"Look out, Janet Evanovich: Jane Delaney is a worthy rival of Stephanie Plum. Bright, smart, and incredibly funny, Undertaking Irene is a delightful laugh-out-loud roller-coaster ride." — Lorna Barrett, New York Times best-selling author of Book Clubbed
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Death Diva Jane Delaney performs various tasks related to, well, dead folks. When one of those deaths begins to look suspicious, her job description suddenly expands to include amateur sleuthing. But no worries, because Jane's canine sidekick, Sexy Beast, is there to lend moral support.
Book 1: Undertaking Irene
Jane Delaney does things her paying customers can't do, don't want to do, don't want to be seen doing, can't bring themselves to do, and/or don't want it to be known they'd paid someone to do. To dead people.
Life gets complicated for Jane and her Death Diva business when she's hired to liberate a gaudy mermaid brooch from the corpse during a wake—on behalf of the rightful owner, supposedly. Well, a girl's got to make a living, and this assignment pays better than scattering ashes, placing flowers on graves, or bawling her eyes out as a hired mourner. Unfortunately for Jane, someone else is just as eager to get his hands on that brooch, and he's even sneakier than she is, not to mention dangerously sexy.
Just when she thinks her biggest problem is grand theft mermaid, things take a murderous turn. But hey, when you've teamed up with a neurotic seven-pound poodle named Sexy Beast, how can you go wrong?
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Book 2: Uprooting Ernie
Death Diva Jane is simply going about her business, which in this case requires her to empty a three-liter spigot box of cheap rosé on a grave, when she and her furry sidekick, Sexy Beast, make a grisly discovery in the town cemetery.
The victim was murdered three decades ago, but memories are fresh and old grievances fresher as facts come to light and fingers start pointing. Naturally Jane must investigate. Well, what would you do if one of your best pals turned out to be Suspect Numero Uno?
Meanwhile, between her amorous ex and a sexy bad boy who keeps popping up in the most distracting way—not to mention the (creepy? bizarre? pathetic?) guys she's meeting through a dog lovers' dating site—her love life has never been so (creepy? bizarre? pathetic?)… interesting.
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Book 3: Perforating Pierre
Celebrity chef Pierre Dewatre has everything going for him: swoon-worthy looks, a successful restaurant, and a budding TV career, not to mention that drop-dead-sexy French accent. Unfortunately for Pierre, the drop-dead part becomes all too real when Death Diva Jane and her furry little sidekick, Sexy Beast, discover him marinating in his own juices. So to speak. And okay, so the famous chef has been accused of cooking and serving endangered species, but that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his death. Could it?
The inept detective in charge of the case has homed in on a single suspect: Jane's ex, who's only the Nicest Guy in the World. She's never gotten over him, even with a certain bad-boy bartender invading her personal space at every opportunity. Throw the victim's hot Parisian brother into the mix and it's little wonder Jane is having trouble concentrating on whodunit.
You'd think having a high-strung, seven-pound poodle on your team would be the key to quickly solving a complicated murder. Turns out that's not necessarily the case. Who knew?