Jacqueline Kirby, former librarian turned bestselling novelist, is selected to write the sequel to the greatest blockbuster of all time, "Naked in the Ice". The original author, Kathleen Darcy, is missing and presumed dead. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Jacqueline Kirby, spirited librarian-turned-romance writer ( Die for Love ), returns to lightheartedly skewer the publishing world in the latest from the prolific Peters, who as Barbara Michaels also writes romantic suspense novels. Outspoken Jacqueline wins a competition to write the sequel for a major bestseller whose author, Kathleen Darcy, has been declared legally dead seven years afer disappearing in the Appalachian hills near her home. But soon Jacqueline, ensconced with her word processor in Kathleen's home town, begins to have accidents paralleling those that once befell Kathleen. While writing on deadline, Jacqueline must also figure out who's after her and, of course, determine what really happened to Kathleen Darcy. Among those she suspects of more recent murder are Kathleen's pompous brother, a handsome former suitor, an ex-lover, another romance writer with an ego to match her oversized body, and a greedy literary agent. Thankfully Jacqueline's forthright manner earns her more friends than enemies as she risks mortal danger to unmask the culprit with panache and mastery remarkably similar to Peters's own. Major ad/promo; author tour. (Sept.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Author Barbara Mertz was born in Canton, Illinois on September 29, 1927. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1952. Her first three works were non-fiction titles dealing with topics in her field of study. These titles, "Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs," "Red Land, Black Land" and "Two Thousand Years in Rome" were written using her true name. She also writes novels under the pseudonymns Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters. She is the author of the Amelia Peabody series, the Vicky Bliss series, and the Jacqueline Kirby series. In 1989, she won an Agatha for Naked Once More.

(Bowker Author Biography) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.