Wilmington, N.C., bar owner Jersey Barnes has supposedly retired from PI work, but she can't resist helping a friend's brother in Ocean's fun third mystery to feature the lingerie-loving sleuth (after 2008's Southern Poison
). Morgan Garland has recently inherited his father's popular restaurant, Argo's, which caters to the rich, famous and, as it turns out, the blackmailed and prescription drug–addicted. Via a hidden bug Morgan's father had apparently installed, Morgan overhears troubling gossip at the restaurant's popular Green Table. Jersey soon meets sexy DEA agent Brad Logan, who's investigating Argo's role in an illegal drug scheme. They swap intel in a case connected to a long ago crime witnessed by medical students who stole a duffle bag full of ill-gotten gains to finance their future. While updating Jersey's frustrated love connection with her bar co-owner, Ox Oxendine, Ocean blends smart whodunit action with the humorous hijinks of Jersey's spunky 80-year-old dad. (July)
