"Maggie needs more than an alibi; she needs a life outside of her characters."

How disconcerting would it be to have the characters you've written jump out of your books and into your living room? Maggie Kelly, mystery writer extrodinaire, has this problem. Her Regency England characters Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just and his loyal compatriot Sterling Balder have gotten bored between the pages of Maggie's books and have decided to come out and see the world. Maggie picks herself off the floor from a dead faint; she never faints, now she has to decide of she is hallucinating. How is she going to explain any of this?

Whereas Saint Just is the perfect Regency English gentleman, he can be an arrogant pain in the butt in present day New York City. One has to ask herself -- can a man be perfect?

As you watch these two characters develop, you are struck by Ms. Michaels' wonderful dialog. Saint Just turns from an arrogant, self-centered man to someone who can put Maggie first. Sterling goes from a loveable and cuddly character to someone who has spunk, though you still want to cuddle him. When I read MAGGIE NEEDS AN ALIBI, I could hear their voices saying each word. The dialog will propel you along and you won't want to put it down.

Maggie needs more than an alibi; she needs a life outside of her characters. Saint Just and Sterling will definitely force her to interact with people if they have to drag her kicking and screaming. I believe the team of Maggie and Saint Just could only improve if the romance were to blossom. It would sure get the poacher off of Maggie. I am looking forward to the next book in the Saint Just series called MAGGIE BY THE BOOK, due out in August 2003.

Sensuality: Teasing.

Reviewed by Hunter McKenna
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted July 14, 2003

In paperback 2003.

Summary

Maggie Kelly is nothing if not resilient. She bounced back after getting fired from her old job as a writer of historical romances, reinventing herself as a mystery author. She bounced back when she discovered her lover -- who also happens to be her publisher -- cheating on her. And she bounces right back into her smoking habit whenever she tries to quit. But something just happened that's got tough-talking, quick-thinking Maggie swooning into her super-soft sofa cushions.

Something in the form of an incredibly sexy Englishman by the name of Saint Just. Alexandre Drake, Viscount Saint Just, to be exact. Tall, dark, handsome, with an accent to die for and charm to spare, he's everything she's ever dreamed of in a man. There's just one problem. He is her dream man. He's every woman's fantasy. He's the character who's made her a bestselling author. He's not real. No, he's not real -- but he is, for some reason, standing in the middle of Maggie's apartment. With the adorable, bumbling sidekick she created expressly for him right by his side -- and eating that piece of fried chicken she was saving for lunch.

What's a savvy, New York City writer to do when faced with the figments of her imagination -- in the flesh? Well, short of checking herself into Bellevue, she'd better get used to it. Because these guys aren't going anywhere -- at least not until they've given Maggie a little unsolicited editorial advice regarding her latest telling of their adventures. Still, it's not the worst thing in the world to have a roomie as gorgeous as Saint Just -- even if he is somewhat arrogant -- and prone to leaving the cap off the toothpaste.

But just as Maggie's getting used to her new houseguests, things start to get quite a bit more complicated -- in the "homicide" sense of the world. It seems her ex-lover, Kirk Toland, ever the inconsiderate cad, has had the nerve to die right there in her living room... of poisoning... after eating a dinner Maggie made. Her cooking isn't that bad -- is it? And if that weren't weird enough, Toland's death is soon followed by the murder of a colleague whom everyone knows Maggie hated.

So, the mystery writer has become the murder suspect. And the only sleuth who's really on Maggie's side is the one she invented.