The Business of Love

Dedicated to the black-owned, Washington, D.C., hotel chain started by her deceased father, 28-year-old public relations director Maya Woodson anxiously anticipates Pharaoh Hotel Corporation's upcoming IPO. But Maya is soon ruffled by Trajan Matthews, who is hired by Pharaoh's co-founder and Maya's beloved surrogate father, Jerome, to pique investor interest. Though a gorgeous financial relations expert, Trajan offends Maya with his lack of respect for her position and his money-grubbing Wall Street ways. Winters's plot takes several unlikely turns after the inopportune murder of an elderly hotel resident puts a damper on the business at hand. A coincidental reunion between Trajan and a childhood friend, a fellow cop who is sent on the case, allows him to reconnect with his ghetto past. In the process, Trajan predictably wins over Maya, who's now obsessed with finding the killer on her own, despite the inevitable danger and the shocking secrets she begins uncovering about her own past and those in her inner circle. (Aug.)