Maggie Needs an Alibi (Maggie Kelly Series #1) by Kasey Michaels

From the Publisher

New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels has a knack for whacking her readers in the heart—and the funny bone—with her witty tales of unexpected love. Now she delivers a whole new twist on sexual tension, as mystery writer Maggie Kelly sees her fantasy man come to life…right before a couple of her colleagues meet very untimely deaths….

Maggie Kelly is nothing if not resilient. She bounced back after getting fired from her old job as a writer of historical romances, reinventing herself as a mystery author. She bounced back when she discovered her lover—who also happens to be her publisher—cheating on her. And she bounces right back into her smoking habit whenever she tries to quit. But something just happened that's got tough-talking, quick-thinking Maggie swooning into her super-soft sofa cushions.

Something in the form of an incredibly sexy Englishman by the name of Saint Just. Alexandre Drake, Viscount Saint Just, to be exact. Tall, dark, handsome, with an accent to die for and charm to spare, he's everything she's ever dreamed of in a man. There's just one problem. He is her dream man. He's every woman's fantasy. He's the character who's made her a bestselling author. He's not real. No, he's not real—but he is, for some reason, standing in the middle of Maggie's apartment. With the adorable, bumbling sidekick she created expressly for him right by his side—and eating that piece of fried chicken she was saving for lunch.

What's a savvy, New York City writer to do when faced with the figments of her imagination—in the flesh? Well, short of checking herself into Bellevue, she'd better get used to it. Because these guys aren't going anywhere—at least not until they've given Maggie a little unsolicited editorial advice regarding her latest telling of their adventures. Still, it's not the worst thing in the world to have a roomie as gorgeous as Saint Just—even if he is somewhat arrogant—and prone to leaving the cap off the toothpaste.

But just as Maggie's getting used to her new houseguests, things start to get quite a bit more complicated—in the “homicide” sense of the word. It seems her ex-lover, Kirk Toland, ever the inconsiderate cad, has had the nerve to die right there in her living room…of poisoning…after eating a dinner Maggie made. Her cooking isn't that bad—is it? And if that weren't weird enough, Toland's death is soon followed by the murder of a colleague whom everyone knows Maggie hated.

So, the mystery writer has become the murder suspect. And the only sleuth who's really on Maggie's side is the one she invented….

Kasey Michaels is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty-five books, ranging from historical to contemporary romance. Asked why she is so prolific, Kasey replies, “It is amazing the lengths one will go to in order to avoid housework.” Readers can contact Kasey personally via her website at http://www.KaseyMichaels.com.

“Using wit and romance with a master's skill, Kasey Michaels aims for the heart and never misses.”—Nora Roberts

“Kasey Michaels creates characters who stick with you long after her wonderful stories are told.”—Kay Hooper

“Simply adorable doesn't begin to describe this charming contemporary romance. Lively banter and imaginative characters…come together to make this witty, whirlwind narrative a delight.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Publishers Weekly

Prolific historical romance writer Michaels (The Hopechest Bride) breaks into a new genre, thanks to an audacious premise with deliciously funny results. Maggie Kelly, midlist writer of historical romance, got dumped by her publisher when her sales figures didn't rise fast enough, so she reinvented herself as a mystery writer. Making use of her historical background, she created a Regency aristocrat-detective, Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just, giving him an endearing, bumbling sidekick, Sterling Balder. Having quickly become a bestseller, Maggie is polishing up her latest when suddenly her two characters step out of her imagination and into her life. At first she thinks she's hallucinating, but she rapidly realizes that Saint Just and Balder really have come to life. It's one thing to write about the adventures of a gorgeous, arrogant and condescending hero; it's another entirely to have to live day to day with the man himself. When Maggie's former lover and current publisher, Kirk Toland, dies after eating a dinner Maggie prepared for him, Maggie is the chief suspect in a very nasty murder mystery for which she can't write the ending. Predictably, Saint Just insists on playing hero and trying to solve the murder, while Maggie tries to keep anyone from figuring out who (and what) he really is. Michaels handles it all with great aplomb, gaily satirizing the current state of publishing, slowly building the romantic tension between Maggie and her frustratingly real hero, and providing plenty of laughs for the reader. (July 2) Forecast: Striking black-and-white jacket art with a dash of red highlighting the author's bestseller status will attract casual browsers. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The last thing historical mystery writer Maggie Kelly needs in her hectic life is an arrogant man. But when brilliant aristocratic sleuth Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just, walks off the pages of her latest Regency novel and into her New York apartment, that's just what she ends up with and she has only her own imagination to blame. Although having an out-of-time gorgeous hero around is challenging, to say the least, it does come in handy when Maggie is suspected of killing her ex-boyfriend. Lively, sassy, and occasionally off-the-wall hilarious, this paranormal romance makes for great summer reading, and Michaels's many fans will be waiting. Michaels (Be My Baby Tonight) is a popular writer in a variety of romance sub-genres (including Regency). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

If only she hadn't canceled her last appointment with Dr. Bob. One missed session with her therapist and bestselling mystery-writer Maggie Kelly's gone over the edge; she thinks that her Regency hero, the "damnable, damned sexy" Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just, and his aide-de-camp Sterling Balder have materialized in her living room, determined to torment her with their 19th-century take on 21st-century urban life. As days pass and the two time-travelers remain, they comment freely and rather imperiously on Maggie's foibles: her inability to shake loose of slimy ex-boyfriend Kirk Toland (whose Toland Books publishes the Saint Just oeuvre); her loyalty to best friend Bernice Toland-James (her editor as well as Kirk's ex); her trust in agent Tabitha Leighton (who negotiates contracts first and tells Maggie the amount later); even her dependence on Dr. Bob. Meanwhile, Saint Just has ventured forth to experience firsthand the joys of New York, buying a fake ID from a couple a street thugs named Killer and Snake, and getting Maggie's doorman, Argyle Jackson, an audition for an off-Broadway musical. When Kirk keels over dead of mushroom poisoning after dining chez Maggie, Saint Just is just the man she needs to help clear her name-even if the task requires him to cross swords with Lieutenant Steve Wendell of the NYPD, whose longing glances at Maggie warn Saint Just that Wendell wants to look into more than her alibi. Despite its over-the-top premise, romance-writer Michaels's maiden voyage into mystery is deeply conventional.

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