Hello Everyone,

Since finishing The Purified, I have almost completed the first draft of the second novel in the series, The Deceived. I’m excited about this book, as it takes Montana (my female protagonist in The Purified) and O’Malley (her private detective sidekick) in new directions. Montana is now a criminal defense attorney and O’Malley runs all her investigations, but they work most of them together, truth be told. There are also some interesting twists with characters from the first book–a budding romance between Max Constantine and Montana (but you knew that was coming didn’t you?). I’d like to give you a brief summary of The Deceived–although I retain artistic license to change this as I work on my second draft (The Purified took eight revisions but I hope I’ve learned a bit more since then).

The Deceived Summary (A Montana Wylde Mystery)

The media catapulted former escort turned defense attorney Montana Wylde into the spotlight after her heroic capture of the man who killed her former business partner and best friend.

With her first major case, Montana and O’Malley, a former NYPD detective, are making headlines once again when the NYC Public Defender’s office offers her an 18B case where they hire private attorneys when their own attorneys can’t handle the overflow.

The opportunity has the potential to make or break an emerging attorney’s reputation. It’s up to her to defend a woman whom the police have arrested for armed robbery and murder. Soon, she understands why no other PD would touch the case. The prosecution has surveillance and home video evidence where several people identified her defendant as the perpetrator, as well as an eyewitness who fingered her as the female he saw fleeing the scene. Even worse, the investigator found the suspect’s DNA at the crime scene—a store the defendant swore she had never been. As if this wasn’t enough, there’s a conflict of interest. She’s been dating Max Constantine, the lead detective on the case who made Montana famous, as well as the lead on the current case. Putting their relationship on ice for a short while proves harder than she imagined.

Despite the evidence, the client sways both Montana and O’Malley with her pleas of innocence. Even Max had doubts after his interrogation, even though the proof is so damning.

Knowing she’ll be fighting the odds, Montana decides to take the case.  With it, Montana and O’Malley begin uncovering the roots of a crime—one which took place almost 30 years ago.