Model Murder (Conrad)

A Model Murder  (Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy, 1)
Celia Conrad, 2011
Barcham Books
341 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780954623326


Summary
A Model Murder is a fast-paced mystery that draws scary, sometimes hilarious, parallels between alpha males in strip clubs and law firms.

This first book in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy introduces Alicia Allen, a 29-year-old London Anglo-Italian lawyer whose desire for Pringles is matched only by her desire to solve crime. When her neighbor—a beautiful aspiring Australian model—is found raped and murdered before she can pick up her first paycheck at a sleazy “hostess” club, Alicia ignites with such passion to bring the wrongdoer to justice, it would make even Portia envious.

As her dangerous quest draws her into the dark world of exploitative “hostess clubs,” Alicia finds herself facing similar circumstances in a new law firm where alpha males roam the halls in solicitor suits intimidating or stalking undervalued female coworkers. Worse luck, the deeper she delves into the investigation, the more her comfortable world falls apart. Friends are viciously attacked...potential lovers may not be what they seem...clues pop up in Italian opera, Shakespeare, and a cat.

Alicia soon finds her willingness to risk her own life for the sake of justice is sorely put to the test in a world where Fate plays no small role. (From the publisher.)

This is the first book in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy. Wilful Murder (2012) is the second, and Murder in Hand (2012) is the third.