When an aspiring illustrator attracts the attention of a New Orleans mob family, and secrets long hidden are unearthed from the past, a handsome homicide detective may be her only chance of surviving the Big Easy.
The oldest of thirteen, Alex Baker does two things: he solves murders and avoids children. Until the day Nell Whitby foils a carjacking, knocks Alex off his feet and turns his life … his life upside down.
When the shots start flying and every rock he turns over reveals another wise guy, Alex decides he needs to stick close to the quirky yet captivating children’s book author while he discovers who is behind a series of mob hits. But can he resist the urge to kiss the kid magnet now in the crosshairs?
A relative newcomer to New Orleans—with no family but her college friend—Nell spends her days in seeming obscurity, sketching tourists in the French Quarter and serving canapés for her friend’s catering business. When a chance encounter makes Nell the target of a mob hit, the only silver lining is meeting the cute cop who is determined to protect her.
But when she finds herself at the head of a second line made up of goons and gangsters, and secrets start bubbling up out of her own past, Nell must figure out what she’s made of so she can live long enough to kiss the cop again…
Stay tuned for FAMILY TREED: The Big Uneasy 1.5, coming the fall of 2013. It’s an amuse-bouche (An amuse-bouche is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre), though in this case it’s a single “bite” in the series. The short story will feature Nell and Alex and some more of her truly awful new relations.
We left New Orleans ten years ago – two years later Katrina struck — after 18 years of learning how to love living there. (Grew up in WY, the polar opposite of New Orleans!) I wasn’t sure we’d back, but I knew we’d never be the same.
I returned a couple of times, and each time I did, the city began to feel more and more like itself — though many of the places we loved are gone forever. It’s a city that has had to learn to reinvent itself over and over.
When I decided to return to writing romantic suspense, a friend reminded me of a fragment of a story that I’d sent her some years back. I opened the file, started reading, and the memories came flooding back. I thought it might be hard to write about the Big Easy after being gone so long, but the Big Easy is, well, easy.
Except when it isn’t.
But even when it isn’t easy, it’s always quirky and fun and funny — and the perfect place for fictional mayhem. There is something about a hot sultry night filled with lots of exotic smells that brings out the best — and the worst — in people.
And then there is the food.
I got so hungry and so homesick writing this book. And I still miss that spicy scent that is SO New Orleans. One of the hardest moments for me, my first visit back after Katrina, was walking off the plane and NOT smelling New Orleans. I used to love that “our” airport didn’t smell or sound like anyone else’s. There was only one working terminal. Too few people. No jazz being piped in. And no spicy smells. It broke my heart.
Happily for Orleanians — and the people who love to visit — the smells, the sights and the sounds are back. But for those of you who can’t visit, I hope you get a glimpse of the “city that care forgot” while reading this book.
If you love exploring New Orleans in this book, be sure to check out Do Wah Diddy Die, Mystery Collection, and A Dangerous Dance (releasing fall, 2013).
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A wild romp from beginning to end. Our key characters are delightful and loveable. I MUST read the next one. Ms Jones aces it once again. One of my favorite authers.
What an amazing story, I loved it! The characters are great. Nell and Alex are so fun to get to know and watch throughout this story. I look forward to reading the next book.
I read this series totally out of order, but it’s not hurt how enjoyable it was. Each book showcases a different Baker family member, but a lot of them make appearances in each book. They are fun characters, the romance is clean, and the crimes are interesting. I’m planning on reading more of this series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I love everything by Pauline Baird Jones!
Our heroine thwarts a car jacking in progress and attracts the wrong kind of attention. As it turns out, there is a lot more to it than is apparent on the surface. Hopefully our hero can help her get through the resulting mayhem.
This is book one of the series, a surprisingly good place to start.
This story is set in New Orleans, which alone should tell you there are going to be some quirky elements to it. But it doesn’t stop there as the cast of characters and an odd, and sometimes funny, bunch as well. The story itself is somewhere between a cozy mystery and a romantic suspense story, which gives it a fast paced plot full of twists and turns as well as some action and romance. It is a heady mix, but I really enjoyed it and I am definitely looking forward to more in this series.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes
Book one in the Big Uneasy series a well written story that kept me smiling as I read. Nell Whitby and Alex Baker meet in the most peculiar way, and from there everything seems to happen to Nell or Alex. A crime family with hidden secrets. I want to read the next book. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Nell thought she was a pretty unremarkable young woman who grew up in a remote part of Wyoming. Dad a mechanic, mom a checker at Walmart- both fatalities due to a drunk driver two years ago.
Her fresh start in New Orleans with her college roommate allows not only her artistic talents to bloom, it reveals depths and twists to her family tree she could have little dreamed.
A bicycle rescue by her of NOPD homicide detective Alex Baker entangles both of them, his crazy big Baked family, her unexpected one, and her soul sister Sarah in Cosa Nostra type drama
Humorous and deadly serious romance and family adventure
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Blurb does the job of telling you the story.
This is my second book in this series since I received book 4 first. Good introduction to the series. Easily read as a stand alone book.
Says romantic suspense but still think could pass for cozy mystery genre also.
I didn’t give it five stars for several reasons: one being a bit cliché for mobster related, second the use of wise. It confused me for a bit, was thinking wise as in being smart. Author uses it in the book for shortcut of “wise guys” m for better clarification mobster term. Might have been less confusing if had put it in single quotes like ‘wise’.
I know being picky but as you can see I read a lot and an issue like that in a book should not be.
Do not get me wrong. I love the two books in this series I have read. I think they are fun, enjoyable read. Quick easy and nice little escapes for a few hours it takes to read them. I do recommend them.
Remember this is my honest and freely given review. I did receive an ARC book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.