West Palm Beach, Florida – Present Day

After almost losing her job and her life in a recent episode, Finley Anderson Tanner certainly doesn’t need more trouble in her life, but when trouble shows up, it literally pounds on her door, and she’s stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The knock at her door isn’t from some unknown caller, it’s her best friend, Jane Spencer, clad only in a scant nighty and covered head to toe in blood. Finley lets Jane in, never mind the bloody footprints all over her clean carpet, and calls Rebecca Jameson. Becky works with Finley at the Estates & Trust legal firm of Dane, Lieberman and Zarnowski, and even if she's only a contract attorney, she's all the help Finley has at her disposal this hour in the morning. Becky instructs Finley to call the cops and keep her mouth shut until she arrives to act as counsel. Well, Finley calls the cops, they show up at her apartment, guns blazing, and immediately handcuff her – and, of course, she starts talking. Next thing she knows, she’s been arrested, dragged downtown, and is locked in a holding cell with a transvestite prostitute. Can her life get any worse?

Long story short, which is usually the way Finley's stories go, Jane’s date with sexy Paolo Martinez ended when she woke up in bed lying beside him. Paolo is dead, missing an essential body part, and the cops think Jane did it – and they also think Finley helped! And when it’s finally sorted out, Finley is released from jail but Jane isn’t. Now, Finley, Becky, and their friend, Olivia Garrett (Liv) have to pool their money, bail Jane out of jail and hire a criminal attorney. But, to no one's surprise, Finley’s credit cards are maxed to the max, and even the couple thousand dollars she borrows from her boyfriend, Patrick Lachey, isn’t enough to help Jane. Once again, Finley has no choice but to call her mother for help, which means groveling for the rest of her life, in addition to paying the woman back at double-digit interest. Making matters worse, Patrick is off into the wilds of Colorado on a guys-only trip, which leaves Finley free to lust over sexy private investigator Liam McGarrity, whom her boss has hired to watch her! Watch Finley? Would she disobey her employer’s direct instructions to stay out of Jane’s defense? You bet!

If Finley has her way, she’ll KNOCK 'EM DEAD before she allows Jane to spend another gruesome night in the county jail. The cops are convinced that Jane did the hack job on Paolo and left him for dead. Adding to their troubles, neither Finley, Becky, nor Liv has been able to locate an attorney they can afford, and Jane is keeping secrets they didn't know about, not even Finley! Before long, Finley is buried in trouble right up to her eyeballs, still salivating over Liam, and forgetting the staid and steady Patrick. She's also in big danger of losing her job, not to mention her mother’s good graces.

KNOCK 'EM DEAD is the second in the Finley Anderson Tanner Mystery Series, and this novel stands very well all on its own. Finley’s story about her jump into amateur sleuth status is told in the first book, KNOCK OFF (March 2007, hardcover, and February 2008, paperback). Finley is a caffeine-addicted paralegal whose aspirations run on the low side of ambitious. Given a choice, she’d rather work less than the forty required hours a week, arrive to work late, take two-hour lunches, and do only enough work to get the paycheck that supports her shopping addiction. Finley scours the web for slightly damaged designer clothing on E-Bay, and while she’s there, she has a running bid in for Rolex parts (she’s building her very own watch piece by piece).

Finley’s friends, Becky, Liv, and Jane, all encourage her to break the cord that holds her to the dull, but dependable pilot, Patrick. He doesn’t make her heart jump, but Liam McGarrity does. Liam's an ex-cop-turned-private-investigator, and he’s Finley’s continual nightmare, or dream, depending on the time of day. She’d love nothing more than to jump his bones, but loyalty to Patrick keeps her from stepping over that line. Back at work, she’s been reassigned to work under law partner Ellen Lieberman, who actually expects her to show up at the office at eight o'clock! A.M.! And if Finley is so much as a microsecond late, receptionist Margaret Ford reports immediately to the straight-laced Ellen. The last, but not the least-sensational character is Finley’s mother, Cassidy, whose sole job is to bring on Finley's migraines. Cassidy’s been married too many times, has piles of money, and Finley calls her The Ice Queen. Back before Finley was born, Cassidy didn’t really know which man was responsible for donating the necessary DNA, so she named her eldest daughter after the two most-likely suspects. Now, she’s forever more, Finley Anderson Tanner, initials F.A.T., on her birth certificate! (Much to the delight of the gossipy Margaret.)

You can’t go wrong with this new mystery series! Finley is definitely a heroine after our hearts, and you’ll love KNOCK 'EM DEAD!

Diana Risso