Hidden Agenda — Anna Porter

In this series opener by the author of The Appraisal, a Toronto journalist and amateur sleuth tackles a case involving murder and a missing manuscript.

So here's the question: You're about to kill yourself. How vital is it that you get your teeth cleaned? That's the question that keeps bugging Judith Hayes, though admittedly, she keeps returning to it: It's so much easier to deal with than the real question of why her friend George Harris would have killed himself at all. But the cops don't care about the questions. Harris's company was drowning in debt, they point out. And several people saw him jump, right in front of the moving train. It was suicide, they insist, awfully sad, onto the next. There's a devious plot here, and a delicious swirl of romance, but the real joy is Judith -- feisty, funny, tough as a bulldog, and everything you want in a mystery-novel heroine.

Praise for Hidden Agenda

“Lively . . . mysterious deaths and plenty of insider publishing stuff along the way.” -- The New York Times

“Superior fiction. Crisp prose, inventive plot, convincing characters . . . A major new talent.” -- San Diego Union

“Suspenseful . . . Offbeat . . . Believable and entertaining.” -- Publishers Weekly