Jolene Jackson pulls into her home town of Kickapoo, Texas, during a sweltering heat wave wishing for all the world to be anywhere else. The mayor of Kickapoo has been murdered, and Jolene's duty is to keep her flamboyant septuagenarian mother, Lucille, out of jail and off the suspect list. Caught between salacious gossip at the Dairy Queen and a power-hungry deputy, Jolene soon realizes that the only way to escape Kickapoo with her life--and her sanity--is to sleuth out the murderer in a town full of likely suspects.The first in a series of Jolene Jackson mysteries, Hot Enough to Kill is a classic whodunit in the spirit of Agatha Christie or even Nancy Drew. Author Paula Boyd populates Kickapoo with larger-than-life characters (this is Texas, after all) and enough surprises to keep you guessing until the very end.

No matter how hard she tries to escape her Texas roots, and her mother, Jolene Jackson finds herself back in Kickapoo to deal with both. This time, there's an RV park going in behind her mother's house and they want Lucille's property too. She's not selling and joins up with a dubious group that just rolled into town to save lizards to try and stop the park. Lucille's assault on a county truck gets her hauled to jail just in time for the horny toad rally, complete with protestors, anti-protestors, a slogan-painted camper and a caged naked lizard girl. The would-be-park land owner goes missing, the head lizard turns up dead, rabbit chow is raining down on Main Street, and quicker than you can say "I'll have an iced tea with that chicken basket," Jolene realizes that something much bigger than horny toads is at stake. And when her own family skeletons pop out of closet, she's got to find out who's after money, who's after blood, and who has a deadly case of Turkey Ranch Road Rage.

Book 2--The 2nd Jolene Jackson MysteryWINNER of the 2001 WILLA Literary Award for Best Original PaperbackJolene’s back in Kickapoo for her mother’s annual birthday bash at the DQ, which is trouble enough, but when her checkered high school past comes back to haunt her, the problems turn decidedly deadly.Thanks to her old sweetheart, Sheriff Jerry Don Parker, high school wasn’t that bad for Jolene–if you don’t count the scandal with the non-teaching English teacher, the daily death threats from a jealous rival or the cocky come-ons from the perverted principal.Okay, maybe things weren’t that great, but with bodies turning up faster than beer cans in the river, they’re a darned sight worse now. And it doesn’t help matters that old rival Rhonda-the-Lying-Slut Davenport wants Jolene to be the next one to take a dive at Dead Man Falls.Review"...will make you laugh out loud and wish for more." -- Linda Huntley Wills, Rockwall Texas Success"Boyd's characters are eccentric and her situations outrageous. The dialog is terrific and the plot exciting. Highly recommended." -- Sally Powers, I Love a Mystery"If you love Janet Evanovich or Joan Hess, then you will loooove Texas' own Jolene Jackson." -- Cozies, Capers & Crimes"Jolene's rich wit as she describes her corner of Texas and its inhabitants is downright hilarious." -- Margaret Baker, Baldwin Ledger"Paula Boyd has a way with Texas humor, weaving a great mystery that's ingeniously plotted." -- Pam Stone, MyShelf.comFrom the PublisherThe Jolene Jackson Mystery Series includes Hot Enough to Kill, Dead Man Falls, and Turkey Ranch Road Rage, coming Fall 2002.