A day in the life of Emersyn Gray is a little like running an obstacle course, one full of booby-traps and mud pits swarming with alligators. Okay, maybe that’s a little overdramatic, but Lady Luck isn’t exactly my BFF. The one good thing I can count on? Seeing my niece’s sweet smile makes even the worst day better.

I never thought I’d be a single parent at the age of 28, but after my brother’s death, I’m now my niece’s sole guardian. So each weekday starts with getting her ready for school. As long as I don’t sleep through my alarm, that’s not a big problem (the big problems usually come later). Once I get home from walking her to school, I spend a good hour or two scouring job postings online. Yep, I’m broke and unemployed (those metaphorical gators have bitten me a few times).

That’s about as predictable as my daily routine gets these days because a recent complication has spiced up my life, in more ways than one. In an attempt to get back the money my thieving, no-good ex stole from me, my best friend had a bunch of business cards made up for a fake private detective agency. The plan? Tell my ex I hired a detective and hopefully scare him into returning my money. But, in my life, plans have a habit of going off the rails.

Thanks to a mishap with the business cards, I’ve got my neighbors in the 55+ apartment building where I live (yes, I’m way under age 55 but they were desperate for tenants) wanting me to solve the murder of the building’s superintendent. And there’s this mysterious, habanero-hot guy named Wyatt who thinks we’re investigating together. (Okay, yes, his name is on the fake business cards, but that’s just a coincidence… and a story for another time). I could hardly say no to helping my sweet, elderly next door neighbor, Mrs. Nagy, so now I’m searching for clues, dodging danger, and desperately trying not to lose my heart to Wyatt.

Clues, chaos, and off-the-charts chemistry. Yep. Just another manic Monday.

DEFINITELY MAYBE NOT A DETECTIVE
Series Name: A Wyatt Investigations Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Rom-Com Mystery
Release: January 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

In this delightfully charming rom-com mystery, a woman becomes accidentally entangled in a murder investigation (and with a handsome stranger) when her fake detective agency is enlisted to solve a real homicide.

Emersyn Gray is definitely not a detective.

Really, she’s an unemployed twenty-eight-year-old raising her beloved niece in the only place she can afford after her ex-boyfriend ran off with her life savings: a run-down, seniors-only apartment complex that was desperate for tenants. But never fear—her wild best friend has the perfect plan to get Emersyn back on her feet and stick it to her thieving ex: scare him into returning her money by hiring a private investigator to prove he stole it. Only, there won’t be an actual detective, just a fabricated business card from Wyatt Investigations . . . and a ridiculously hot stranger, who steps in to play the part—a stranger whose name is, coincidentally, Wyatt.

Emersyn can’t help but notice the real-life Wyatt is capital H-O-T hot, even though she’s wary of his intentions. But her ex does seem flustered, and if she can get her money back and regain control of her life, maybe it’ll finally prove to her parents that she can be a responsible caregiver to her niece.

But the day after they set their plan in motion, the superintendent of Emersyn’s apartment building winds up dead, and her neighbors turn to her fake detective agency for help after finding one of the phony business cards. With so many eyes on them—or maybe just their eyes on each other—Emersyn and Wyatt agree to take on the case. Now the question is, Can they solve the murder without getting tangled up in their own fictions—or each other?

About the author
Sarah Fox is the author of the USA Today bestselling Pancake House Mysteries, as well as the Music Lover’s Mysteries, the Literary Pub Mysteries, the True Confections Mysteries, and the Magical Menagerie Mysteries. She was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she developed a love for mysteries at a young age. When not plotting (fictional) murders or doling out sardines to her mini panther (black cat), she is often reading her way through a stack of books or spending time outdoors with her English springer spaniel.