Jerrilyn Farmer – författare

Mah-Jongg?

Yep. In hip Hollywood, that kitsch old game is fast becoming the next "new" obsession -- and that calls for a party! Madeline Bean and her charming partner Wesley Westcott are determined to throw a gonzo Chinese New Year banquet. But among the hot mah-jongg tiles, the steamy dim sum, and the frosty Singapore slings, no one expects to find one of the players ice-cold dead!

Meanwhile, in one of the historic celebrity mansions that Wesley is restoring as a sideline, a well-aimed crowbar uncovers a stash of precious objects -- including an antique mah-jongg set. As Madeline pieces together how these two events are connected, she must separate the yin from the yang to uncover a killer. It doesn''t take a fortune cookie to spell it out. There is always a price to pay...whether gambling at mah-jongg -- or murder.

When Holly Nichols sets her wedding date, trendy L.A. party-planner Madeline Bean decides to throw her top assistant the hippest and most lavish bridal shower on the planet. The guests embark on a "destination" party to a fabulous and exclusive spa/resort in Hawaii. The salt-rubs! The paraffin pedicures! The dead body in the mud bath! Ew.

It doesn''t help matters when Holly confesses to Maddie that she can''t really go through with the upcoming wedding after all. In her effort to smooth the matrimonial path for her dear friend, Madeline must track down the mystery man Holly may have married ten years earlier and never actually got around to divorcing. How hard can that be?

Well, with the elusive gentleman in question running from a gang of rare vegetable smugglers, the bridal shower guests imbibing in one "Bridesmaid Mojito" too many, the current fiancé developing an allergy to scandal, and a murderer on the loose, it looks like anything but clear sailing down the aisle for one of Mad Bean''s best employees.

The Pope is coming to breakfast, and Madeline Bean''s got frittatas on the skillet. What a coup for gourmet caterer Mad Bean and her company, the event-planning wizards, chosen to mastermind L.A.''s official welcoming extravaganza. Pulling off the early morning meal for His Holiness, and two thousand high profile bigwigs, sounds like great fun for the unflappable Ms. Bean.

But things quickly go from serene to sinister when a young priest turns up dead in the bed of an uninhibited Hollywood star, and a yellowed page of Latin scrawl, found tucked in an old book of mouthwatering Church recipes, reveals a mysterious Jesuit Brother''s shocking past. Even the course of Madeline''s ragged love life gets a jolt as charming Xavier Jones, the man who left her at the alter ten years ago, reappears and still won''t explain why he bugged out. With the Pope arriving any day, it''s up to Madeline to sort out this unholy mess of burnt brioche, tantalizing treasure, pesky naked starlets, and homicidal caterers-or a party that should go down in history could be history before it even begins.

Although not about to say "I do" anytime soon, hip party-planner Madeline Bean is no stranger to the phenomenon known as the LA wedding; the good, the bad and the kind where the party lasts longer than the marriage. Still, Maddie never expected to be the guest of Vivian Duncan, the West Coast''s grande dame of wedding consultants, at a lavish affair held amidst the dramatically lit fossils in the Nature Museum''s Hall of Dinosaurs. While checking out the glittering event, Maddie, with her keen event planner''s instinct, realizes something is not quite right, but what? The groom is on time. The bride is beautiful. And a corpse wearing a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the triceratops skeleton. Ah, yes. That.

With people disappearing and the bride in tears, Maddie just may be the next species to become extinct...unless she can reveal the murderer fast. Quicker than she can whip up a white chocolate wedding cake, Maddie follows the trail deep into dark jungles—urban and otherwise—amid tantalizing tales of smuggled gems, while fending off a nervous bridegroom, a crazed carjacker, and a half-naked ice-sculptor and his trusty chainsaw. Along the way, she discovers something old, something new, something deadly and something a wedding pro should never, ever do.

Although not about to say "I do" anytime soon, hip party-planner Madeline Bean is no stranger to the phenomenon known as the LA wedding; the good, the bad and the kind where the party lasts longer than the marriage.Still, Maddie never expected to be the guest of Vivian Duncan, the West Coast''s grande dame of wedding consultants, at a lavish affair held amidst the dramatically lit fossils in the Nature Museum''s Hall of Dinosaurs. While checking out the glittering event, Maddie, with her keen event planner''s instinct, realizes something is not quite right, but what? The groom is on time. The bride is beautiful. And a corpse wearing a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the triceratops skeleton. Ah, yes. That.

With people disappearing and the bride in tears, Maddie just may be the next species to become extinct...unless she can reveal the murderer fast. Quicker than she can whip up a white chocolate wedding cake, Maddie follows the trail deep into dark jungles—urban and otherwise—amid tantalizing tales of smuggled gems, while fending off a nervous bridegroom, a crazed carjacker, and a half-naked ice-sculptor and his trusty chainsaw. Along the way, she discovers something old, something new, something deadly and something a wedding pro should never, ever do.Although not about to say "I do" anytime soon, hip party-planner Madeline Bean is no stranger to the phenomenon known as the LA wedding; the good, the bad and the kind where the party lasts longer than the marriage. Still, Maddie never expected to be the guest of Vivian Duncan, the West Coast''s grande dame of wedding consultants, at a lavish affair held amidst the dramatically lit fossils in the Nature Museum''s Hall of Dinosaurs. While checking out the glittering event, Maddie, with her keen event planner''s instinct, realizes something is not quite right, but what? The groom is on time. The bride is beautiful. And a corpse wearing a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the triceratops skeleton. Ah, yes. That.

Mad Bean Events is on the job catering the glorious Hollywood season wrap party for the surprise hit gourmet game show, But when one of the key game show writers seems to have disappeared, Maddie′s producer friend needs a replacement -- fast. And who better to write culinary questions than Maddie? When Maddie joins the oddball crew of game show pros, she finds she has a talent for writing clues as well as following them -- since the office she takes over offers tantalizing hints as to the whereabouts of the missing writer. And Maddie aims to hit the jackpot by answering: Who wrote off the writer?

Jerrilyn Farmer′s #1 LA Times bestselling Madeline Bean Culinary mysteries continue to prove to be scrumptiously hip, savoury, and irresistible. In this mass market reprint of her second hardcover, Mad Bean is at it again as a search for the perfect sax becomes deadly.

The dazzling Jazz Ball for the prestigious Woodburn School of Music promises to be event planner Madeline Bean′s greatest triumph to date. All the rich and mighty of L.A. society′s fund-raising crowd seem to be seriously enjoying the festivities. Of course, then everything goes straight to hell. Having to contend with a heap of celebrity trash, a ranting vocal coach, his rabid bitch of a girlfriend, and duelling preteen music prodigies is bad enough. But when the furious bidding war for the prize item to be auctioned off -- a one-of-a-kind, sterling silver Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone -- almost results in bloodshed, and the perfect sax subsequently vanishes, Madeline can′t help but wonder what else could possibly go wrong.

Well he could arrive home to discover a dead body in her bedroom. Her ex-beau LAPD Detective Chuck Honnett could start making insistent "take me back" noises. And then there′s the red-haired stranger who seems to be stalking her. All in all, the lethal looniness surrounding the theft of a priceless instrument is threatening to drive Mad quite mad. With the jazz cool, the sax "hot," and the martinis smoking, it may drive her quite dead.