About the Book:
Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez doesn’t think so. But the 34-year old ½ Latina, ½ WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve. Set in the present, Murder is a Family Business is the first in a series of humorous mysteries revolving around Lee Alvarez, a combination of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovitch’ Stephanie Plum, and rest of the Alvarez Family, detectives all. Seemingly light and frothy on the surface, the novel nevertheless explores familial love, the good, the bad and the annoying.
Completing the family is Lee’s Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day aristocratic mother, Lila; computer genius brother, Richard; beloved uncle “Tio;” and her energetic orange and white cat, Tugger. When this group is not solving murders, they run Discretionary Inquiries, a successful Silicon Valley agency that normally deals with the theft of computer software. The love, humor and camaraderie shared within this family are what set this series apart from others.
Heather is a story teller by nature and loves the written word. In her career, she’s written short stories, novels, comedy acts, plays, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and even ghost-wrote a book.
One of her first jobs as a writer was given to her by her then agent. It was that of writing a love story for a book published by Bantam called Moments of Love. She had a deadline of one week and then promptly came down with the flu. She wrote “The Sands of Time” with a temperature of 102 and delivered some pretty hot stuff because of it. Later on, she wrote short comedy skits for nightclub acts and ad copy for such places as No Soap Radio, where her love for comedy blossomed. Many of her short stories have been seen in various publications, as well as 2 one-act plays produced in Manhattan, one at the well-known, Playwrights Horizons.
Her novel, Murder is a Family Business, the first in the Alvarez Murder Mystery series, has been epublished by MuseItUp Publishing in January, 2011. The second in the series, A Wedding To Die For, debuts April 22, 2011. She is currently writing the 3rd of the series, and says they are a joy to write. Heather gets to be all the characters, including the cat!
You can visit Heather online at www.heatherhavenstories.com and her blog athttps://heatherhavensays.blogspot.com/.
Liana “Lee” Alvarez is put on the case of the cheating husband, and man, she’s NOT dressed for the occasion. She’s used to being in the office helping with the techno stuff. But, she can’t turn down her mom’s friend in a time of need. So, on a pouring down rainy day, dressed in heels and intent on investigating, Lee heads to San Francisco to the gather the clues of the cheating hubby. When she’s forced to take cover in the phone booth near the warehouse where she’s investigating, she finds a lonely little kitten who looks more like drowned rat. She takes him home and enlists the aid of her Latino uncle in kitten sitting while she sets out to solve the crime of the murdered cheater. But, what happens when she goes to give her statement and finds
that SHE is a suspect, since she was the last known person at the scene of the crime?
I had so much fun following Lee around, gathering clues and piecing the puzzle together. I was a little sad when the turns twisted and she ended up in the hospital. But, between her and her fun loving brother, that sadness was quickly replaced with thrills as the crime was coming full light. Awesome!
I highly recommend this book with 4 star praises. It’s the start of a series that is SURE to be a hit selling one, and a series that I can’t wait to collect and read more about this Latino WASP investigator! Well done, Heather!
