Drop Me at the Corner of Sex and Love: The Alphaville Mysteries, Book I

Despite the many wildly attractive single men in Alphaville, Detective Kayla Ashburn has remained gun-shy since the newsworthy collapse of her marriage two years ago, when she discovered her husband was a drug-dealer who only wanted a wife on the inside. She's made a new friend, Shane, a gay transmale, who's safe and fun to hang out with and she spends most of her free time with him. Then, one night, she meets Luke through a mutual friend and he asks her for a ride because he's flat broke. Luke begins to stir up romantic feelings in Kayla that have remained buried for too long. But he also has disturbing connections to a nightclub named Marionettes Kayla is investigating. Things get darker when the investigation of the nightclub turns into a homicide case, and it looks like Luke, for all his protestations of innocence, is more deeply connected with the mystery than he's letting on. Kayla's already had one man in her life try and use her for her police connections. Does she want to go there again? But she can't get Luke out of her mind. And how can a man who plays the piano as dazzlingly as Luke does be involved in anything criminal? She knows she has to solve the case she's on, both as a cop and as a woman, but will the solution show her that in giving Luke that ride she made a course change in her own life that will take her to places in the heart no man has ever taken her to before?