Whiskey and Soda

Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer.

She's fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her.

Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all! Lowcountry Boil is the first book in the Liz Talbot Southern mystery series, and won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Watch for Lowcountry Bombshell, on sale September 2013. Bonus: Includes book club discussion questions.

“Plenty of secrets, long-simmering feuds, and greedy ventures make for a captivating read...Boyer’s chick lit PI debut charmingly showcases South Carolina island culture.” -- Library Journal

"Imaginative, empathetic, genuine, and fun, Lowcountry Boil is a lowcountry delight.” -- Carolyn Hart, Author of What the Cat Saw 

“I love this book. And you will too. Witty, droll, clever—and just a tad quirky! This light-hearted and authentically Southern mystery is full of heart, insight, and a deep understanding of human nature. Susan M. Boyer is a fresh new voice in crime fiction!” -- Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha & Macavity Winning Author of The Other Woman

“Lowcountry Boil avoids caricatured Southerners and pulls the reader in like the draw of a riptide with a keeps-you-guessing mystery full of romance, family intrigue, and the smell of salt marsh on the Charleston coast. A welcome visit home with people you want to know and, in some cases, are glad you aren't related to. A fun summer read!” -- Cathy Pickens, Author of the Southern Fried Mysteries and Charleston Mysteries

“What do you get when you cross a Southern mystery, a ghost of a warning, a love triangle and a savvy protagonist who will stop at nothing? Easy, you get a page turning read—Lowcountry Boil.” -- Donnell Ann Bell, Bestselling Author of The Past Came Hunting

“Lowcountry Boil bubbles with all the ingredients of a great Southern mystery: A feisty firecracker of a main character, a magnolia-scented atmosphere, and pages full of simmering suspense and intrigue.” -- Karin Gillespie, Bestselling Author of The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel (with Jill Conner Browne) and the Bottom Dollar Girls series

Legal secretary Carol Frank is great at her job, even if she must cope daily with the extreme quirks of her obsessive-compulsive boss, Bill Nestor. Attorney Bill produces wills and other estate documents for his clients, many of whom are elderly widows who, for some mysterious reason, later commit suicide. Or do they? Carol takes notice of the high mortality rate of Bill's clients when a criminally attractive detective comes to the office asking questions. Though at first her interest in the case is purely an interest in the detective, she begins to suspect that there is something more going on with Bill's client list than customer service.

Revealing a conspiracy while navigating the waters of office politics isn't covered in the company policy handbook, and Carol must find answers to some hard questions. Is it acceptable to work for a killer, as long as he's polite? Do kinky sex games with a detective signify underlying psychoses, or just that she's easy? Does a secretary have to get pre-approved paid-time-off in order to run for her life? When one is attacked at the office, does destruction of clothing count as a tax write-off? These and many other murder, romance and filing dilemmas will be tackled in My Boss is a Serial Killer.