A Hard Man Is Good To Find

Synopsis

Here's the front page stroy: Pulitzer Prize-winning, buttoned-up journalist, Harry Crandall, becomes publisher of small-town newspaper. Firing reporters left and right, he makes no friends in the newsroom, especially not with the cute, rough-around-the-edges editor, Jamie McLane. She's got a pool going--first reporter who can find out why the cold-hearted-but-extremely gorgeous taskmaster had to leave New York takes the jackpot. And she plans to be the winner...if she can keep from falling for the jerk. Here's the curve ball: Turns out Crandall thinks McLane's one of the best natural reporters he's ever met. Sure, she needs practice--some late nights; a little field work; a lot of arguing behind closed doors that leaves him ready for a cold shower. His reporter's instincts tell him she's working hard to get the story on him, but if she wants him to reveal his sources, she'll have to be willing to give him something of hers in return!

Author's abstract

Jaimie McLane has been running the Nortown Journal for years, but when her boss retires, he brings in a hot shot New York Times reporter to take over. Harry Crandall may be nice to look at but he's hard as nails and has the personality of a grizzly bear. But as things begin to unravel all around her, Jaimie begins to see the man Harry could be, the man he was before his life fell apart, the man she just might fall in love with.

Reviews

"If you can read the first paragraph of "The Sexiest Dead Man Alive, and not buy this book...you may want to seek therapy."

Editorial Reviews — From Booklist

Why would Pulitzer Prize winner Harry Crandall leave his prestigious job at the New York Times to run a Podunk paper in Connecticut? The staff pool on what he's done to deserve this exile even exceeds the popularity of the morbid Dead Pool, both of which are run by editor Jaimie McLane. Jaimie doesn't trust Harry, and Harry doesn't like being in Nortown any more than Jaimie likes having him there.

Trying to be friends, Jaimie invites him to play baseball with the staff; then, when he breaks his leg, she feels obligated to take care of him. Harry soon falls in love with her, and much to her annoyance, Jaimie falls for him, too. But their brief idyll is interrupted by an investigation into the death of a boy and his puppy and the arrival of Harry's pregnant ex-lover.

Known for her humor in The Sexiest Dead Man Alive [BKL Mr 15 04], Blackwood has blended comedy perfectly with suspense and romance. And readers who like feisty, resourceful heroines, such as Harley Jane Kozak's Wollie Shelley in Dating Dead Men (2003) and Lori Foster's Ray Vereker in unexpected (2003), will dig Jaimie, too.

Shelley Mosley
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