MARLIN, DARLIN': GARNET SULLIVAN LIVE FROM FLORIDA

Garnet Rocks. All her colorful best buds (a whacko assortment of Florida misfits, malingerers and well-placed big shots) agree. As do her thousands of fans and friends (and understudies, admirers & stalkers). In less than a year she has more people interested in what she is going to do next than most people have over a lifetime. Why? (you may well ask) Well, we're not sure, exactly, but this may have something to do with it: She's a cutie pie small town Florida journalist out to save the world and right all wrongs, defend the helpless, alleviate suffering wherever she encounters it, because, well, it's The Right Thing To Do. Plus she's really smart, and we mean really-really-really smart. But in a way, sometimes, uh, (as some of her previous boyfriends said) "too smart for her own good." What did they know? She dumped them anyway. A long time ago. It's all about Chester Dare now, the county public defender with whom she's had a tortured love-you-forever relationship since the first time they laid eyes on each other. And besides "doing the right thing" (damn the torpedoes!)? This actually has a lot of advantages. For instance, (in this instance Garnet, of course) it's a license and justification to: 1) ignore the rules, 2) drive like a maniac, 3) leap before you look, 4) take extraordinary measures, 5) give and go to parties, 6) ask impertinent in-your-face Member of the Press questions to Florida Big Toes [stick her nose in everything, learn heaps of interesting new stuff] 7) stir up trouble [and sit back with her BFFs, mojitos in hand, on beach towels and watch what happens next] 8) get away with murder, 9) get her nails done every week, 10) have a whole lotta semi-intelligent fun of the coolest kind in her own private playground, the Sunshine State. Marlin, Darlin' is the first book in the "Garnet Sullivan Live from Florida" series, launched in late 2010. The second title will appear in April 2012. Marlin, Darlin' is a romp, over the top, and moves like a high speed car chase. But Garnet's a pedal-to-the-metal kind of young lady. It's also-- A murder mystery . . . A love story . . . A dog story . . . From our first description of the book to readers: "It will keep you guessing . . . and on the edge of your seat . . . . Introducing the most lovable, pratfall-prone female sleuth in recent memory, this first novel in the Garnet Sullivan Live from Florida series will leave the reader in stitches and begging for more. Marlin, Darlin' debuts the engaging, redoubtable and often annoying small town journalist, Garnet Sullivan. A murky murder during a marlin fishing tournament forms the basis for this sizzling, uproarious mystery set in contemporary, steamy east coast Florida, featuring the unsinkable freelance reporter, snoop and trouble-maker, Garnet Sullivan, and a host of her bizarre, colorful friends. A Gordian knot of a plot blasts out of the starting gate at a full gallop and will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the novel's last words. Saturated with authentic Florida ambience and whackos, Marlin, Darlin' is sure to delight the most cerebral mystery buffs as well as fans of romantic comedy-and dog lovers too! The novel is propelled by laugh out loud characters, scenes and situations reminiscent of Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry, but with more lipstick and purses. Fully imagined and drawn from life characters hook the reader from the book's first sentence and the story vaults inevitably from who these characters are-nutty and flamboyantly so, but completely convincing, and whose native habitat could only be Florida. The author, writing out of her own vast experience in off-beat Florida, delivers a rip-roaring romp through real Florida backwaters and boondocks that few ever get a chance to see. Written by a true insider with sterling credentials, this first novel in the Garnet Sullivan Live from Florida series raises the bar for all future "Florida Mysteries."

Margaret Langstaff is an accomplished and well known humor writer and journalist. Known for her original and sometimes surprising rapier wit, she has written more than twenty books, both under her own name and as a ghost writer for celebs, politicos, and other distinguished figures, and countless feature articles and book reviews for prominent national media, such as the L.A. Times, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, and the L.A. Times Book Review and Business Page. She is a former member of the National Book Critics Circle and former board member of the Book Industry Study Group. Educated at the University of Florida, she grew up in Florida and knows the Florida scene, culture, flora and fauna--and freaks--like the back of her own hand.