Brownies, Bodies, and Breaking the Code

by J.L. Wilson

Jessie Patrokus has all the qualities that make a great software tester - she's diligent, she's curious and she doesn't give up. Those are just the qualities that might get her killed if she isn't careful. She'd just ventured into the dating world again after the death of her husband and had signed up with an online match-matcher, only to find a match who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. To complicate matters, a colleague turns up dead from eating the brownies she brought to the company's Christmas potluck and now Jessie is in the middle of a murder case. Gus Colcannon, a new programmer at the company, starts to ask a lot of questions and Jessie gets suspicious. That's when she finds she may have uncovered a terrorist plot aimed at several airlines and Gus is an undercover FBI agent, sent to ferret out the truth. But Jessie's the only one who has the evidence to prove what's going on and she's been set up as bait in a trap. Did Gus set the trap? Or is someone else at the company out to get her? Now all Jessie has to do is dodge an email stalker, help unravel the clues that her murdered co-worker left her, and try to avoid falling in love with Gus. Well, two out of three ain't bad.

216 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2007

About the author

I'm stepping away from Goodreads. I'll leave my profile here, but I won't be around much. My books are listed at https://bit.ly/JLWbooks and of course, there's my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/jayeAtplay

Happy reading!

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book listed as “romance with suspense” when I did a web search. That would make me think the primary theme was the romance but I think it’s the suspense. From the beginning all the way till the end Brownies, Bodies and Breaking The Code is packed with tension.

Jessie Patrokus is a software tester for Codebreakers. A company that has private contracts as well as government ones. Jessie is very good at her job because she never gives up. Unfortunately that asset in her job may be her undoing.

The day of the company potluck lunch changes Jessie’s life completely. Charlie Gordon died. Jessie was sure it was due to ingestion of the brownies she had made for the potluck. The labels had been switched and maybe he was allergic to something in them. She was panicked especially when the police wanted to question her. She was determined to find out what happened to Charlie. Nothing was going to stop her - an online stalker - a ‘supposed’ hunter right in her backyard - threats - being followed - nothing was going to get in her way. Obviously she had something that was important to someone but what was it?

Gus Colcannon started at Codebreakers very shortly before Charlie died. He is tall and very good looking but Jessie is suspicious. He doesn’t even dress like he belongs in Minnesota in the middle of winter. Supposedly he is here after a divorce and plans to go back to New Mexico soon. He doesn’t seem to know much about programming, testing or even software. Yet he wants Jessie’s trust and she is just not sure - too many questions - too few answers. He seems to be working with the police though and Jessie feels drawn to him despite all the questions.

Brownies, Bodies and Breaking the Code is a suspense filled ride from the very first pages to the very last page. Not only is there a good mystery and romance between the covers but refreshingly the main characters are middle-aged rather than young adults. It makes for a nice change.