MYSTERY WOMAN 1: MYSTERY WEEKEND

She’s an avid mystery lover and bookseller, for whom crime has been comfortably confined to the pages of Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett—until a real-life murder turns a weekend of fun and games into a chilling whodunit…

The quaint mystery bookshop bequeathed to Samantha Kinsey (Emmy nominee Kellie Martin, E.R.) may be struggling but the idea that Sam’s concocted for the weekend should garner some killer publicity—a book-signing by three very popular and very competitive authors: Maura Dodd (Colleen Camp, Rat Race), Angela Cooke (Beth Grant, Donnie Darko), and the reclusive, and very nearly legendary, Clare Beckman (Beth Roderick, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). Unbeknownst to Sam, Clare is using this “mystery weekend” to make a stunning declaration. Before a throng of dutiful paparazzi, loyal friends, old fans, and slavish sycophants, Clare announces that her career has reached its end, and that she’ll be quietly taking a well-deserved retirement. From the crowd comes a gasp, and from Clare comes the gracious concession of a final photograph. But the distinguished pose is thwarted by a shattering gunshot.

Well-versed in the conventions of coincidence, Clare dodges the bullet. Befitting the ingenuity of the grande dames of mystery, the gun is found duct-taped between two books with a fishing wire tied to the trigger. Who could rig such a thing? And why? For that matter, who was the intended victim? Then Clare succumbs to a resourcefully planted poison, leaving only two questions unanswered and an assortment of suspects and motives. Was it Sam’s best customer? After all, the weapon was hers. Clare’s disgruntled ex-husband? Her new lover? Being the last person to see Clare alive, even Sam falls under suspicion. But avoiding a murder rap is second only to finding the real killer. What Sam uncovers is a devious plot of blackmail, duplicity, greed, and deceit that could have made Clare herself proud—had she lived to tell it.

An indomitable, sexy, and bright new sleuth has arrived in Samantha Kinsey, a woman for whom murder has become an inspired new career. So get a clue.