The Missing Ink
by Karen E. Olson

Murder leaves a mark

Brett Kavanaugh is a tattoo artist and owner of The Painted Lady, catering to high-profile clients in Las Vegas. But in her free time, she does a little investigating too—because murder really gets under her skin. . . .

When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her fiancé embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows. The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client and the name she wanted on the tattoo isn't the name of her fiancé.

An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar. And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her? Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger. But she intends to see justice done, since death, like a tattoo, is permanent. . . .

Other Books by Karen E. Olson

Ink Flamingos
A Tattoo Shop Mystery #4

Driven to Ink
A Tattoo Shop Mystery #3

Pretty In Ink
A Tattoo Shop Mystery #2

Shot Girl
An Annie Seymour Mystery #4

Dead of the Day
An Annie Seymour Mystery #3

Sacred Cows

Karen E. Olson's Bio

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, I grew up in the city's suburbs. Early on, I developed a love of books and great pizza. I wrote my first "book" when I was 9.

I went to Roanoke College in southwestern Virginia to study literature. In addition to reading a lot of dead white male British writers, I worked on the school newspaper. Woodward and Bernstein had inspired me, and I still wanted to write fiction, but thought I could supplement that with a newspaper job.

I found a job as a reporter at a weekly newspaper in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. That was when I discovered my salary made me eligible for food stamps. I also realized I wouldn't be taking down any presidents, since my first story was an interview with the town's new dog warden and then I spent a lot of time at planning and zoning and school board meetings. I hopped from small paper to small paper, until finding out I could make a decent wage working nights as a copy editor.

Being a vampire wasn't so bad, and I started writing fiction in the middle of the night when I got home from work.

I had been reading a lot of Oprah-type books, in which women characters spent a lot of time being victims. I discovered that in mysteries, the women protagonists were smart and didn't allow themselves to be victimized. I decided that was the sort of protagonist I wanted to create.

Annie Seymour is a tough-talking, smart police reporter at the fictional New Haven Herald. She's not as cynical as she thinks she is, but she has strong ethics and a curiosity that's necessary to be a good journalist. I wanted her to live and work in New Haven, because it has such diverse neighborhoods, a gritty past and great restaurants.

Annie and I have a common bond in that we're both longtime journalists, but she's a much more fearless reporter than I ever was. She's also chosen to continue to be a reporter, whereas I discovered I really enjoyed editing and page design.

I left the newspaper business in 2006 after a 20-year career. I now edit a medical journal part-time at Yale. It was not an easy decision to make, but it's made life a lot more simple, and I have more time to devote to my fiction writing. Also, unlike Annie, I've settled down with my husband, a former journalist now political flack for a high-ranking elected state official, and our daughter.

I have to admit, however, we do both enjoy the thrill of a good story.