For Better, For Murder

July 15, 2009
Buyer's remorse is the order of the day as an upstate New York car dealer confronts murder and mayhem.

Three years ago, she gave up on her marriage to sheriff's deputy Ray Parker because she couldn't risk passing on her mother's bipolar genes to the child he desperately wanted. Now, all Jolene Asdale asks is to be one of the Finger Lakes region's business successes. But the CEO of the Hughes grocery chain backs out of his deal to buy the 2006 Ferrari Spider she's selling when accountant Tim Lapham's body falls out of the front seat. Brennan Rowe refuses to make good the $759,000 she bid for the 1957 Mercedes Benz 300SL roadster at auction. And Stanley Oliver thinks Jolene owes him more than $10,000 in damages for the DeLorean he ordered but won't pay for since joy riders took it for a test drive. Nor is business the dealer's only source of anxiety. Her sister Erica is missing from the inpatient psych center, and her companion in flight looks suspiciously like the thug who's been robbing local convenience stores. But her biggest problem is Ray, who's back on the scene investigating Tim's murder. Ray, who has commitment issues of his own, gave luscious Catherine Thomas a diamond but can't seal the deal with a proposal. Much as Jolene regrets leaving Ray—she never filed the divorce papers he signed—she can't reconcile with a guy who thinks she might be a cold-blooded killer.

Bork juggles multiple puzzles deftly in her witty debut.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2009
Jolene Asdale is the owner of an exotic sports-car boutique business in the village of Wachob, New York, in the Finger Lakes region. Her showroom, on the main street of the village, is considered an eyesore by many of the other business owners, especially Tim Lapham, head of the zoning board. When Tims body, with a knife in its chest, unexpectedly rolls out of a Ferrari in her showroom, Jolene immediately (if illogically) becomes a suspect. It doesnt help that her estranged husband, Deputy Sheriff Ray Parker, is heading the investigation. When it is noted that Jolene had dated Tim a few times, and when wads of cash and a knife sheath turn up in Jolenes house, it seems that losing her business location may be the least of her problems. In this promising series debut, Bork has created an interesting cast of complex characters that readers will enjoy getting to know.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)