Derrière moi, il y a le passage à niveau où l'homme se fit ratatiner par un rapide… Je laisse ma voiture sur le bord du fossé et je me mets en quête du numéro 12… Pas marle à dénicher… C'est une petite construction sans étage, couverte d'ardoise… M'est avis qu'il s'agissait d'un pavillon de chasse situé au fond d'un parc. La voie ferrée a coupé le parc et on a vendu le morcif de terrain avec la masure. Schwob l'a fait réparer, mais il y a un certain temps, car elle n'est plus très fraîche… Les volets sont clos… Dans la lumière blafarde de la lune, ce pavillon a quelque chose d'inquiétant. J'ai comme l'impression de l'avoir déjà vu sur la couverture de « Mystère-Magazine » !

J'aime mieux vous prévenir, les gars :

Des histoires pareilles, vous n'en trouverez pas souvent.

Ce qui vaut mieux pour ma santé.

Mamma mia ! A la fin de ce circus effarant, je ne savais plus bien si je m'appelais San-Antonio, Edouard ou la Joy !

Y a fallu que je me cramponne aux branches !

Et surtout que je garde la tête froide, ce qui n'était pas fastoche avec la lampe à souder qui me servait de chapeau !

Le transformateur cérébral, vous savez ce que c'est, vous ?

Moi, je l'ignorais.

Mais maintenant je sais !

Jane Jeffry and Shelly Nowack set off for some relaxation in the Wisconsin woods while scouting summer camp sites for suburban high-school students. Jane isn't exactly thrilled at the idea: any form of camping is an anathema at the best of times, and in damp midwinter it seems especially grim. Matters do not improve when this pair of amateur detectives discover one of their fellow campers smacked with a frying pan-seemingly with fatal consequences. But they suspect their own eyes (and everyone else suspects their sanity) when the body disappears along with any evidence of foul play. To make matters worse (or better) a surprisingly healthy victim resurfaces. With a mix of resentment at not being believed and amazement at the turn of events, the would-be campers are determined to discover what is really going on at their apparently secure haven in the wilderness.

Avez-vous déjà vu un personnage obèse, cradingue, vinasseux et violacé, en pantoufles, maillot de corps gris (mais qui fut blanc jadis), portant un pantalon de coutil rapiécé, affublé d'un véritable sombrero mexicain se prélasser dans les fauteuils du Boeing Paris-Tokyo ?

Assurément non ! Pour se délecter d'une pareille situation, il faut avoir lu « Fleur de nave vinaigrette ».

Au passage : savez-vous comment se traduit « Fleur de nave » en japonais ? « Bey-Rhû-Ryé » ! Rigoureusement authentique !

Si vous ne me croyez pas, consultez votre judoka habituel.

Le gonzier qui passe sa vie dans ses charentaises, à concocter d'illusoires tiercés et quintés plus, ne peut pas s'imaginer tous les amphigouris de ce monde.

Je te prends « la fête du banc », dans l'Utah, tu savais qu'elle existait, toi ?

Moi non plus.

Ben, elle existe, mon vieux, et j'ai failli m'y faire lyncher.

Béru, M. Félix, le Marquis ont eu des avaries de paf si terrifiantes que leur trompes de l'émisphère sud, mondialement réputées, filaient la gerbe aux coyotes.

Si t'as pas peur d'affronter le bizarre, lis ce book d'extrème urgence. Tu y rencontreras d'inoubliables personnages : Roy, dit « Petit Gibus », qui, à six ans, pilote une dépanneuse ; Ivy, la femme du pasteur qui raffole de la levrette ; Le cow-boy suisse qui tire plus vite que son ombre. Sans parler du shérif, un drôle de pourri qui m'a viandé de première !

Non, franchement, t'as pas le droit de passer à côté de cette histoire.

Si tu négligeais la lecture de Foiridon à Morbac City, tout le monde se foutrait de la gueule.

T'as pas besoin de ça !

Jane Jeffry, suburban sleuth extraordinare, and her friend, Detective Mel VanDyne, have braved a blizzard to join her friend Shelley at a Colorado ski resort. In spite of having all their kids along, Jane and Shelley imagine a few mindless days of relaxation. But their hopes are dashed on their first attempt to ski when Jane careens into a snowman that hides a very real — and every dead — body. The slopes are littered with suspects — a convention of genealogists led by a political fruitcake who thinks she's going to put her hand-picked Tsar on the Russian throne, a mysterious crimson-clad skier who's always on the horizon, and ex-stockbroker who's hiding from his investors, and an irate tribe of Native Americans. Jane has to take a census of the suspects and make some grave assumptions about who was vacationing with malicious intent.

Dear reader:

Get ready to have the hottest time of your life with the sizzling duo of newspaper editor Jamie Swift and mysterious millionaire Max Holt. My good friend Charlotte Hughes and I set out to create a whole new world, separate from my Stephanie Plum novels, yet inhabited by the same kind of zany, hilarious, and totally unique characters that we love.

There's never a dull moment for the residents of Beaumont, South Carolina. Lately, a heat wave's spiked the mercury- and everyone's sex drive! These days, when Jamie runs into Max, it's all she can do not to tear his clothes off- and the feeling is mutual.

But trouble seems to follow Max like moths to a flame, and Jamie suspects he's all wrong for her. Meanwhile, the lingerie shop is having a sale on edible underwear, while the bakery's selling aphrodisiac-laced brownies and X-rated birthday cakes. Even Jamie's dog, Fleas, is dodging passes from the amorous French poodle next door!

But when someone starts bumping off some of the town's more annoying citizens, all clues lead straight to the new personals section in Jamie's newspaper. Pretty soon, things are getting hot and heavy, as Max and Jamie start uncovering secrets- and undressing each other…

So settle in with a tall cool drink, and have fun with FULL BLAST. We'll be back soon, with another steamy romantic adventure featuring Jamie and Max. Happy reading!

Janet & Charlotte

Dear reader:

The temperature's on "sizzle" again in Beaumont, South Carolina, where peach trees are in season and ripe for the picking. So is its newest entrepreneur, Annie Fortenberry, who has inherited her grandmother's B&B (and its eccentric handyman Erdle Thorney). According to a local psychic she also inherited a spirit from its glory days as a brothel- not the kind of publicity the Peach Tree Bed & Breakfast needs if it's hosting millionaire Max Holt's upcoming wedding! If rumors of a naughty, prank-playing ghost aren't stressful enough, a mysterious man has arrived with an eye on Annie and her master suite. Wes Bridges is all leather and denim, sporting a two-day beard, straddling a Harley, and sending the B&B's testosterone level through the roof. Annie's cool demeanor may be dropping as fast as Wes's jeans, but leave it to her missing ex-husband to dampen the passion! Turns out someone has done him in, and all evidence points to Annie! Wrapped up in a murder plot, Annie must find the killer, save her own neck, and get back to where she was- wrapped up in Wes's strong loving arms…

We guarantee that you're going to have as much fun reading Full Bloom as we had writing it! (Even if we were surprised by the ending!) And you won't want to miss the hair-raising shenanigans when Fleas, the hound dog, meets the most cantankerous, snooty, bad-tempered, twenty-two pound orange cat….

Janet & Charlotte

Dear reader:

I've been hearing from many of you that you'd like to see more books that entertain the way my Stephanie Plum novels do. So my good friend, Charlotte Hughes, and I teamed up to bring you a brand-new series of books. These new books are not set in the world of Plum, but they are written in the Plum tradition with fast-paced action, dysfunctional loveable characters, steamy sex, suspense and lots of laughs.

The series is kicked off by Full House, a slightly off-center love story about a devious man, an uncooperative woman, and a misguided genius. I wrote and published the original Full House in 1989 under the name Steffie Hall. I thought it was a fun book at the time, but Charlotte and I have made it bigger and better.

In Full House, Nick Kaharchek senses danger the minute he sees Billie Pearce. She represents everything he's always avoided.Ý Happy in her home life, a divorced mother of two, Billie is the epitome of stability. She's also irresistibly fascinating to the footloose Kaharchek… in a car crash sort of way. Their fateful meeting leads to a story filled with seduction and mayhem and love everlasting.

Charlotte and I hope you enjoy this first romantic adventure, and look forward to many more.

Janet & Charlotte

Dear reader:

Mercury's in retrograde, and folks in Beaumont, South Carolina, are dealing with gossip, scandal, misunderstandings, and more secrets than ever. Local pediatrician Maggie Davenport has even bigger worries. Her wild-girl past has caught up with her in the form of her ex-boyfriend, a jailbird who just flew the coop — and is bent on tracking down Maggie and her daughter. Fortunately, FBI agent Zack Madden is on hand for protection. Unfortunately his presence is turning up the heat on an attraction Maggie simply has no time for… or does she? But Maggie and Zack aren't the only ones getting busy: Fleas, the hound dog, is up to his old tricks — this time with Butterbean, a very alluring… goat? Jamie Swift and millionaire Max Holt have babies on the brain. And resident psychic-slash-astrologer Destiny is fighting a crush of her own. Since the town's ice cream parlor is a magnet for gossip, no one can keep a secret and the sticky situations are getting even stickier…

It's the wildest time yet in the town we love to write about, and the characters we can't get enough of. So sit back, relax and enjoy a FULL SCOOP of fun, adventure, and romance.

Janet & Charlotte

Dear reader:

Welcome to the world of Jamie Swift and Max Holt! My good friend Charlotte and I have teamed up to create a series of books featuring these two characters, and they taken on a life of their own! These books are not set in the same world as my Stephanie plum novels, but what they have in common are lovable, dysfunctional characters, villains you love to hate, and a cross-eyed way of looking at life.

Jamie and Max have intense chemistry- even though they drive each other crazy. Max thinks Jamie is a magnet for trouble and Jamie thinks Max is the most annoyingly sexy, mysterious man she's ever met. She knows she should stay away from him. But boy, oh boy, do the sparks fly when they get together. Jamie is a newspaper owner from a small southern town. And in FULL SPEED, she's after the story of a lifetime. Max Holt is right in the middle of that story, and so Jamie tracks down the millionaire playboy, forcing him to take her on as his partner. What follows is a story of a corrupt minister, a gang of mobsters on the loose, a hound dog called Fleas, a wise-cracking computer genius, and lots of love in the fast lane. Not to mention plenty of steamy action between Jamie and Max.

So have fun with FULL SPEED. We're going to sign off now and get back to creating more romantic adventure between Jamie Swift and Max Holt. Enjoy and happy reading!

Janet & Charlotte

Dear reader:

With Full House, my good friend Charlotte Hughes and I teamed up to create an exciting new series. Now we bring you the second book, Full Tilt, which is filled with even more fast-paced action, crazy characters, steamy sex, suspense and nonstop hilarity. While these books are not set in the world of my Stephanie Plum novels, we're convinced they will bring you all the fun, the wisecracks, and the adventure that we love.

Jamie Swift has one priority in quiet Beaumont, South Carolina: running the local newspaper. Romance runs second. But with the arrival of her silent partner, the notoriously mysterious and sexy Maximillian Holt, Jamie's life gets shaken up. Max claims he's here to give his brother-in-law a vote of confidence. A former wrestler, Frankie Fontana's now taking his shots in the political ring. Beaumont could use a mayor with scruples, but what it gets is a crime- and what Jamie gets is a story that's taking her for a ride on the wild side, complete with two assassins, a washed-up stripper, and an insane poacher. Between a spray of bullets and a fast getaway, could it get any more romantic- or dangerous? Max and Jamie are betting their lives on a long shot.

Charlotte and I hope you'll enjoy Full Tilt as much as we have enjoyed creating it.

Janet & Charlotte