***NYC Big Book Award 2024 WINNER for Romantic Suspense*** She wants in. He needs out. Moments from her small but pivotal role in A Very Crowded House, Harriet "Harry" Smith begins her own story where an Ivy League education, her wit, and talented two hands make no promises, least of all the promise of a happily-ever-after. A typically tough private investigator and criminology professor, Harry Smith distracts herself from heartbreak by diving headlong into her latest surveillance job. On a steamy New York City night, she sets out on foot, cocksure and reckless, landing face to face with Trey Popov, a serious rising star in the Trubetzkoy crime family whose eyelashes just might be worth killing for. She escapes the verboten interaction but when the two meet again, Harry plunges undercover as a wholesome schoolteacher who turns Trey's head despite his compulsion to climb the criminal ladder. Harry's unconventional, clandestine scheme and forbidden attraction combust in a violent disaster. All she can do is work toward justice for her murdered police detective-dad. Along the way, she hopes to rescue the good, bad guy too far down the wrong road to be saved. For Harry, doing the right thing is also the hardest thing, but crossing some lines isn't in your DNA when you bleed blue. Devastated by heartache, goaded by ambition, and blinded by attraction, Harry's allegiances falter, and the differences between academic theory and real-life prove that no one makes it out unchanged. Hell, some don't make it out at all. CONTENT GUIDANCE: This novel explores law enforcement and mafia crime and all that comes with it, including brief violence on the page.