Laura Manning uses the name CeCe Lamont to write cozy mysteries.
Minxy Banks’s dawn run by the Chesapeake Bay is upended when she finds her meddlesome neighbor stabbed to death and draped across a mermaid statue, wearing a designer suit and pantihose. Minxy’s first clue: no one dresses like that in casual West Beach, MD. The murder activates the Chesapeake Crime Club which includes Minxy, a former CIA case officer; Celia, a senior CIA analyst; and Astrid, the techy wife of the Danish Ambassador to the US. They have been solving penny ante crimes like stolen garden gnomes. Now they must dig deeper, and drink more martinis, to find a killer. Minxy’s unique talent—she’s a Dark Empath capable of talking anyone into anything and daring enough to undertake the craziest of missions—propels the team along the twisted path of the killer and into his deadly endgame.
“Minxy is the next-door neighbor I wish I had. Her methods may be unconventional, but her results aren’t. I wish I could join the Chesapeake Crime Club for real!”
—Jeff Ayers, co-author (writing as AJ Landau) of Leave No Trace, Cold Burn, and Picking Up the Pieces
“This novel is a clever mix of thriller and humor, with Minxy working with her equally savvy and sharp-tongued drinking companions to solve the case…Battling past traumas, this book is also about second chances. Bravo Minxy!”
—Bonnie Suchman, author of Broken Promises, and Stumbling Stones,
“…Minxy Banks, an ex-government operative with a Dark Empath’s edge, is as sharp as she is seductive. This psychological twist on the classic whodunit will leave you craving martinis on the Chesapeake Bay, hoping for an invite to join Minxy.”
—Michael Kelley, author of The Lost Theory, The Devil’s Calling, Juno’s Song, and Dead or Alive