A GIFT FOR MURDER
For fifty-one weeks of the year, Heather McNeil loves her job as assistant to the director of the Washington, D.C. Commerce & Market Center. But the Gifts and Decorations trade show, the biggest show of the year at the center, is a week-long nightmare.
This year’s version is worse than usual. Misplaced shipments, feuding exhibitors, and malfunctioning popcorn machines are all in a day’s work. Finding the body of a murdered executive dumped in a trash bin during the show isn’t. The discovery throws Heather’s life—personal and professional—into havoc.
The police have reason to suspect the victim’s wife killed him, but Heather doesn’t believe it. She’s seen glimmers of an entirely different scenario and possible motive, but questioning exhibitors about the crime doesn’t make her popular with them or with her employers. Still, other lives might be at risk, and if she doesn’t identify the murderer before the show ends, the culprit could well remain free to kill again.
Her only help comes from a company executive with ulterior motives and the Market Center’s attractive new security officer, Scott Brandon. Despite opposition from some of the exhibitors, her employers, and the police, Heather seeks to expose the killer before the show ends. To solve the mystery, she has to risk what’s most important to her and be prepared to fight for answers, her job, and possibly her life.
WIRED FOR MURDER
Greed, jealousy, and anger often lurk below the surface of trade shows and business exhibitions, but murder isn’t usually on the program.
Homicide 2.0
Heather McNeil routinely puts out fires and manages cascading trade show disasters as assistant to the director of the Washington DC Commerce and Market Center. But the new business technology show is chaos like she’s never seen. Between arrogant tech moguls, demanding prodigies and extravagant exhibits, she’s running on sheer professionalism and major caffeine—until murder causes a real-life crash…
Brilliant engineer Chase Markham is strangled right in the middle of the convention. And as Heather scrambles to keep the show running smoothly, she discovers the Ÿberdifficult Chase was working several shady deals…and plenty of suspects wanted him permanently unplugged. But finding conclusive proof of the real murderer’s ID is leading Heather straight into a career-ending—and life-ending—sudden-death match.
PLAYING AT MURDER
When murder crashes the Games and Playthings Exhibition, someone’s not toying around.
Dolls, constructions sets, stuffed animals, craft kits, and more are the featured displays in the annual Games and Playthings Trade Show at the Washington D.C. Commerce and Market Center, where vendors seek to convince retail buyers to stock their products. Murder and destruction aren’t supposed to be on the program.
The hit-and-run death of an exhibitor overshadows what should be a fun few days of giveaways, games, and demos. A gun hidden in a bin of stuffed animals, a damaged show car, and a drone knocking over the PlayBlox displays are the opening salvos of chaos created by a clever but unhinged vandal.
Settling disputes and fielding complaints are all in a day’s work for Heather McNeil, assistant to the director of the Market Center. Sussing out murder suspects to help the police is way beyond her job description, especially while trying to corner a vandal before the damage gets worse. Keeping the show running despite the mayhem will pit her and her allies, particularly Scott Brandon, the Center’s handsome but enigmatic security officer, against someone playing a deadly game.
