cover image Jump the Gun: An Annabelle Starkey Mystery

Jump the Gun: An Annabelle Starkey Mystery

Zoe Burke. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (186p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0163-9

Children’s author Burke (Charley Harper’s What’s in the Woods?) introduces smart and sexy Annabelle Starkey, a budget-conscious fashionista with a yen for classic movies, in her adult debut, the first in a new series. Annabelle is a pushover for equally attractive and film-addicted Mickey Paxton, but their fling in Vegas is interrupted by a ham-fisted local cop who pursues the lovers out of town. Annabelle has no idea what’s going on, but clearly someone imagines that she’s hiding something valuable. Her feelings of dread and disorientation are heightened when she learns of the brutal murder of the friend who went to her San Francisco apartment to feed her cat. Crooked policemen, shifty lawyers, and scheming little old ladies crowd the twisty, screwball plot. Annabelle sometimes even doubts Mickey’s charismatic, movie-star-heroic trustworthiness. Those in the mood for a featherweight yarn with an amusing narrator could do worse. Agent: Anna Olswanger, Liza Dawson Associates. (Aug.)