Kate Johnson: Ugley Business

Ugley Business

Sophie Green, the worst spy the British secret service has ever seen, is back and she’s in love—with a car.

Her best friend is being stalked, and to find out why, Sophie has to solve a murder committed fifteen years ago. Complicating the case is Docherty, whose brooding eyes and Irish accent get Sophie almost as hot as his Aston Martin—and her partner Luke, who may be sexy as hell but has all the interpersonal skills of a speeding bullet. Not that Sophie’s going to allow the state of her love life to distract her from her mission. Much.

Murder plots, stolen supercars, coolheaded mercenaries and mysterious artifacts? Must be a Tuesday.

Ugley Business

Things are about to get pretty.

Warning, this title contains the following: guns, swearing, sex, dark thoughts about cheerful people, incomprehensible Britishisms, and painful sarcasm. Book two of the Sophie Green Mysteries. For an excerpt, click here.

Available in digital format (ISBN: 1-59998-470-9) June 2007 and paperback October 2007 (ISBN: 1-59998-718-X) from Samhain Publishing.

Retailers who sell Ugley Business online include: Amazon.com, Blackwell or Barnes & Noble in the US; Amazon.co.uk, WHSmith or Waterstones in the UK. It's also listed on Amazon's other international sites, including Amazon.ca. Currently, I don't know any Australian or New Zealand sites that sell it: if you find one, please tell me!

Check your local bookstore and let me know if you see it! If you can't find Ugley Business in your local bookstore, don't despair; just take the ISBN (above) and ask them to order it for you. It's listed in international catalogues, so you should be able to order it anywhere.

Or you could throw a massive tantrum; it's more fun, and it might still get you results.

"Move over Stephanie Plum, Sophie Green has arrived!" Jan Crow, ParaNormalRomance Reviews

"A rollicking good time from beginning to end…Ugley Business is good to the last drop. One thing I will say for her is that Sophie Green is addictive." Kathy Samuels, Romance Reviews Today

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Random stuff about Ugley Business

Ugley is a real village. And it's really a couple of miles from where I live. And, incidentally, there's a real Ugley Women's Institute (but sadly, no Ugley Working Men's Club).

Angel's church is, however, fictional. So don't go looking for, you know, crypts and stuff.

The location of the ball is based very loosely on St Michael's Mount in Cornwall. It's an island that's linked to the mainland by a causeway while the tide is out, and it's quite magical.

Opening scenes: Hellogoodbye, Here (In Your Arms). A bit more of a club style than I usually like, but in essence it's a good song (although some of those chord changes sound an awful lot like a Maroon 5 song sometimes). It captures the loveliness of waking up next to Luke.

The 'morning after' in Ireland, when Sophie wakes up half-dressed and hungover. The Corrs, Old Town. "She's broke his heart and that is rough, but in the end he'll soon recover." This is from a great Unplugged session (before they got all commercial and sold out. Bah!).

When Luke is being a dick (and I know, there are many moments to choose from) Sophie goes home and puts on Shawn Colvin to calm herself down. The song I was thinking of is Matter Of Minutes, where just the opening chords make me feel better.

After the (nth) break-up, when Sophie is driving home and wishing it was raining, she's thinking of Christ Isaak's I Wonder, and Sheryl Crow's No One Said It Would Be Easy. Heartbreak songs: need I say more?

Tammy's accident is scored to Crowded House's very heartfelt Lester, which was written about the Finns' dog after he was hit by a car. "I will change if Lester lives: not mess him 'round, just 'cos I own him."

After Sophie gets herself back in gear she's more defiant about Luke and the effect he has on women, soundtracked to Abba's Angel Eyes: "One look and you're hypnotised."

Driving down to Cornwall she puts Garbage on the CD player. I prefer the first album for real angry-girl music especially Supervixen, As Heaven Is Wide, Not My Idea and Vow, although there are some lovely dark moments in the second album too, notably You Look So Fine. Garbage is great energising angry-girl music: it keeps the rage going without getting too melancholy.

Interestingly, I didn't have a soundtrack for losing the Aston. I ought to have, but I couldn't find anything tragic enough.

The closing moments belong to The Feeling, Fill My Little World. I love this band. They make everything shiny and pretty, they're funny and very, very good, especially live. This song could almost be describing Luke and his attitude to Sophie: "Hey show some love, you ain't so tough, come fill my little world right up."