The Ploy

Private investigators Claire Caswell and Gaston "Guy" Lombard have cracked many high-profile cases in the past but when Claire's friend Charlotte dies in a mysterious car crash in Miami-things get personal. With the stakes higher than ever before and only a hunch to go on the sleuths begin a painstaking investigation by scouring the wreckage searching for evidence of foul play where there appears to be none. When they uncover a pattern of strikingly similar incidents-and a seemingly unrelated case becomes inexplicably linked-it is up to the investigators with the help of their intern Jin Ikeda to unravel this bewildering mystery. What happened to Charlotte was no accident. And as Claire and Guy get closer to the truth their snooping efforts turn deadly dangerous. The Ploy is an enthralling whodunit that holds the reader captive with knotty twists and turns suspects who are anything but what they seem and answers that are just out of reach. A veteran senior government enforcement investigator for close to two decades and a retired Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) international award-winning mystery author Marilyn Jax lives in Minnesota and the Caribbean and enjoys spending time in Miami and Montana. "Marilyn Jax's superb whodunit makes deft use of a glitzy Miami setting set against a noirish backdrop of murder and mayhem that is sure to please even the most ardent of mystery fans. The Ploy combines the hard-boiled classic private eye novel with modern touches propelling Jax to the level of Lisa Scottoline and Sandra Brown with a crack detective duo reminiscent of Dennis Lehane. A must-read for all genre devotees!" -Jon Land USA Today best-selling author of Strong Cold Dead "Jax a former fraud examiner and veteran government enforcement investigator clearly utilizes those skills to good effect in her novel. A police procedural at heart the book moves at a rapid clip . . . with dialogue [that] is sharp and authentic. The Ploy will appeal to fans of gumshoes like Columbo McMillan &amp Wife or the modern-day pairing of Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan." -US Review of Books "Marilyn Jax cannot be stopped! Even if you're not a world traveler Marilyn Jax novels will transport you to exotic places. With endings that will startle even the most savvy mystery reader Jax deals the reader clues like playing cards-but none of them quite seem to add up. Mystery fans you've met your match." -Rhonda Gilliland president Twin Cities Sisters in Crime 2012-15 and editor of the Cooked to Death series