Cold Feet (A Stella Lavender Mystery) - Hardcover

Karen Pullen’s debut mystery novel, Cold Feet, was published by Five Star Cengage in January 2013, and its sequel, Cold Heart, will be released in 2016. She has an MFA in Popular Fiction from Stonecoast, the University of Southern Maine, and has published award-winning short stories. She lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she owns a bed & breakfast. Updates on Karen and her writing may be seen at www.karenpullen.com.

Stella Lavender of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is a guest at a wedding where the bride, Justine Bradley, is poisoned just before the ceremony is to begin. The local detective, Anselmo Morales, requests Stella’s help in the investigation. Hoping for a transfer to homicide, Stella is happy to get the experience but must also continue to work undercover as a drug buyer. When it’s learned Justine was born a boy and underwent a sex-change operation, numerous avenues of investigation are opened. Was the murderer the groom, his ultraconservative parents, or his jilted former girlfriend? The fast pace; multiple plot strands, which work together nicely; and the well-drawn characters, including strong-willed, intelligent Stella, distinguish this promising new series. --Sue OBrien