From the author of the Sleuth Sisters Mysteries and Trailer Park Tales comes a new series, the Max and Lucy Mysteries.

Private Investigator Max Dunham is planning a vacation in sunny Mexico when two kids enter his office and ask for help hiring a hit man. They insist their lives are in danger and that murder is the only way they can protect themselves.

Max's disbelief is tempered by sympathy. The precocious girl and her taciturn brother are strangers to American society, having grown up in the Amazon jungle. They find much of life in the US incomprehensible, even silly. In addition to that, life has dealt them plenty of tragedy. The fact that they're contemplating murder indicates how stressed they are.

As Max gets to know Peter and Lucy, he's impressed. Intelligent beyond their years, they face ridicule from their schoolmates, indifference from their nanny, and, if they aren't lying or fantasizing, the possibility that one of them will soon be murdered. They fight back as best they can, and their methods are inventive and often humorous.

While Max doubts that murder's on the agenda, he can't let two odd kids go on plotting murder. Can he stop them? Can he help them? In the end, Max's question turns back on him. Can he live through spending time with the cutest little killer?