilarious parts go hand-in-hand as the plus-size detective fantasizes her way through a small army of possible inamoratos, now and then anointing one or another, although always off the page and always accompanied by a wisecrack or three.(“I feel like I’ve been in a train wreck,” says one. “Of course you do,” replies his lovely date. “Why do you think they call me Casey Jones?”)BAD TO THE BONE is a rowdy, action-packed adventure with humor, romance, and hard-boiled mayhem aplenty, but its two greatest delights are its vivid antagonists, the big-hearted, tough PI and the petite, pernicious femme fatale, locked in a catfight that should have its own arena.Casey’s clever quips will remind you of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, or maybe Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin, not to mention the daddy of them all, Raymond Chandlers’ Philip Marlowe. And her ace detective work will appeal to fans of all female sleuth mysteries—especially private eyes like Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan, Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone, and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.Evanovich herself is a fan! “Casey Jones joins the ranks of smart and gutsy heroines. The South will never be the same. Don't miss her." --Janet EvanovichShe’s joined by I Love a Mystery-- "Fast-paced and action-packed...The charm here lies in Munger's writing, which is silky-smooth and packs a wallop.”Along with Publisher’s Weekly: “She is smart, tough, and tenacious... a wonderfully entertaining read”.
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