Nicole Phillips checked her reflection in the mirror once more, flipping her shiny blond hair behind her shoulder. She loved the way her two-carat diamond belly-button ring caught the light, as she turned this way and that in her Ultra-cor ultra-silk floral print leggings and her Carbon 38 crop sports bra. Who ever thought, even a year ago, that a chick from her old neighborhood in Hoboken, a receptionist at a Lamborghini dealership, would be able to afford this chic workout get-up? Or that she could spend the morning at her leisure, taking Pilates, spinning, and yoga classes three days a week? Or that she’d live in this humongous apartment in The Dakota, of all places?

Yes, life was good. No, life was great. One day she was girlfriend to Billy Bartosh, head mechanic, and the next day she was head-over-heels in love with THE Preston Phillips, handsome, smart, and richer than a 1,000-calorie banana split. The guy was a money wizard. In fact, he was the Secretary of the Treasury until this last election. Not that he needed the job—God knows, Preston hadn’t had to work a day in his life, if he hadn’t wanted to. The guy was the real deal, all right. And now that she was Mrs. Preston Phillips, she’d be the real deal, too. It was almost like being royalty, or maybe even better. She didn’t have to worry about paparazzi or some dowager queen telling her what was and wasn’t proper.

Still, it was a little lonely, she had to admit. Her old friends, after the first round of congratulations and gossipy chit-chats, had drifted away, from either envy or lack of common ground, and Nicole hadn’t quite figured out how to work her way into Preston’s society with its particular rules for how to speak, look, and behave. “Just be yourself,” Preston had told her. But so far being herself had only resulted in lukewarm handshakes and cold stares from women the ages of her mother and grandmother.

After the classes this morning, she’d booked a spa appointment. She was getting the works: massage, facial, eyebrow threading, Brazilian wax treatment, mani and pedi. She wanted to look ’specially good when Preston came home for dinner. The last few nights he’d picked at his dinner, then retired to his man-cave for several hours, brooding. She couldn’t imagine what had him so upset, but when she asked, he just said, “Don’t worry.”

He hadn’t seemed particularly excited about the invitation they’d received to his cousin’s birthday party, either. A weekend retreat at a country mansion in Pennsylvania. Three whole days of cocktails and dining and high class conversation? She hoped she’d survive, and she hoped her marriage would survive, too. Funny, a year ago, she would have thought of this invitation as a party to die for!

You can read more about Nicole in Murder in the One Percent.

When old friends gather for a weekend retreat at a country mansion, no one anticipates how all their lives will be changed—or that one of them will turn up dead. Remote and serene, the Campbells’ horse farm is the perfect setting for a lavish party. The guests, all members of the country’s elite wealthiest one percent, several of them politically connected as well, indulge in all the delights befitting their station—gourmet food, the finest wines, Cuban cigars—but greed, lust, and jealousy insinuate themselves into the party.

Playboy and former Secretary of the Treasury, Preston Phillips, brings his new trophy wife to the party, unaware that his first love, the woman he jilted at the altar years ago, will be there, enchanting him once more with her timeless beauty. A snowstorm, an accident, and an illicit rendezvous later, the dynamics crackle with tension.

When Detective Oliver Parrott is charged with solving the untimely killing of one of America’s leading financial wizards, he realizes this will be the case to make—or break—his career.

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Meet the author
Mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard, has been a teacher who wrote on the side, but now she is a writer who teaches on the side. Some of her poems and essays have won awards and contests from the time she was in high school. Her children’s picture book, Naughty Nana, has reached thousands of children in five countries.

Murder in the One Percent pulls back the curtain on the privileged and powerful rich. Set on a gentleman’s farm in Pennsylvania and in the tony areas of New York, the book shows what happens when someone comes to a party with murder in his heart and poison in his pocket.

A member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn is revising her second mystery, Murder at Lincoln High. Her website is www.saralynrichard.com.

All comments are welcomed.