A KISS TO KILL FOR…

In Colleen Mooney’s funny, romantic, delightfully meandering cozy mystery, you gon’ have a authentic Noo Awlins experience, dawlin’! And a wild ride into the bargain.

Brandy Alexander’s the real deal--yes, that’s her real name and she’s not even a stripper, although her best friend Julia is. Brandy still lives with her parents in the Irish Channel and she’s sort of semi kind of engaged to the boy next door, who’s—what else?—one of NOLA’s finest.

In fact, Dante, the BF, is such a thoroughgoing New Orleanian he always manages Mardi Gras parade duty on his own block. So you'd think Brandy might be a little self-conscious when a suave smoothie in one of the gentlemen’s walking clubs mesmerizes her into a big fat Mardi Gras smooch right in front of him. But not a bit. Because after all, it's Mardi Gras, and also for another good reason— “that kiss was long, slow, hot—unlike any kiss I’d ever had in my life.” She makes a date to meet Mr. Good Kiss after the parade (Yes! Right in front of Mr. Right Next Door) but –horrors--arrives just in time to see him get shot. Although fortunately not shot dead. Before he passes out, he pulls her close and whispers, “Save Isabella.”

And then, in case you aren't yet in the carnival spirit, the fun begins. You’d think a mystery that begins with an eligible man taking a bullet might be a bit dark, but Colleen Mooney has something else in mind—something like a screwball chase all over town, from Lee Circle to the Lakefront, with a stop at Charity Hospital, and finally to the French Quarter’s favorite gay dance club, at all times accompanied by Schnauzers, one of them named Geaux Cup.

Jiff, the captivating kisser, (aka Mr. Possibly Right), has enemies, of course, and, oh, by the way, he and Brandy get kidnapped, but this one’s much more about the offbeat inventive fun than the mystery. And the romance, of course. The real adventure here is swanning around town with Brandy and her crazy krewe—much of it canine and seriously cute.

New Orleans aficionados will appreciate the plethora of authentic touches, from Brandy’s family and neighborhood, to meals at Ye Olde College Inn, and the familial friendships black and white families form with each other; cozy readers will love the humor and the romance; and chick lit fans will root for plucky, soft-hearted Brandy, who never met a stray dog she didn't rescue.

Brandy may be the most unlikely of detectives, but the slapstick way she goes about it has a definite whiff of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum about it; fans of Stephanie Bond, Jana DeLeon, Joan Hess, Lisa Lutz, Sarah Strohmeyer, and Elaine Viets may also find a kindred spirit in this New Orleans dawlin’. And animal lovers will flat-out swoon