Francesca Vierling Mystery Books

The open road.  The wind whipping in your face.  For both serious riders and the wanna-bes called RUBs--Rich Urban Bikers--riding a Harley is only part of the thrill.  Putting on leather and acting out is the rest.  Even Francesca Vierling, a St. Louis reporter who is a little too tall, smart, and sexy for her own good, is dressed to kill--for a biker's ball that will lead straight ahead to murder. The victim is a woman who lived well, married bad, and divorced hard.  For Sydney Vander Venter, going from high-society wife to tough-talking biker chick was only a phase.  One she didn't survive.  Now Francesca must find out who ruined the annual Leather and Lace Ball by killing Sydney.  But with her career crashing, her love life sputtering, and another murder waiting down the road, Francesca finds out firsthand how dangerous it can be when you're born to be wild--and dare to live that way too.  .  .  .

From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of the Dead-End Job mysteries—a gritty series featuring a no-nonsense female journalist who follows her stories wherever they may lead…especially if they lead to big trouble. Francesca Vierling is always on the lookout for new fodder for her human-interest column in the St. Louis City Gazette . So she couldn’t be happier when a story unfolds in her own neighborhood. The grand—if slightly run-down—old houses of the South Side have become highly coveted overnight and renovators have sought to spruce them up. But one renovator—known as Caroline the Rehab Wonderwoman—is a little overzealous and has been making more than home improvements. She has enemies all over the South Side, from disgruntled neighbors to intruding drug dealers to anyone who she considers not up to her standards. When those enemies start turning up dead, Caroline comes under suspicion—that is, until her own lifeless body is found with a gaudy pink flamingo lawn decoration planted in her chest. With that many murders in a row, it doesn’t take Francesca long to discover that a tangled web of vendettas, backbiting, and gossip lies beneath the freshly painted facades. Note: The author has made some minor revisions to the original text for this edition of the book.

From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of the Dead-End Job mysteries—a gritty series featuring a no-nonsense female journalist who follows her stories wherever they may lead…especially if they lead to big trouble. Columnist Francesca Vierling thought she had it tough dealing with the cutthroat office politics at the St. Louis City Gazette . But stressors in the newsroom reach new heights when her dear mentor Georgia is diagnosed with cancer and Francesca offers to hide her illness from their boorish boss. When Francesca goes to pick up Georgia from treatment, she is horrified to find the staff shot dead and a distraught Georgia the only survivor. The crime is bloody, shocking, sensational—and just the kind of story that would allow Francesca to break free from her oppressive employers. All she has to do is solve the crime. The story quickly grows out of control when a doctor is killed in the same building as the massacre. And then another. And another… Because the killer isn’t just out for blood—they’re out for revenge. And Francesca is about to get in their way… Note: The author has made some minor revisions to the original text for this edition of the book.