Excerpt Tour: Last Diner Standing by Terri L. Austen

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Terri will be awarding one commenter at every stop a signed bookmark and a cover postcard (USA/Canada Only), and one randomly drawn commenter on the tour will receive a $25 gift card to Amazon or B&N, winner's choice. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Rose Strickland is having a blue Christmas. Her friend is arrested for attempted murder, her sexy bad guy crush is marked by a hit man, and her boss is locked in an epic smackdown with a rival diner. Determined to save those she loves, Rose embarks on an investigation more tangled than a box of last year's tree lights. With her eclectic gang at the ready, Rose stumbles across dead bodies, ex-cons, chop shops, jealous girlfriends, jilted lovers, and a gaggle of strippers in a battle for freedom she might not survive.

Read an excerpt:

He motioned for us to follow him to a tiny office. He closed the door, which muted the music, but the pounding bass still reverberated through me.

“I didn’t know Des had family.” He pointed to two cheap folding chairs and took a seat behind a metal desk. Roxy and I remained standing.

“We’re distant cousins,” I said.

Freddy wasn’t unattractive with his dark hair and eyes, but he was sleazy. His gaze kept straying from our faces to our boobs.

“You’d do well here, Blue. Get some little nurse’s outfit or something. You could pull down some serious cash.”

Roxy smacked her gum. “Not interested.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He turned his eyes on me. “What about you, Princess? You got little ones, but we could dress you like a school girl. Get you a plaid skirt and some knee socks.”

“I need to talk to Destiny.”

“If you’re her cousin, why are you calling her Destiny instead of Crystal?”

Roxy raised a brow. “Professional courtesy?”

Was Crystal her real name? Seemed like another alias to me. Chicken Licker, Destiny, Crystal. In real life, she was probably something boring like Jane Smith.

“What do you really want with Crystal?” Freddy asked.

Two things I’d learned from Sullivan: stay cool and keep quiet. Whatever you do, don’t get defensive and don’t start blurting out crap. Of course when I was with Sullivan, that worked more in theory than in practice.

About the Author:

Terri L. Austin lives in Missouri with her funny, handsome husband and a high maintenance peekapoo. She’s the author of Diners, Dives and Dead Ends—a Rose Strickland Mystery. “Austin’s debut kicks off her planned series by introducing a quirky, feisty heroine and a great supporting cast of characters and putting them through quite a number of interesting twists.” Kirkus Reviews

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