To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor ~ Excerpt Tour and Giveaway

Janet Maple is convinced that her life could not get any worse: her stellar career at the DA’s office ended with a lay off and her boyfriend of five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.

Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

********* EXCERPT *********

 

Her mother’s voice brought her back to the present, “Are you going to wear your hair like that?”

Janet sighed. Both her professional and personal lives were derailed, yet she was supposed to care about her hair.

Christine eyed Janet’s French twist critically. “Men like it when women wear their hair long and loose.”

“I found it!” Christine Maple returned, carrying a long object in her hand.

“Oh, no – not that thing!” Janet shook her head after recognizing the alarming-looking contraption in her mother’s hands as a curling iron. It was not just any curling iron, but the same curling iron Christine had used on Janet’s hair the night of her high school prom.

“I promise I’ll be more careful this time,” Christine added sheepishly. “Come on, that was just a one-time accident; you can’t hold it against me forever.”

“You almost burned my scalp.”

“Exactly, almost. But in the end no real harm was done, and your hair still looked beautiful.”

There Janet had to agree. She had looked beautiful at her high school prom – a fact that would have been so much more worthy of remembrance if she had been accompanied to this crucial event by a date she actually liked instead of a jock, Ted Hunter. Yet another disastrous date Janet had Lisa to thank for, only that one had been during one of the most important nights of her life – or so it had seemed at eighteen years of age. But this really isn’t the whole story, is it? a tiny voice inside Janet’s head whispered. No, it isn’t, Janet admitted. Had she been more sure of herself, she would have gone with JustinTrenner: wonderfully sweet and witty Justin whom Janet had had a crush on her entire senior year of high school, which was the year she and Justin worked on the editorial staff of the school newspaper together. Oh, well, these days Justin was happily married to another girl, Valery Meehan, who had been confident enough to be Justin’s date that memorable night all those years ago. The past could not be helped, but that did not mean that it had to be given the power to take over the present.

Janet took a decisive look into the mirror. She liked the way her swept-up hair accentuated her cheekbones and showed off the green amethyst earrings she had picked specifically to play up the green of her eyes.

“Mom, I appreciate the effort, but I’m keeping my hair the way it is,” Janet said firmly.

Author Bio and Links:  
Marie Astor is the author of contemporary romance novelsLucky Charm, On the Rim of Love, This Tangled Thing Called Love, romantic suspense novel, To Catch a Bad Guy,and a short story collection, A Dress in a Window.

If you would like to find out more about Marie’s books,please visit Marie at her website: www.marieastor.com.

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Marie-Astor/e/B004EBDX9Q/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marieastorcollection

Good Reads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4665230.Marie_Astor

Books by Marie Astor:

To Catch a Bad Guy: http://www.amazon.com/To-Catch-Bad-Guy-ebook/dp/B008W1L5IA/ref=la_B004EBDX9Q_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1344820115&sr=1-5

This Tangled Thing Called Love:http://www.amazon.com/This-Tangled-Thing-Called-ebook/dp/B0078IPNCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344820073&sr=8-1&keywords=marie+astor

Lucky Charm: http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Charm-Contemporary-Romance-ebook/dp/B005BZL3L4/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

On the Rim of Love: http://www.amazon.com/On-Rim-Love-Contemporary-ebook/dp/B005TOWI7K/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

                                  ********* GIVEAWAY *********

 Please be sure to leave a comment or question below for Marie as she will be giving away five prizes of custom made jewelry to randomly drawn commenters during the tour (Continental US only):

Prize 1: Agate and labradorite necklace with sterling silver accents

Prize 2: Smoky Quartz sterling silver plated necklace

Prize 3: Multi-quartz sterling silver plated necklace

Prize 4: Gray quartz, carnelian and onyx sterling silver plated necklace

Prize 5: Aventurine necklace with sterling silver plated accents

 

 You can follow her tour here, the more often you comment, the better your odds of winning.