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| My name is Richard Wannamaker. After retiring from the IRS, I decided to write a story about my roller-coaster life as a cost accountant. Enclosed please find my 500-page autobiography, a volume I have fondly entitled Journal Entry— get it? Tallie winced. She got it, and about twenty others like it on her desk every week. Reams of paper containing stories utterly inappropriate for the mystery and romance fiction lines for which she acquired. It wasn't that she didn't admire the man for creating the tome, but if he'd researched Parkbench Publishing at all, he would have known they weren't looking for autobiographies. And that she wasn't a Mr., but a Miss. Miss— as in unmarried and unlikely to be in the near future. If only Richard Wannamaker had been on her mother's Christmas card mailing list, he'd have been privy to that tidbit, courtesy of her mother's annual Blankenship Bulletin, complete with pictures, favorite family recipes, and news. This year's headline: YES, OUR BEAUTIFUL, SUCCESSFUL DAUGHTER IS STILL SINGLE! It was almost February and she was still recovering from that one. Tallie sighed and forced her attention back to the cover letter in her hand. ~~~ |
By Stephanie Bond
Tallie had been given the job of editing the new manuscript for the top author of the agency. Her boss, Ron Springer, the executive editor, then left on an extended time away from the office, but told her he would be in touch. Tallie had met with Gaylord Cooper, had managed to get him to accept her in place of Ron, who had always edited for Cooper in the past, and then politely refused to meet with Jerry later.
Jerry was met by Kara as he was going down the elevator...and just like that, Tallie had lost the account. With Ron out of the office, there was nothing she could do.
Of course, the fact that there was only one copy of the manuscript led to problems...Yes, can you imagine a writer only making one copy of his new book, for which he had been given a high 6-figure advance?!!!
And, no copies were to be made while it was in the hands of the publishing company!
Seems Gaylord Cooper was continuously certain that somebody was out to sabotage his work...
But was he just eccentric or was there something behind it?
In any event, that precious manuscript was still in Tallie's hands, even though it was no longer hers to protect!
Tallie's best friend was not really the one she could share her frustration with--she had once dated Jerry Key and both knew she was still a little in love with him. Still, Tallie had to talk to somebody! But Felicia had her own problems with Jerry since two of his married writers were fighting and somehow Jerry seemed to be in the middle of whatever was going on...
But as they were talking another young woman stopped by their restaurant table. She wanted to talk to Tallie about her company possibly doing a print version of an ebook she was now working on. When she started to talk about the story, however, it soon became apparent that Felicia recognized the story! Uh Oh! As they talked, the name Jerry Key came right into the middle again...
The door to the spa opened and out strolled Jerry Key, blond, tall, and fashionably thin, a man bag over his shoulder for his
gadgets. The man prided himself on owning the latest and greatest electronic equipment, from phones to laptops to stereos. He had teased Felicia about her penchant for retro,
from her vinyl collection and the old turntable she played them on to the big-button land line phone in her bedroom.
As always, her pulse rate increased at the sight of him, doubly so with the anticipation of confronting him. She stood and screwed the lid onto the bottle of caffeinated water.
She was stowing the bottle in her purse when she realized that someone had joined Jerry on the street—a woman. Frozen, she watched as the two embraced, then shared a full-on kiss. Their meeting, it seemed, wasn't accidental. Felicia removed her sunglasses and bumped her nose against the window, flabbergasted. It couldn't be. But if the woman's long red coat wasn't enough to prove it was Suze Dannon pressed against him...
Well, these three women decided to put Jerry in the spot...they played off of his sexual activities and called to arrange a special date...so that when they got to his hotel, he was already naked and blindfolded! They then tied him up further, took his picture and sent it to his entire mailing list... Wow... that was...cruel???
Only thing is, though, their plan to have the maid find him and let him loose didn't work... and when they did find him the next morning, he had been... murdered...
Oh yes, there's lots more, including Tallie having a blind date with a man from her home town!
A lost manuscript that Tallie may or may not have eft in a taxi, a scene of a crime, or just about anywhere else...
A late idea about why her boss and the author could not be found, and what was so important about a manuscript...
Actually, the last part of the book blew me away... Never would have saw it coming and still wonder... Let me know what you think about what was really happening. That is, besides the fun, the crazy email pictures going "viral"??? (Probably!)
Hey, check this one out!
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