Book excerpt: When Lora Weaver relocates from New York to Montreal, she expects to find a touch of Paris in North America-cobblestone streets, sidewalk cafes, fabulous shopping, and a little joie de vivre. Not dangerous liaisons. But, when she takes a job at a PI agency owned by a French brother and sister team, her life takes on more twists and turns than a Cirque du Soleil performance. Her latest brush with danger kicks off the case of Piedro "Puddles" Bellinni-a deadbeat dad whose disappearance is linked to a dying girl, a socialite about to inherit a fortune, and a would-be thug whose ego ends up nearly as dented as his car. Amid stalkings, shootouts, and kidnappings, Lora must also survive an unexpected houseguest-a flirty old friend of her live-in boyfriend Adam. With a cast of characters that includes Camille Caron-a French PI with sharp boots, an even sharper tongue, and whose confidence and poise come from knowing how to drop a man twice her size-and her brother Laurent, an ex-cop and hockey hottie, The First Faux Pas is more caper-style romp than whodunit mystery.