Art consultant Ellen Santiago Laws thinks the spark has gone out of her life. Five years a widow, she has a grown daughter, a senile mother and very few prospects for adventure. But after she serves on a jury that convicts a man for murdering the flashy head of an exclusive matchmaking service catering to the wealthy, overworked Southern California elite, she discovers that not all the evidence came out in the courtroom—and the victim might not have been quite as virtuous as the prosecution made her out to be.

Ellen begins her investigation into the chic world of California matchmaking, where she enrolls as a love-starved client.

What she discovers is enough to make anyone scared single, but when she is matched with a not-so-unattractive lawyer, life starts to get a lot more interesting. Just as it seems things are looking up, though, the real killer catches on and Ellen has to stay cool—to stay alive.

She has taught English literature and French in the United States and abroad. Catherine and her husband currently live in San Diego, California, where, in addition to fiction, her business is writing highly specialized permanent residency petitions for exceptionally talented immigrants to the United States.