The Princess and the P.I.
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An amateur online sleuth must enlist the help of a jaded PI to clear her name while taking down a shady tech start-up in this exhilarating romantic suspense novel.
Fiona Addai is ready to set her plan in motion. To honor the anniversary of her brother’s death, she’s going to steal back his brilliant invention from the ruthless corporation that stole and claimed it as their own. As a famed Reddit detective known as @Princess_PI, Fiona has used her online connections and sleuthing skills to time every step down to the minute. But with one disastrous misstep, instead of getting justice, Fiona finds herself accused of murder.
Maurice Bennett is no stranger to insomnia. These days, he’s not losing sleep over the cases he’s solving—but running from the one he couldn’t. Instead, he’s been settling for small-time scandals that don’t stir up the guilt he’s buried. But when he spots Fiona Addai at the center of a murder investigation, something clicks. And for the first time in a long while, Maurice feels that old spark of intrigue.
However, Fiona is not the helpless damsel she appears to be. Sure, she needs Maurice’s help to clear her name, but she’s got conditions of her own: she wants a crash course in real-world detective work. Maurice isn’t exactly thrilled. With every late-night stakeout and tension-filled interrogation, their partnership, rife with tension and unexpected chemistry, unravels a dangerous web of corporate crime and familial secrets. To bring the real killer to light, they'll need to trust each other and that might be the most dangerous gamble of all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sparkling tale of romantic suspense from Payne (Sex, Lies and Sensibility) introduces Fiona Addai, the sheltered adult daughter of a doomsday pastor who gets her kicks while living under his strict rules by solving cold cases on Reddit under the handle Princess_PI. After her late brother's groundbreaking invention, a smart-vest that can "deliver medication on schedule and monitor vital signs," is stolen by wealthy businessman Robert Thorpe, Fiona is determined to deliver justice. She plans to steal the prototype back at a major tech convention, but she's beaten to the punch by a mysterious stranger. Worse, when Thorpe turns up dead, Fiona's at the scene of the crime, making her a lead suspect. Enter professional gumshoe Maurice Bennett, who has been haunted for years by the one case he couldn't solve: the violent death of a member of Fiona's father's congregation. Now he's looking into Thorpe's death—and Fiona is determined to help him find the real killer. A white-hot chemistry quickly ignites between the two, though they must hide their relationship from Fiona's father. Payne skillfully plants red herrings throughout the intriguing mystery while developing the believable romance between her complex Black leads. Readers will be hooked.