S.M. Pitra

Life is finally looking up for Casey Svaboda--struggling fabric artist, devoted cat mama, and single, self-professed perimenopausal pain in the posterior. Casey's just landed a primo "temp" assignment with Somerville Staffing, a successful, small employment agency in downtown St. Paul. The perks of the position are to die for...a stylish 33rd floor office, complimentary contract parking, and an unattached employer, Stewart Somerville, who's a dead ringer for James Bond, "007." Could life get much better than this? Casey soon discovers, though, that things aren't quite as harmonious at Somerville Staffing as they appear on the surface. There's definite tension between Somerville and Elliott Mankovicz, the company's undistinguished Director of Operations. Tension and some strange goings-on that just don't seem to add up. But money is tight and Casey desperately needs this new position to keep her furry felines, Thelma and Louise, in cat food and to afford the rent on her beloved tiny bungalow, affectionately nicknamed "the hobbit house." Just do your job and mind your own business, Casey repeatedly reminds herself. At least she was luckier than the poor, young hooker just pulled from the Mississippi River. And then one of the small staffing company's principals goes missing...