With its seven-foot snakes and nasty horses, Florida ranch country can be as dangerous as the mean streets of any big city. Sherri Travis doesn’t do country. She likes it even less when she meets Clay Adams’ psychotic neighbors and finds a dead man in the back of her pickup. With fairy lights dancing through the Spanish moss and violent men closing in, the surprise birthday party Sherri plans for Clay turns deadly. And while it isn't the party Sherri hoped for, it's a good one just the same.

Award-winning mystery author Phyllis Smallman's writing has appeared in Spinetingler and Omnimystery magazines. After being shortlisted for the Debut Dagger in the UK and the Malice Domestic in the US, Phyllis's debut mystery won the first Arthur Ellis Unhanged Arthur in 2007. In 2009, Margarita Nights was shortlisted for Best First Novel by the Crime Writers of Canada. In 2010, Good Morning America named the Sherri Travis Mysteries one of the six top series for a summer read. Her fourth book, Champagne for Buzzards, was one of three mysteries chosen as a best cottage read by Zoomer Magazine for summer 2011. Phyllis worked in a library and as a potter before turning to a life of crime. Martini Regrets is her sixth mystery novel. Depending on the time of year, she can be found on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, or Manasota Beach, Florida. Visit Phyllis's website at phyllissmallman.com.

Phyllis Smallman's profile page

"The dialogue is crisp, the jokes are funny and the setting as nutty as any city slicker can believe."

Globe and Mail

"Smallman knows how to crank up the reader’s tension . . . and her portrayal of Florida and its residents seems spot on."

National Post

“the best tale by Phyllis Smallman yet. Sherri sparkles with all the rhinestone glitter and trailer-trash heart of gold a reader could hope for. The conversational dialogue around the kitchen table, and the blunt, animal-like confrontational climax, reveals Smallman has hit her stride.”

Don Graves, The Hamilton Spectator