Boca Undercover by Miriam Auerbach
The Dirty Harriet Mystery Series – Volume 4

Patients at a posh Boca Raton rehab center are ending up stiffer than a Boca babe’s smile. Tough PI Harriet Horowitz, once a bedazzled babe herself, signs in at The Oasis at the request of a frightened friend.

As a pattern emerges in the murders, it’s clear the killer is targeting patients with an unusual addiction. How did they end up with the same drug problem at the same time and in the same rehab together? Harriet’s sleuthing leads her down a path of secrets and danger, and what she learns could lead her undercover assignment to a dead end.

I recently had the privilege and pleasure of being an invited author at a women’s book club in my neighborhood. I told these ladies that if they see me walking my two dogs outside and I don’t wave, they (the ladies, not the dogs) shouldn’t take it personally. You see, it’s just that I’m preoccupied . . . with murder. I write mysteries. And dog-walking is the perfect time for plotting and contemplating ways to off someone. So while Elvira, my corgi, and Kazam, my Brussels Griffon, are romping, I’m stabbing, shooting, and strangling – in my head, of course.

My favorite murder method is one that fits the victim’s occupation. So in one of my books, a minister, a priest, and a rabbi go to a bar . . . okay, not really. But what does happen is I (I mean, my villain) bludgeons the minister with an organ pipe; drowns the priest in a baptismal font; and strangles the rabbi with his own prayer shawl. It’s not that I have anything against members of the clergy – but these victims weren’t entirely innocent, and the means of murder in each case kind of seemed like a bit of poetic justice. Likewise, in another of my books, a greedy builder is bulldozed at one of his own construction sites.

And in my current work in progress, a professional weight-lifter gets his skull crushed by a barbell. If you’re a gym rat like me, you know there’s an actual exercise called the “skull crusher” where you lie on your back, lift a barbell straight overhead, then flex and extend your elbows to repeatedly bring the weight to your head. This is supposed to strengthen your triceps (you know, those flappy things on your underarms that my fitness instructor calls “bat wings”). Of course, you’re not supposed to actually drop the barbell on your skull . . . but that’s what my victim does (with some help). So, it looks like an accident. But my victim’s mother believes otherwise, and she hires my protagonist, private investigator Dirty Harriet, to . . . well, investigate.

My preoccupation with deadly occupations started on the job. In my many years of working life since I was sixteen, I’ve had some nasty bosses and colleagues (who hasn’t?). One guy liked to kiss up to the manager by being a tattletale. So you could say his actual occupation was being a rat. I fantasized about slipping rat poison into his triple venti half sweet non-fat caramel macchiato. At another job I had, the boss’s wife was a professional equestrian. She liked to sashay into the office to show off her expensive riding wardrobe, her long silky black hair, and perky buns encased in those skin-tight breeches. I was twenty, penniless, insecure . . . and, okay, jealous. I imagined her slipping in a pile of manure and cracking her head on the horse stall.

Before you get alarmed, let me say that I’ve never acted on any of these fantasies. Really, I’m a just a mild-mannered professor by day, intrepid crime writer by night. I’m nothing like my killers or my protagonist – she shot her abusive husband in the heart. The only things I’ve ever shot are beer cans.

But I do have to wonder – am I alone in these deadly occupational preoccupations? What about you – ever thought about it? And what occupationally-appropriate method would you like to see in future mysteries?

About the Author

Miriam Auerbach is the author of a satirical mystery series set in Boca Raton, Florida and featuring Harley-riding, wisecracking female private eye Harriet Horowitz. Her debut novel, Dirty Harriet, won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First Series Romance. Miriam can only assume that this is because the heroine kills her husband on page one. In a parallel universe, Miriam is known as Miriam Potocky, professor of social work at Florida International University in Miami. She lives in South Florida with her husband and their multicultural canines, a Welsh Corgi and a Brussels Griffon.

Author Links:

Webpage: http://www.miriamauerbach.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMiriamAuerbach
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/872348.Miriam_Auerbach

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