False Profits

Paula Woods

Smiley's prose is like butter, and she depicts her major and minor characters with a keen eye for the telling detail (a human resources manager's pageboy haircut is "black and heavy-handed and seemed better suited for someone with a pierced tongue") while the plot hums along like Tucker in her snazzy Porsche Boxster. These elements plus a rich mélange of supporting characters make for an amusing and satisfying read.
— The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

An engaging, down-to-earth heroine-a successful L.A. management consultant with a charming weakness for her Porsche Boxster-more than compensates for a predictable story line in Smiley's first novel. When investors accuse Tucker Sinclair of doctoring a business plan, they approach Sinclair's boss and mentor, Gordon Aames, and demand their $11 million back. Sinclair goes in search of the plan's primary author, a brash neurologist, Milton Polk, and discovers not her elusive doctor but a policeman with a Polaroid of the dead Polk. In an unlikely scenario, Sinclair injects herself into a charity luncheon given by the highly suspicious Wade Covington, a powerful man connected both to Aames and the murder victim. Clarification of Covington's murky relationship to Polk and of a convoluted insurance scam take up most of Sinclair's energy, though she finds time for sparkless visits with her ex-husband and skirmishes with her Aunt Sylvia, who's determined to get her hands on Sinclair's beachfront cottage. A romantic interest appears on the horizon in the last few pages, a clear indicator that this book hopes to be the first in a series. With fresher devices and plot turns, it should be a pleasure to see Sinclair in action again. Agent, Scott Miller at Trident Media Group. (Nov. 22) Forecast: Blurbs from Janet Evanovich and Elizabeth George plus a California author tour should ensure a good start for this first-time author. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Tucker Sinclair must "sharpen all her skills to survive the deadly jungle of spreadsheets" and clear her name in the world of high-stakes business in this debut, which has already been praised by Janet Evanovich and Elizabeth George. Smiley lives in California. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

On the fast track to a corner office, financial analyst Tucker Sinclair finds more than her promotion in jeopardy when her latest client's body washes ashore by the Venice Beach pier. Milton Polk is more than your average Hollywood hotshot. The prominent neurologist had delusions that Aames & Associates would write a business plan to attract $25 million of venture capital for his fledgling NeuroMed Labs. When Tucker recommends a more modest $3 million, investors led by a dentist named Mo Whitener scream for her head because the plan they received did propose a $25 million initial investment, supported by obviously inflated profit estimates. When Tucker tries to show Gordon Aames her original report, she finds the entire NeuroMed file snatched from under the unwary eye of Eugene, her administrative assistant, who shamefacedly admits that he left her files unattended during lunch. A trip to the lab under the suspicious eye of Francine Chalmers, Polk's office manager, raises more questions than it answers. Instead of the missing file, Tucker finds insurance claims for a number of fictitious patients, including herself. She also finds Aames's good friend Wade Covington searching Polk's files. But a summons from the LAPD asking her to ID Polk's corpse kicks Tucker's investigation into high gear as she struggles to save both her job and her shapely butt. Romantic byplay with her ex Eric Bergstrom and sexy Detective Deegan provide Tucker scant distraction from sleuthing: a lively debut.