Backstab

From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of the Dead End Job mysteries—the first novel in a gritty series featuring a no-nonsense female journalist who follows her stories wherever they may lead…especially if they lead to big trouble.

As a columnist for the St. Louis City Gazette, Francesca Vierling is a six-foot-tall beauty with brains and a talent for finding unusual and interesting subjects. The colorful people of her city provide her with all the inspiration she can handle, and her readers love her smart, streetwise style—even if her stuffy, less-than-appreciative bosses never seem to.

Her work suddenly becomes all too personal when two of her favorite local characters die one after another. And for Francesca, there are too many odd ends for both deaths to be a coincidence. Driven by grief, anger, and the specters of her own past, she sets out to find out why the men were murdered, even if everyone else thinks she's chasing shadows.

But there's one person out there who knows for certain that Francesca is onto something. That she's getting close to revealing a secret they've already killed to keep. And that if she keeps digging, they're going to have to kill Francesca too…

Note: The author has made some minor revisions to the original text for this edition of the book.