A Date You Can’t Refuse by Harley Jane Kozak is the fourth book in the “Wollie Shelley” mystery series. Publisher: Broadway, March 2009
Serial dater and greeting-card artist Wollie Shelley goes undercover in a media-training company suspected of video piracy, but when a dead body appears on the company’s property, she’s caught up in a conspiracy that goes way beyond some stolen DVDs.
Wollie Shelley isn’t happy about taking the job as a “social coach” at MediaRex, but the FBI makes her an offer she can’t refuse. If she agrees to infiltrate the company, they’ll guarantee that her schizophrenic brother will have a home at the federally subsidized halfway house he’s come to love. So Wollie launches into teaching three foreign celebrities how to cope with the customs of Beverly Hills, improve their English, and become Oprah-ready. And when a coyote-chewed corpse appears in the MediaRex compound, Wollie realizes that her colleagues are concealing some serious secrets of their own.
Wollstonecraft Shelly is a graphic artist who designs greeting cards as her profession. After a recent duty as a juror, Wollie is first approach by the acquitted defendant who wants her to be a social coach at his compound and a few minutes later by the FBI who wants her to go undercover there as well. He offers her a deal that she could not refuse, funds so that her brother, PB who is a schizophrenic, can stay at the subsidized halfway home where he resides. Simon, her FBI boyfriend, Fredreeq and Joey, her two best friends are against her going in undercover. When a body is found and the mysteries surrounding foreign visitors staying at the compound, Wollie has to stay ahead of the activities before harm comes to her. This was an entertaining story and I love the climax at the end. [3.5 stars – really liked it]