Legwork — Katy Munger

WALKING THE WALK

She's smart, talented and durable, but Casey Jones has had more than her share of bad luck in her life -- including a short stretch in a Florida pen that haunts her still. In Raleigh, N.C., where Casey now lives, a prison record means no private investigator's license. So she's doing legwork for legit p.i. Bobby D -- a blimp-sized eating machine with a bad toupee, who exercises few muscles below the jawline.

Casey's latest assignment is to guard Senatorial hopeful Mary Lee Masters -- a tough-as-nails politico with a reputation for perfection and a long list of adversaries, including one who just dumped a shotgunned corpse into the candidate's Jeep. With her campaign on the horizon, Mary Lee turns to Casey for help -- the kind that soon has the unlicensed sleuth swimming in an unsavory southern stew of treachery and dirty politics...with a large pinch of murder thrown in for flavor.