Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services… Is she desperate or just meshugeneh? Considering the kind of disasters that usually befall the half-black, half-Jewish mystery writer, probably both. Because the last time Sophie saw sexy P.I. Anatoly Darinsky, he practically danced a jig when she waved goodbye &151; a normal reaction for a man who'd nearly bought the farm trying to protect her from her own foolishness. What are the chances he'd agree to take incriminating pictures of her sister's philandering husband? Or that he'd let her tag along &151; you know…for research? But when her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister becomes the prime suspect, Sophie's priority is finding the real killer. With or without Anatoly's help. Her brother-in-law's secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the San Francisco police aren't taking any of them seriously. So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course). But if her crazy plan works, will Anatoly be there to protect her this time?

Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services… Is she desperate or just meshugeneh? Considering the kind of disasters that usually befall the half-black, half-Jewish mystery writer, probably both. Because the last time Sophie saw sexy P.I. Anatoly Darinsky, he practically danced a jig when she waved goodbye—a normal reaction for a man who'd nearly bought the farm trying to protect her from her own foolishness. What are the chances he'd agree to take incriminating pictures of her sister's philandering husband? Or that he'd let her tag along—you know…for research? But when her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister becomes the prime suspect, Sophie's priority is finding the real killer. With or without Anatoly's help. Her brother-in-law's secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the San Francisco police aren't taking any of them seriously. So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course). But if her crazy plan works, will Anatoly be there to protect her this time?

When a mystery writer cries bloody murder, everyone blames her overactive imagination… Thriller scribe Sophie Katz is as hard-boiled as a woman who drinks Grande Caramel Brownie Frappuccinos can be. So Sophie knows it's not paranoia or post-divorce, living-alone-again jitters, when she becomes convinced that a crazed reader is sneaking into her apartment to reenact scenes from her books. The police, however, can't tell a good plot from an unmarked grave. When a filmmaker friend is brutally murdered in the manner of a death scene in one of his movies, Sophie becomes convinced that a copycat killer is on the loose —and that she's the next target. If she doesn't solve the mystery, her own bestseller will spell out her doom. Cursing her grisly imagination (why, oh, why did she have to pick the ax?), Sophie engages in some real-life gumshoe tactics. The man who swoops in to save her in dark alleys is mysterious new love interest Anatoly Darinsky. Of course, if this were fiction, Anatoly would be her prime suspect.…

Follow the escapades of writer-turned-detective Sophie Katz in these four sexy mysteries from New York Times bestselling author Kyra Davis…. Sex, Murder and a Double Latte Mystery writer Sophie Katz suspects that a crazed fan is sneaking into her apartment to reenact scenes from her books. And when a filmmaker friend is brutally murdered in the manner of a death scene from one of his movies, she's convinced that a copycat killer is on the loose—and that she's the next target. The man who swoops in to save her is the mysterious new love interest Anatoly Darinsky. Of course, if this were fiction, Anatoly would be her prime suspect.… Passion, Betrayal and Killer Highlights When her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister is accused of the crime, Sophie's priority is finding the real killer. With or without Anatoly's help. Her brother-in-law's secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the San Francisco police aren't taking any of them seriously. So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course). Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate Sophie's relationship with the irresistible and occasionally insufferable Anatoly is on the rocks when a friend recruits Sophie to decode her allegedly two-timing husband's strange behavior. Suddenly plunged into a crazy world of campaign mudslinging, dirt-digging and cover-ups, Sophie begins to uncover some pretty dirty secrets indeed. Way in over her head as usual, Sophie reluctantly—or not-so-reluctantly—enlists the help of her two-time sidekick and ex, Anatoly. Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss Sophie is head over heels in love—with a three-bedroom San Francisco Victorian. She's just got to have it, despite a few drawbacks. Her slimy ex is the realtor, and her first tour of the house reveals, well, a lifeless body clutching a cameo with a disturbing history of its own. There's no way Sophie is going to give up the ghost on her dreams of stained glass and original woodwork, though—especially since Sophie is 99 percent sure her problems are caused by someone six feet tall instead of six feet under….

A volume in the Cultural Studies Series edited by Samir Dayal An innovative and entertaining look at genre, popular culture, enjoyment, and psychoanalysis. Detective fiction, a category that, broadly defined, runs the gamut from Oedipus Rex to "The Purloined Letter," continues to draw a range of fans and scholars, and to play a pivotal role in popular entertainment, contemporary literature, and psychoanalytic theory. But how do we derive pleasure from reading about or watching a detective’s exploits? Is our enjoyment in the vicarious experience of genius? Or in witnessing the commission of a crime, an equally vicarious experience of violence? Resisting Arrest looks at the detective genre in its many different cultural manifestations, from popular fiction (Christie) to high literature (Eco), from art films (Antonioni) to popular television series (Monk). In each case, Rushing finds that detective stories have less to do with fulfilling our hidden desires, as psychoanalytic explanations have traditionally asserted, than with purposively thwarting them. He argues that the genre is in fact constituted principally by the promises on which it fails to deliver, including the vicarious experience of both genius (readers expecting to play Sherlock Holmes are almost always cast as Watson) and antisocial violence, so that our pleasure is based on what Slavoj Zizek has called "the endless circulation around the always-missed object." Organized around the key ideas that structure the detective genre ("Desire," "Repetition," "Violence"), Resisting Arrest offers a thoroughly new interpretation that will appeal to scholars interested in questions about genre and cinema studies, popular culture, and psychoanalysis.

The book describes the movement by African American authors from slave narratives and antebellum newspapers into fiction writing, and the subsequent developments of black genre fiction through the present. It analyzes works by modern African American mystery writers, focusing on sleuths, the social locations of crime, victims and offenders, the notion of "doing justice," and the role of African American cultural vernacular in mystery fiction. A final section focuses on readers and reading, examining African American mystery writers' access to the marketplace and the issue of the "double audience" raised by earlier writers. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.