When Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan receives an envelope postmarked Boerne, Tex., containing a photo of Crow, her former musician boyfriend, and a scrap of newspaper headline reading "in big trouble," a day's outing to visit Crow's parents in Charlottesville, Tex., turns into a road trip to unknown territory. Tough and street savvy in her hometown, the former reporter feels lost in the land of the Alamo. Crow seems to have disappeared with a mysterious blonde singer, and as Tess searches for them, she encounters a wall of family secrets behind which may lie the reason for the body count rising around her. Lippman's (Charm City) colorful charactersAespecially the proprietor of Tess's temporary no-tell motel, and homicide detective Al GuzmanAadd amusement to this gripping mystery. (Sept.)

Tess Monaohan knows how to look after herself. Once a reporter and now a private investigator she has Iearned just how to survive and thrive on the city streets.

But a new case forces Tess to confront her own past, and a man she loved and lost. It all starts with a newspaper photograph of her old boyfriend with a tantalising shard of a headline attached: IN BIG TROUBLE.