"amusing romantic suspense"

In Baltimore, Mia DeNero received her diploma from a bodyguard school after almost accidentally killing the instructor and needing her sister the lawyer to receive it. She opened the Guardian Angel Protective Services, but has no clients perhaps because no one can picture a midget like Mia keeping someone safe. True crime writer Niccolo Caruso hires Mia when he claims he is in danger because he is writing a Mafia expose. To keep him safe she allows him to move into her apartment with her.

Nick is actually undercover as a member of the FBI Organized Crime Investigation Unit trying to crack a money laundering scheme. He is using Mia to get at the uncle of her brother-in-law Alfredo Graziano who claims mob connections as he frequents the restaurant beneath his bodyguard's apartment. As he and Mia become better acquainted they fall in love, but he knows that once she learns the truth she may never trust him let alone forgive him for his duplicity.

Though Mia is a dingbat, fans will appreciate this amusing romantic suspense though the intrigue appears late. The story line is humorous as Mia does nothing right even when she protects her client because the assaulter is a kid with a water gun. Still she believes in herself so much that Nick admires her spunk and dedication as much as her body. Fans of the Baltimore based series will go MAD ABOUT MIA, a lovable kook.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 26, 2003

Award-winning author Millie Criswell has won a loyal following with her gift for creating unforgettable characters with lots of humor and heart. Now comes her newest confection of a novel—a story filled with delicious passion and a delirious sense of fun!

Summary

It might be hard to picture impish Mia DeNero as a bodyguard, but what she lacks in size she makes up for in determination. So when straight-laced Nick Caruso walks into her office and says he needs protection from the mob because of a book he's writing, she doesn't hesitate to take the job. Moving the studious author into her apartment seems like the best way to protect him from shady characters. But soon after he's settled in, the thick, nerdy glasses come off and Mia starts wondering who's going to protect her from this irresistible new client.

Posing as a geeky author on the run from the mob is making FBI agent Nick Caruso crazy. But if it will help him shut down a money laundering operation out of Little Italy, he can ignore the wimp jokes for a little while longer. It's harder to ignore the sassy woman he hired to be his "bodyguard." There are a number of things he'd like Mia to do to his body, and guarding it isn't on the list. As things heat up—on the job and in the apartment—Nick begins to see he's in danger of losing his heart to the woman he's deceived, and who is determined to save his life...