Published: September 2021
In this fast-paced mystery, P.I. Nicole Graves agrees to an unusual, short-term assignment working for MI6 in Russia. It sounds straightforward, even pleasant: a two-week luxury riverboat cruise on the Volga, observing a group of fellow passengers and filing a daily report on their activities. It's simple enough, except for one caveat: No matter what these people do, she’s to tell her handler at MI6—no one else, especially not the Russian police. When one of the riverboat passengers winds up dead, Nicole realizes this assignment was anything but straightforward.
Soon, Nicole is immersed in a high-stakes game of murder and espionage where trusting a stranger can be as deadly as a bullet.
"Nicole Graves is the best fictional sleuth to come down the pike since Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone." –Laura Levine, bestselling author of the Jaine Austen Mysteries
The Nicole Graves Mysteries have been compared to the mysteries of Mary Higgins Clark and praised for contributing to the "women-driven mystery field with panache" (Foreword Reviews) as well as for their "hold-onto-the-bar roller coaster" plots (RT Book Reviews).
EXCERPT
She put on her coat, left her cabin and started down two flights of stairs that led to the main deck. The lighting had been dimmed for the night, but when she neared the bottom of the stairs, she had a clear view of three men standing by the ship’s railing. They had their backs to her. One of them appeared drunk, and the other two seemed to be holding him up. But when he started to struggle, it was clear they’d been restraining him. He said something she couldn’t understand; perhaps it was in Russian. His voice grew louder as the other two lifted him over the railing and pushed him. He screamed as he fell into the water and there was a loud splash. The men turned in Nicole’s direction. She froze for the briefest moment before ducking under a nearby lifeboat, one of several stored upside down along the deck’s perimeter.
She was stunned, not just by the violent act she’d just witnessed but by the fact that she recognized the two who’d thrown the third overboard. They were two of her targets, people whose photos Ian Davies had given her.
About the author:
Nancy Boyarsky is the author of the Nicole Graves Mysteries. Her sixth installment of the series will be released September 2021.
Nancy has been a writer and editor for her entire working career. She coauthored Backroom Politics, a New York Times notable book, with her husband, Bill Boyarsky. She has written textbooks on the justice system and contributed to anthologies, including In the Running about women’s political campaigns and The Challenge of California. She has also written for the Los Angeles Times, West magazine, Forbes, McCalls, Playgirl, Westways, and other publications. She was communications director for political affairs for ARCO.
In addition to writing mysteries, Nancy is producer and director of the “Inside Golden State Politics” podcast.
Nancy can be contacted through her website. You can find the other books in the Nicole Graves series at
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1 comment:
I love these kinds of reads. The mystery and how revealing the killer evolves is the best kind of story. Love the cover.
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