Please welcome a guest post from Ellie Ashe today, author of the Miranda Vaughn series. Book 2 is Dropping the Dime, which
followed book 1... Chasing the Dollar. This is always a favorite topic of mine because i love series and have to know what's coming next :)
****
What’s next after Dropping the Dime?
When I
finished Chasing the Dollar, I knew
that as soon as I could, I’d be returning to Miranda’s story. And immediately I
began to worry about following up her adventures in Macau and Belize, because
in Dropping the Dime, there’s no
international travel, no global conspiracy to unravel. No explosions or running
gun battles.
So how to
make this story as exciting as the first? By letting Miranda follow her heart.
She’s still trying to prove herself to the community that still views her as a
criminal defendant, even though she was acquitted. She’s a rule-follower by
nature, but she understands that sometimes, to do the right thing, you have to
break the rules. These instincts get her into trouble.
I don’t know
why I was worried. Miranda is thrown together with FBI Agent Jake Barnes, and
that always leads to exciting things.
And did I
say no explosions or running gun battles? What was I thinking? This is Miranda
Vaughn—she attracts these things.
So because
Miranda will continue to find trouble wherever she goes, I’m going along for
the ride, too. There will be a third book in the series, likely released toward
the end of 2015. I’ve already started this book and I gotta tell you, it might
just be my favorite Miranda Vaughn mystery yet!
*****
Dropping the Dime
Ellie Ashe
Gemma Halliday Publishing
70,000-word romantic mystery
Miranda Vaughn was once falsely
accused of stealing millions, and now she’s helping others who are facing
criminal charges. While being an assistant to her former defense attorney isn’t
Miranda’s dream job, she’s eager to prove herself, and her first task is a
simple one—protect Kathryn, a shy CFO turned informant, and help her prove that
a popular real estate developer is embezzling millions from his company. But
what should be a straightforward assignment is deliciously complicated when
Miranda is thrown together with FBI Agent Jake Barnes, the man who saved her
life, broke her heart, and then disappeared.
Beneath the
neatly plotted rows of new homes lurk dark secrets, bitter feuds and a
whole lot of greed. Nothing is what it appears, even Miranda’s timid client,
who is hiding secrets of her own. Despite her growing distrust of her client,
Miranda must protect Kathryn from becoming the target of the FBI’s
investigation and protect herself from the real thief—all while protecting her
heart from the sexy FBI agent she can’t seem to resist.
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Excerpt:
One of my
favorite parts of writing the Miranda Vaughn Mysteries is exploring the
chemistry between Miranda and Jake Barnes, the hot FBI agent who saved her
life, then broke her heart. In Dropping
the Dime, Miranda and Jake are thrown together on an investigation.
Miranda’s trying to protect her client, Kathryn, a whistle-blower who is
working with the FBI to expose her crooked real estate developer boss. But
Kathryn’s keeping her own secrets and before long, Miranda is fighting to keep
the FBI from turning its investigation to the timid accountant.
Here’s a
peek of how Miranda and Jake navigate those conflicts in Dropping the Dime:
“So, you’re
not investigating Kathryn?” I asked.
The question
hung in the air between us in the quiet kitchen. Jake reached up and put the
plates away in the open cupboards, then turned and leaned against the counter.
“Should I?”
“No,” I
said. “You shouldn’t. She’s a nice person who just tried to do the right
thing.”
He raised an
eyebrow. “You don’t even know her.”
“I know her
better than you do. She’s not a criminal.”
“She’s
lying. She’s lying to you. And she’s lying to the FBI, which is a federal
crime,” he said, his expression hardened.
“Kathryn is
not lying!” I had nothing to back that up. “She’s smarter than that.”
“She’s just
going to get herself in trouble if she doesn’t come clean with us,” he said.
“Look, Finn is happy to finally nail Simon Leonidis, but I’m not looking at
this as a personal vendetta. If we’re going to prosecute him, we need evidence.
Not just his CFO’s suspicions.”
I knew that,
but for some reason, I had a feeling there was more to it than that.
“You just
don’t believe her, do you?”
He crossed
his arms and I was momentarily distracted by the way his biceps flexed. I
looked away quickly.
“Maybe we
shouldn’t talk about work,” he said.
“That’s a
good idea,” I said, then paused. What else would we talk about? All of my
interaction with Jake had been work related, in one way or another, starting with
our first encounter when he arrested me. Was my attraction purely lust? Based
on nothing of substance?
“So, how was
your day?” he asked, a slight smile on his lips.
I discovered that I’d been defending
a liar and uncovered a Greek tragedy. “Uh, it was fine. How was yours?”
Oh God. Was
this what happened when you fell for someone based solely on looks? And a lot
of adrenaline. And chemistry.
He smiled
and my heart did an extra little flutter. “Well, I got to take a romantic drive
in the country with a beautiful woman, then take her to dinner.”
The heat
rose up my face. “You certainly spun that in a positive light.”
Jake’s smile
widened. “How would you have spun it?”
“I don’t
know. Maybe that I completed a successful undercover mission,” I said. “I guess
I’m not as mushy as you.”
He laughed
and raised an eyebrow. “Mushy?”
“Yeah, you
know. Romantic. Soft.”
He was in
front of me in an instant, his arms on either side, leaning in, a wall of chest
covered in a snug black t-shirt backing me against the counter. I had to tilt
my head back to look at him and when I did, my breath caught at the nearness.
My gaze lingered on his lips, so close. So very close.
“Not soft,”
he whispered and leaned in.
It had been
more than half a year since I’d felt the touch of those lips, but the effect
was the same. Dizzying. Electric. A tug of passion that reached from my soul.
Nothing, no one, had ever made me feel like that.
“We shouldn’t
do this,” I whispered.
“I know.”
Jake’s voice was low and gravelly and thrilled me to the pit of my stomach.
“I told Rob
there wasn’t anything between us,” I said as his lips grazed my neck, sending a
shiver through me.
“The case
will be over soon.”
It wasn’t
his voice that caused the tremors this time, it was the words. It didn’t matter
that we had nothing to talk about except for work, which we were not allowed to
discuss. It didn’t matter that we were at odds. This connection wasn’t
something to give up on, just because of our jobs. I’d work at the bakery for
the rest of my life to keep this.
###
Author Bio:
Ellie Ashe has always been drawn to jobs where she can tell
stories—journalist, lawyer, and now writer. Writing quirky romantic mysteries
is how she gets the "happily ever after" that so often is lacking in
her day job.
When not writing, you can find her with her nose in a good
book, watching far too much TV, or trying out new recipes on unsuspecting
friends and family. She lives in Northern California with her husband and three
cats, all of whom worry when she starts browsing the puppy listings on petfinder.com.
Author contact info:
Newsletter sign-up: http://bit.ly/EllieNews
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