Book excerpt: A seductive socialite entangles a Palm Beach sleuth in a viper’s nest of lust and larceny in this New York Times bestseller. Checking out the background of a wealthy client’s prospective daughter-in-law should be easy money for Palm Beach private investigator Archy McNally—until people around gorgeous socialite Theodosia Johnson start being killed off at an alarming rate. The first to die is Theodosia’s portrait painter, who gets his throat slashed. Next, a blackmailing stripper ends up with a bullet in her head. McNally must expose the killer, but it’s Theodosia, herself, who turns out to be the biggest mystery of all. When she sets out to seduce McNally, he isn’t sure whether he’s being played, so he orchestrates his own scam to uncover the truth. If his scheme backfires, it could cost the dapper detective his livelihood—and his life.