Keeping Secrets	Night Songs
by Penny Mickelbury

Keeping Secrets & Night Song are the first two books in the Mimi Paterson/Gianna Malione mystery series. Mimi and Gianna are lovers, but often find their professional duties clash. Navigating their private and personal lives sometimes requires taking delicate steps through a tension filled minefield. Great characters and engaging plots make these books a must have for anyone who enjoys mystery-thrillers.

Mimi is a reporter for the local newspaper and Gianna is the head of DC's hate crimes unit. Both feel a deep responsibility to the public: Mimi to inform it, Gianna to protect it. The question that usually drives a wedge between them is how much should the public know and when. A community can better protect itself if it knows what killers/criminals are hiding in their midst. However, murderers read the paper, too. Revealing too much information could jeopardize the investigation and/or put Gianna's life in danger.

In an attempt to keep their professional lives from spilling into their personal lives, Mimi and Gianna launch their own separate investigations. This technique allows Mickelbury to give the mystery lover a rare treat--we get to seeing a crime being solved using two different angles/strategies. Eventually, the investigations overlap in unsuspecting ways, leaving the lovers no choice but to confront each other--and a killer.

Mimi and Gianna first meet in Keeping Secrets. Someone is killing closeted gay people. The victims are married men and women who are tired of living a lie. Having finally found the courage to come out, a killer silences them forever. Mimi is writing a story on murders that Gianna refuses to admit are connected. Their desire for each other can't be denied--but how do you nurture a personal relationship with a professional adversary?

Mimi finds herself again treading on Gianna's turf in Night Songs when she looks into the disappearance of two prostitutes. Gianna knows that a vicious killer who likes throwing knives has been using black prostitutes for target practice. Unlike the previous case, DC's finest are not scrambling to solve the crime. Gianna has to fight to get the year old case assigned to the hate crimes unit. How long will it be before Mimi connects the dots herself and uncovers the bloody trail of broken bodies?

I'm looking forward to reading the other two books in the series: Love Notes and Darkness Descending (the most recent). I can't wait to see how the relationship between Mimi and Gianna evolves and the mysteries they find themselves drawn into.

To purchase these or other books in the Mimi Paterson/Gianna Malione series, visit the Kings Crossing Bookstore