Marisa Adair Mysteries Series by Jada Ryker

Marisa Adair investigates a brutal murder while she guards her secrets of childhood deprivation and adulthood struggles with addiction as zealously as a bag lady protects battered sacks of scavenged treasures. Marisa is shocked when her unscrupulous friend Jonah is murdered just after he bursts into her office to tell her something of life and death importance... moreMarisa Adair investigates a brutal murder while she guards her secrets of childhood deprivation and adulthood struggles with addiction as zealously as a bag lady protects battered sacks of scavenged treasures. Marisa is shocked when her unscrupulous friend Jonah is murdered just after he bursts into her office to tell her something of life and death importance. Gyrating with the mad desperation of an aging stripper with an adult entertainment mogul at her stage, the twisted trail to the murderer is littered by the subsequent executions of an exotic Goth Girl dancer with a taste for black lipstick and blackmail and two eyewitnesses who attempted their own blackmail with fatal results. After Marisa inadvertently causes a riot at an amateur wrestling match with her sexy alter ego, she joins forces with Russell, who may not be the dithering nonentity he seems, and Alex, chief financial officer and chief pain in Marisa’s…neck. Parallel to Marisa’s investigation, Althea, combat ready after decades of teaching elementary school; Clay, as handsome as he is mysterious; and Esther, reckless grandmother of the murdered dancer, hurl themselves into the investigative melee. The suspects range from Henry, the charismatic religious leader with scandalous secrets of his own and who could have killed the dancer when she chose the path to the stripper pole over the path to righteousness, to Brad Jacobs, an overzealous auditor who perceives the entire state of Kentucky as a “Trick My Hick” reality television show. less

Fantasy and reality clash when the members of the online group Came-A-Lot meet in person. Behind the glitter of the royal profiles, true identities are entwined with deadly secrets. "You can't tell him." Sarah's pretty face hardens, the dimples fading like a whimsical daydream. Her fingers claw Marisa Adair's arm. Marisa is furious. "I won't let you get away with it. You're trying to trick my friend into a relationship... moreFantasy and reality clash when the members of the online group Came-A-Lot meet in person. Behind the glitter of the royal profiles, true identities are entwined with deadly secrets. "You can't tell him." Sarah's pretty face hardens, the dimples fading like a whimsical daydream. Her fingers claw Marisa Adair's arm. Marisa is furious. "I won't let you get away with it. You're trying to trick my friend into a relationship." Marisa's gaze rakes the bulky sweatshirt and boxy jeans camouflaging the lush figure. "You're a stripper with a volatile boyfriend. You're not a high school teacher looking for love." Later, Sarah is stabbed to death during her exotic routine. Marisa and her devastated friend are among the suspects. To solve the murder, Marisa joins forces with unlikely allies. One is an attractive online investigative reporter. He'll do anything for a story to shock his followers. Another is a handsome accountant. More accustomed to saving money and cutting expenses, he's focused on saving lives and cutting off a desperate murderer. Yet another is a retired lunch lady. Fearless to the point of foolhardiness, she uses her own version of "slay-dar" to hunt the murderer. In the past, Marisa lived a reckless double life. She was a conservative administrator by day. After hours, she partied the nights away in a notorious club. Now, she finds herself back in shadowy, forbidden places as she and her friends track down a killer. The twisted trail to the murderer leads to explosive, decades-old secrets, including a vigilante-style killing. As Marisa and her friends follow the clues, can she keep her sobriety, her sanity-and most importantly, her life? less