SVS 16: BIRTHDAY DISASTER, Adult Romantic Suspense

Title: BIRTHDAY DISASTER

Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense

Word Count: 72,000

My Main Character would prefer to live in:

Born, raised and still living in the South made Daniella wish to live somewhere cold year round. Constantly checking for pit stains and frizzy hair was not something she wanted to do. Living in that Georgia heat didn’t make it easy. Yet appearances mattered; her profession demanded she look and act her best. But as she sat in the back of that squad car on the coldest day since autumn began –in only a nightgown and bunny slippers that don’t exactly ward against the freezing cold –she thanked her Momma in heaven for those upcoming sweltering summers.

Query:

Dear Agent,

Attorney Daniella Montgomery’s twenty-fifth birthday present is a brand new outfit: an orange jumpsuit.

A birthday from hell commences when Daniella gropes the sexy, uptight Detective Jones, mistaking him for a hired stripper. Arrested, she’s dragged to the station where she explains the misunderstanding. Before her freedom is granted, DNA from multiple crime scenes identifies Daniella as the only suspect in a serial homicide. Daniella is thrown in jail, the cold hard facts being more important than anything coming out of her mouth. When she’s released on bail, she decides to handle the investigation herself as the law may not be on her side. Luckily, she doesn’t have to go it alone.

Detective Malcolm Jones has been chasing every lead for the homicide case he’s been working on for the past three years. When a clue leads him to Daniella’s door, he doesn’t know what to do with her. Ordered to charge her and put this case to rest, Malcolm hesitates. He doesn’t believe she’s capable of murder but his attraction for her may be screwing with his judgment. Torn between duty and desire, he must decide if breaking all the rules is worth saving the woman.

Determined to fight for her future after being scorned by the law she serves, Daniella partners up with Malcolm in a search for the true killer. As they grow closer to their goal and each other, threats are made and temptations run wild. Failure at controlling both could sentence Daniella to a lifetime of birthdays in jail.

First 250:

“Sweetie, don’t be mad but I sent your birthday present over.”

Daniella eyes twinkled as hidden dimples brushed off their cobwebs and resurfaced. “Aww. You didn’t have to get me anything. Wait…I’m not following. Why would I be mad?” She absolutely loved surprise presents. Especially the colorful wrapping paper she hated destroying but eventually did.

“It isn’t your usual cup of tea,” her best friend Jackie dragged out.

Daniella scoffed. “Neither are you but I still love you. Tell me. What’d you get me? Is it big?”

“Oh, it’s big alright,” Jackie muttered. “And the packaging makes you want to quickly rip it all off to see the goods inside.”

“My kind of present. What is it?”

Jackie ignored Daniella’s question. “At the time, alcohol strung me along like its marionette. My free will stolen.”

“Huh?”

“I did some crazy things…involving you. In my drunken stupor, I reasoned you needed some fun and excitement on your big day. I wanted to give it to you so I…I don’t want to tell you this,” Jackie sighed.

“Too late. You have my undivided attention now,” Daniella said. Straightening her position in the recliner, she stretched her legs. Her feet glided over the soft beige carpet, tickling her soles as thoughts mimicked the actions in her mind. A person as confident and talkative as Jackie Brown stumbling over her words wasn’t a good sign. She braced herself. “Out with it. What did you do to me this time?”

“…You’re getting a stripper gram.”