ISBN: 1-59133-250-8 (hardcover)
1-59133-251-6 (trade paperback)
Purchase your own copy of RED HOT on line or in stores!
On line retailers:
http://www.opendoor-bookstore.com
Or purchase a copy in-store at:
The Open Door Bookstore, 128 Jay St. Schenectady, NY
The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, at the corner of Western Avenue (Route 20) and Fuller Road in Albany, NY (click on the store link for directions).
~ Synopsis ~
Autumn Hills’ community librarian Julie Simms has just published her late mother’s beloved bedtime tales about Songbird, a covert government agent. Once Songbird hits the bookstores, chaos hits the fan! That’s when she learns the exciting stories she loved so much as a child had been her mother’s real assignments for the Art Information and Collection Agency, an organization that locates stolen art and recovers it by stealing it back.
Julie learns from former AICA director that both her parents were agents, and each killed on separate missions while recovering the painting Portrait of Isabella. He fears for her safety and vows to find the Portrait, but falls victim before he does. As Julie sets out to find it on her own, former AICA agents, and a charming, sexy art thief storm into her life. She finds each has a tie to her parents, and one could very well be the killer.
The bright spot in Julie’s life is Josh Bender, the adorable guy who has moved into the apartment across from her. He’s doing his best to win her heart and her trust, but Josh might be too good to be true.
~ Excerpts ~
Prologue
DUTCHESS COUNTY HERALD
May 21, 1985
Hit and run takes life of local woman.
Autumn Hills resident, Margaret Simms, 38, died last week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The victim of a hit and run driver. The speeding vehicle struck and killed Simms while she exited her car at the Pavilion Hotel located in downtown Santa Fe. Witnesses said the male driver stopped and jumped out of the dark colored sedan and ran to her car. Moments later, he returned to his vehicle and fled the scene. Police were unable to get an accurate description of the man from the stunned onlookers. An investigation is still underway.
Formerly of Brooklyn, New York, Simms was a resident of Autumn Hills since 1977. She worked as executive assistant at the Liberty State Insurance Company. She is survived by her mother, Estelle Simms and her daughter, Juliana.
Chapter 1
Giving my grandmother a near heart attack on her seventy-fifth birthday was not part of the plan. We’d first go out to a nice dinner. Then I’d give her the special gift that would bring tears to her lovely baby blues.
Dinner at the Seafood Grille was great, as usual. Her favorite restaurant in Autumn Hills. Grams even got the complimentary birthday sundae delivered to her by the singing wait staff. So far, so good. We got back to her house and I presented her with the carefully wrapped goodie. She tore off the paper, stared at the gift, and then nearly regurgitated the shrimp scampi she’d devoured an hour earlier.
I’d given her Songbird. My newly published book based upon my late mother’s bedtime tales about a beautiful government agent—code name, Songbird—whose missions took her around the world to retrieve stolen art and antiquities. I adored those fables and heard them nightly until my mother’s death when I was eight years old.
Songbird hit the bookstores four days ago and my anticipation grew as each minute passed until I could give Grams her own copy. I’d expected her to become speechless from emotion. To hug and kiss me with gratitude. To declare me the best granddaughter in the whole world.
Boy, was I wrong. My petite, white-haired grandma took one look at the book and yelled, “Damn it, Juliana, what the hell have you done?”