Whole Lotta Trouble

By Stephanie Bond

     Award-winning author of Party Crashers, author Stephanie Bond serves up another page-turning and entertaining romantic suspense novel, aptly titled Whole Lotta Trouble. The novel features three women working in the publishing industry in New York, Tallie, Felicia, and Jane - and all three of them are in hot water. Tallie is a single woman who is a transplant into Manhattan from her "bumpkin town" of Circleville, Ohio. Tallie's mom desperately wishes that Tallie would find a suitable husband and "settle down," although Tallie's desires rest upon her career aspirations as an editor, not barefoot and pregnant while pandering to a husband's desires.

    Tallie's friend Felicia is a successful editor and is a beautiful, cool blonde to boot. However, Felicia is also single and she still pines away for Jerry Key - a handome, sly snake-in-the-grass who is hot in the publishing industry. Jerry burned Felicia when he abruptly dumped her two months into their sizzling affair. Lastly, there is Jane (pronounced "Juh-nay") who is quirky and just plain odd. Tallie and Felicia are friends and they are not really sure what to make of Jane although they tolerate her since they all work in the same industry and neither Tallie nor Felicia want to make trouble with fellow colleagues.

    Tallie, Felicia and Jane form a bond after Jerry burns all three of them in different, but equally sinister ways. Jerry sends Felicia a nude photo of herself, he threatens to yank an exclusive project from Tallie unless she sleeps with him, and he steals the work of one of Jane's authors. All three women are seething and concoct a wild, spontaneous plot one evening to get back at Jerry. Their plan is successfully executed and the three women are patting themselves on the back - until they discover the following morning that Jerry is dead.

    The novel quickly forms into a scenario of whodunit with Tallie, Felicia and Jane wondering if they will be fingered for a murder they did not commit. Mixed into the story is a sexy cop with eyes for independent Tallie, a bike messenger who wants to befriend Felicia, and a missing manuscript worth millions of dollars. Bond has delivered a sure-fire page-turner for fans of romance, mystery and romantic suspense.