[Iris Thorne Mysteries 02] • Slow Squeeze

Iris Thorne survived the purge following McKinney Alitzer's chain of scandals, which were spectacular, even by the standards of the early nineties. The murders, money-laundering, and million-dollar embezzlement were front-page dirt - and rumor has it that Iris knows where the bucks are buried. But even gold dust settles, and Iris has come out on top: she's the firm's highest-paid and most senior investment counselor. And when the smog permits, she can see all the way from her corner office to the East L.A. neighborhood where she grew up. But happiness is a rare commodity in Iris's private life. She and John Somers, her LAPD lover, have been together over a year, and neither his dog nor his hostile teenage daughter has stopped growling. Still more ominous, John's ex - the Natural Woman - is floating the notion of a reunited family for the sake of the kid. John is wavering.... It's all hitting Iris hard, and in a business where even your friends go for your throat if they smell blood, she can't afford to let her guard down for a second. At least her convertible's faithful - to the repair shop, anyway - and life always looks a little better with the top down on an open stretch of California highway. Enter - on purple three-inch heels - the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow's a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow who wants Iris to put her Southern dollars to work. She's brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she's a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing like hell in her head, Iris can't help but like this bold and bawdy gal. With sexy office colleague Art Silva in tow, Barbie and Iris head to the wrong end of Sunset for a night of margaritas at a dining-and-dancingMexican heaven. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations - both physical and financial - everyone seems to be making a play for something. The squeeze is on, but its anybody's guess who's zooming whom. Then Barbie's found dead the way she lived - in bed, in an excl