Let me start at the beginning. I was fourteen years old when I snapped pictures of Jack Callaghan doing the horizontal salsa in the backseat of a car with Greta Pritchard. That was the exact moment when I knew for sure I’d grow up to be a private eye. My fate was sealed.

Had I:

Disguised myself as a substitute custodian? ✓
Surveilled on foot and by car? ✓
Impersonated someone? ✓ ✓ ✓

I learned early how to snoop, and I learned well. So when I got a job as a full-fledged PI at Camacho & Associates recently, run by the muy mysterioso Manny Camacho, I knew I would kick ass.

My parents, on the other hand, thought I had completely lost my mind. Why couldn’t I be more like my sister, Gracie, the school teacher?

Because…well, Jack Callaghan. He had unwittingly shown me the way. If it hadn’t been for my relentless pursuit of him, I might never have discovered my proclivity for surveillance and undercover work.

And now, I’m the lead investigator on my very first case…the disappearance of one Emily Diggs. Sadie Metcalf, who would be my supervillain nemesis in a Marvel comic, tried everything to get our boss to not give me the case, but he did, and his confidence in me made me preen like a peacock.

And it made her scowl and hurl daggers at me with her eyes.

But I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. Because Manny believes in me.

I’ve spent my day studying the information on the intake form Emily Diggs’s brother, who hired us, gave Manny. And then I started following the trail of breadcrumbs, which has led me to some pretty interesting discoveries. Mysteries are tangled webs, and Emily Diggs’s life was more tangled than most I’d seen…which wasn’t actually saying a lot since this was my first case.

Still.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure Jack Callaghan doesn’t know I’d been a teenage stalker, and even though I still have a secret longing to feel him pressed against me, my embarrassment at invading his privacy and my anger that I’d never be anything more to him than Antonio’s little sister has kept me far, far away from him.

At least it had. Until he became part of the Emily Diggs case. Now I have to face him, and keep those old feelings from surfacing. That may be easier said than done.

I hope I get to wear one of my wigs…I’ve started a collection for undercover work. Maybe being a PI isn’t the same as it is in the movies, but I’m going to make the most of my opportunities. The question is: How far am I willing to go for my job?

Pretty far, I think. So far, I haven’t hit my limit. Guess you’ll have to stick around with me to find out.

Living the Vida Lola, A Lola Cruz Mystery Book #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: April 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Meet Lola Cruz. After paying her dues as an intern, she’s now a full-fledged detective at Camacho and Associates. Her boss is Manny Camacho, a muy caliente former cop with a mysterious ex-wife, a Lara Croft look-alike girlfriend, and a sudden personal interest in Lola. Her first big case? A missing mother who may not want to be found. And to make her already busy life even more complicated, Lola’s helping her cousin plan her quinceañera and battling her family and their old-fashioned views on women and careers. She’s also reunited with the gorgeous Jack Callaghan, her high school crush whom she shamelessly tailed years ago and photographed doing the horizontal salsa with some other lucky girl.

Lola takes it all in stride, but when the subject of her search ends up dead, she realizes she has a lot more to worry about. Soon she finds herself wrapped up in the possibly shady practices of a tattoo parlor, local politics, and someone with serious—maybe deadly—road rage.

To top it all off, her treasured post-coital pictures of Jack are missing!

Still, Lola is well-equipped to handle these challenges. She’s a black belt in kung fu, and her body isn’t her only weapon. She’s got smarts, sass, and more tenacity than her Mexican mafioso-wannabe grandfather.

A few of her famous margaritas don’t hurt, either.

About the author
Melissa Bourbon is the national bestselling author of more than thirty mystery novels, including the Pippin Lane Hawthorne (Book Magic) Mysteries, the Lola Cruz Mysteries, the Harlow Cassidy (Magical Dressmaking) Mystery series, and the Bread Shop Mysteries, written as Winnie Archer. A former middle school English teacher, Melissa now lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and their three dogs, Bean, Dobby, and Pippin. She is the founder of WriterSpark Academy, an online resource for writers with courses, a podcast, and more. Learn more about Melissa at her website, melissabourbon.com, on Facebook @MelissaBourbon/Winnie ArcherBooks, and on Instagram @bookishly_cozy, and learn more about WriterSpark at writersparkacademy.com.

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