"Author of the beloved Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series, Sarah Strohmeyer treats listeners to an entertaining novel about making it in hard times. Kat, a compulsive consumer at New Jersey's many malls, loves to shop until she drops-and it's taking a heavy toll on her marriage. Why else would her husband be using a secret bank account of his own? Finally, Kat is persuaded to join the Penny Pinchers Club. But there is such a thing as being too thrifty."
"After a catfight at a stuffy historical society meeting nearly kills her career, Bubbles is given just one week to prove her worth to her editors at the News-Times and earn a real job there by cracking her biggest story ever: uncovering who really murdered Carol Weaver’s steel-executive husband with cyanide-tipped fingernails. More than Carol’s own jail sentence for the homicide is riding on Bubbles’s investigation. Also at stake is the possibility of corruption in the highest level of Lehigh Steel.
Nothing will deter Bubbles this time! Not trying to drive with a cell phone in one hand and a mascara wand in the other. Not the shenanigans of her mother, Lulu, the pressure of getting her daughter into college (maybe Princeton, maybe Two Guys Community), or the roadblocks posed by Jane’s clueless boyfriend, G. Not even hunky gonzo journalist Steve Stiletto, who finally brings Bubbles to steamy satisfaction between the sheets, can seriously distract her from the investigation. Gutsy, intuitive, and delivering her best one liners along with her latest beauty recipes, Bubbles is “behind the wheel and a wild ride awaits.” (Publisher’s Weekly)
“Strohmeyer’s sharp dialogue gives her fourth an edge even Bubbles’s clippers can’t match.”—Kirkus Reviews"
"Debuting as a full-time reporter, Bubbles lands an interview with a woman accused of murdering a beloved high school principal. When the suspect keels over dead—in mid-revelation—Bubbles’s confidential notes become a life-threatening hot commodity among a romance-obsessed detective, a Polish Mafioso, and a foot fetishist on the lam. If that’s not enough to keep Bubbles on her toes, her ex-husband and her super-stud boyfriend Steve Stiletto are making some unexpected demands of the bleached-blonde sleuth. One comes with the promise of a dazzling Harry Winston rock. The other could be downright dangerous. Lucky for Bubbles she’s equipped—and ready—to handle both …
“Wacky … Strohmeyer pokes fun at Bubbles and her cohorts, but with obvious respect and fondness.”—Publishers Weekly"
"Meet Bubbles Yablonsky, beautician-reporter-sleuth and blazing star of Strohmeyer’s entertaining, establishment-bashing debut as a mystery writer. Like the mills that gird the book’s seen-better-days steel town of Lehigh, Pa., the city is itself a seething cauldron. Battle lines are sharply drawn between the haves and have-nots. Bubbles is hell-bent on getting even with the overlords, especially her former husband, a heel who has gone over to the other side. Opportunity knocks when Bubbles incriminates a wealthy socialite in a brutal murder and then uncovers a murky past, where corpses are littered around the accused’s steel-magnate husband.
The going is never easy, as Bubbles faces more perils than Pauline: falling off a bridge in the arms of a potential suicide; dodging drive-by gunmen and car bombers; being handcuffed and fitted for cement boots; and always searching for a better way to display her cleavage. Armed with her certificate from Two Guys Community College, abetted by a quirky array of social castoffs and fueled by Doritos, Velveeta and Diet Pepsi, Bubbles overcomes every obstacle on her way to shaking the foundations of the corporate world and, in the process, leaving more than a few wrinkles in her ex’s tailored Brooks Brothers suits. Hop in the Camaro and buckle up: Bubbles is behind the wheel, and a wild ride awaits.
Winner of the Agatha Award and Romantic Times Award for Best First Novel!"
