Hey, my name’s Jade. I run the Beachtown Detective Agency. That’s right, I’m a PI. Technically, I’ve only been a PI for 48 hours. Don’t even ask how that happened.

Dru wants me to tell you a little about a day in my life. It’s actually kind of boring. Right now, I’m on a stakeout watching my client’s husband. To be more accurate, I’ve been watching my client’s husband’s car sit in front of his business office for two hours and fourteen minutes.

I know. Boring. My first stakeout was with my dad when I was eight years old. As one of those little girls who was infatuated with her daddy, I thought it would be awesome to sit in the car with him all night long. I pestered him incessantly for weeks. Mom was adamant that it was a bad idea. But I was persistent and my dad eventually caved.

So, one night, my dad took me with him to watch the home of some drug dealers. I thought I was so grown up as we sat there, me with my hot chocolate, him with his coffee. Even though it was boring, I was super pumped—until I fell asleep. After about an hour. It wasn’t until I got older that I learned my dad had just picked out a random house and made up some story about drug dealers living inside.

So, stakeouts? Yup, I’m familiar. According to my client, her husband has embezzled over $500,000 from her since they got married eight months ago. The real problem may not be embezzlement, but bad judgement. I visited one of hubby’s investment properties yesterday, a dog of a shopping center down in San Diego, and discovered the occupancy rate was less than ten percent. I’m getting ready to visit another one of his investment properties. This one’s here in Carlsbad. If it’s as bad as the shopping center, I might have to tell my client that hubby basically flushed a half-million bucks down the drain.

I have another problem, too. It’s the Amorous Assailant. That’s not quite true. My problem is less with the Amorous Assailant than it is with the watch group I agreed to lead after the women’s self-defense class I taught. The truth is, I want nothing to do with some guy who runs around wearing a black sash mask and kissing his victim after he binds her hands with red silk. Why did I agree to lead a watch group? That’s easy. It was that last pitcher of margaritas. That was totally the one that got me in trouble.

Looks like Dru’s giving me the high sign. I must be oversharing. Sorry to dump on you. I should get going to that investment property before my first client becomes my last. I’d hate to sink the family business during my first week.

The Case of the Amorous Assailant, A Beachtown Detective Mystery #1
Genre: Private Investigator
Release: October 2022
Purchase Link

New PI Jade Cavendish’s investigation into a cheating husband takes a bizarre turn when she uncovers a plot to commit murder.

The Amorous Assailant has frustrated police for months. His MO is always the same. He binds his victims with red silk, kisses them, and leaves them with a red rose. Women throughout the city are worried they’ll be his next victim.

Novice PI Jade Cavendish isn’t one of them, though. After inheriting the Beachtown Detective Agency, she’s worried about landing a paying client. Any client. She’d even settle for a dognapping.

Gina Rose, a wealthy young heiress, has a problem. Her new husband, a man she thought was her perfect match, is bleeding her dry. When Gina hires Jade to prove her husband is defrauding her, Jade quickly learns he’s a terrible businessman. His investment properties are oozing money like open wounds.

On the surface, it appears Gina simply has bad taste in men. But Jade refuses to give up on her client so easily. Her investigation pulls her into a world filled with greed, one where secrets are a way of life, events are not always what they seem, and lies conceal deadly realities—including the Amorous Assailant’s true motive.

About the author
Terry Ambrose’s writing credits include fifteen published mysteries and the organization of an anthology written by bestselling mystery authors to benefit Read Aloud America in Hawaii. Terry’s Seaside Cove Mystery series new releases have risen to the Amazon genre Top 100, and in 2014, he received the San Diego Book Awards Best Mystery/Thriller award.

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