A First Date With Death

Zusatztext Praise for Diana Orgain and her novels: “A charming debut thriller.” —Publishers Weekly “A straightforward whodunit …a fun mystery.”— The Mystery Gazette “An excellent female sleuth novel with lots of humor!”— Listology “Deftly plotted with a winning protagonist…a page-turning read. We will be hearing much more from this talented newcomer.”—Sheldon Siegel! New York Times bestselling author “Orgain’s protagonist…is a charming! gutsy! wry character.”—Louise Ure! Shamus Award-winning author “An entertaining new sleuth.”—Gillian Roberts! author of the Amanda Pepper series Informationen zum Autor Diana Orgain is the author of the Maternal Instincts Mysteries and coauthor of Gilt Trip with Laura Childs in the New York Times bestselling Scrapbooking Mysteries. She holds an MFA and BA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University with a minor in Acting. Diana’s plays have been produced at San Francisco State University! GreenHouses Productions! and PlayGround in San Francisco. She lives in the city with her husband and their children. Maternal Instincts Mysteries Love or Money Mysteries Acknowledgments One The bungee-jumping harness bit into my shoulders and legs as I looked over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge. To say the water looked frigid was an understatement. The whitecaps of the bay screamed out glacier and hypothermia. “You’re not in position,” Cheryl, the producer, yelled. I felt the camera zoom in on me. They needed an extreme close-up of my every facial expression so they could broadcast my terror to the world. Magnify my embarrassment and mortification. One of the techs said something to Cheryl and she shouted, “Cut!” The cameraman lost interest in me. “Why am I doing this?” I asked Becca, my best friend and the assistant producer on this godawful reality TV show, Love or Money . “To find your dream man,” Becca answered. “I found him already, remember? Then he left me at the altar.” A makeup artist appeared at my elbow and applied powder to my nose. “Dream men do not leave their brides at the altar,” Becca said. “Clearly, he was not the one.” I studied the woman brushing powder on my face. She had beautiful chocolate-colored skin, a straight nose, and eyes so dark and intense they looked like pools of india ink. She looked familiar, but before I could place her, she turned and walked away. “I thought you always liked Paul,” I said to Becca. “I did until he left me at the altar,” Becca replied. “He left me .” “Me, too. I was standing right next to you in a stupid tulle and taffeta dress. Anyway, enough about your horrible fashion sense—” I laughed. “Even if you don’t find your dream man here,” Becca continued, “focus on the cash prize. You need it.” She was kind enough not to add “since you were fired,” but I felt the sting anyway. If anyone had told me, six months before, that I’d be on a reality TV show looking for love and/or money, I’d have called them 5150, a.k.a. clinically insane. But here I was, ex-cop, ex-bride-to-be—with a broken heart and broken career—looking to start over. Ty, one of my “dates,” sauntered over. He was wearing jeans and boots and his trademark cowboy hat. A bungee harness crisscrossed through his legs. Despite the harness, or perhaps because of it, he looked hot. Although I was hard-pressed to think of any outfit that he wouldn’t look hot in. “Are you nervous, Miss Georgia?” he asked. I found myself absently wondering if he’d wear his hat while bungee jumping. He reached out tentatively and touched the back of my hand with a single finger. “Miss Georgia?” he repeated. I suddenly became aware of the camera rolling again and snapped to attent...

Product details

• Authors: Diana Orgain
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 03.03.2015, delayed
• EAN: 9780425271681
• ISBN: 978-0-425-27168-1
• Series: Love or Money Mystery; A Love or Money Mystery; A Love or Money Mystery
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature