A Cadger's Curse - The Robert Burns Secret, is the first in the DD McGil Literary Series. It takes you from an exciting incident in Robert Burns life in the 1700's to Chicago in the 21st Century. The past meets the present when an artifact worth millions is uncovered. Is it real or is it faked? And who would kill for it? And how is it connected to the problems at HI-Data and to DD McGil's dead fiance?
A CADGER’S CURSE - THE ROBERT BURNS SECRET Midnight Ink November 2009
A Cadger's Curse revolves around a true incident in Rabbie Burns’ life when he scratched a Jacobite verse on the window of the Lion’s Head Inn in Stirling with a diamond tip pen. As the verse gained fame, Burns had to rush back to the Inn to break the window so he would escape being accused of treason. The pieces of that broken window along with a handwritten poem of Burns turn up in the present day, and they’re worth millions. Then the treasure is stolen. This mystery is woven into today’s corporate world where high tech counterfeiting and murder threaten to destroy the priceless Burns artifacts for all time.Working over Christmas isn’t all bad. For insurance investigator DD McGil, who lost her fiancé two years ago, a routine job offers welcome distraction. But who could guess that running employee background checks at Hi-Data, a major software company in Chicago’s Silicon Valley, would lead to three dead bodies, counterfeit money, and a killer on her tail?
The electrocuted corpse of a Hi-Data partner, who just happens to be her dead fiance’s step-brother, is only the first nasty surprise in this deadly web of corporate treachery. Is it possible that her aunt’s newfound Robert Burns discovery—a literary treasure worth millions if authenticated—is somehow connected?
Relying on her own tools of the trade and the preternatural fact-finding skills of her antiquarian bookseller friend Tom Joyce, DD slowly pieces together a sordid case of high tech villainy, which turns out to be shockingly linked to her fiancé’s mysterious death.
Professional Reviews
Publishers Weekly - 9/28/09
Madsen's promising debut, the first in a new cozy series set in Chicago, introduces DD McGil, a 38-year-old freelance insurance investigator and former English professor who's a whiz at breaking and entering. Two days before Christmas, a case takes DD to a computer company, Hi-Data, where she stumbles on the corpse of Ken Gorden, a partner at HI-Data who happens to be the half brother of DD's late fiance, who apparently jumped to his death from a high balcony. Since DD despised Ken, she fears the police will suspect her of murder. Meanwhile, DD's Aunt Elizabeth (aka the Scotish Dragon) arrives for the holidays with what she claims is a rare Robert Burns manuscript. Tom Joyce, DD's antiquarian bookseller friend, offers to help with research into the manuscript. Well-drawn characters and a suspensful plot will leave readers looking forward to the next installment. (Nov.)
Library Journal - 9/09
DD McGil, an insurance investigator, is hired to do a close background check on four candidates for high-level jobs at HI-Data, a cutting edge software ompany in Chicago. When she arrives at its headquarters, she finds the body of her late fiance's brother. Then her aunt arrives from Scotland, bringing with her what may be a long-lost unpublished Robert Burns manuscript. VERDICT This debut series will appeal to readers who prefer their mysteries soft-boiled and seasoned with a dash of literary sleuthing.
Following several murders, means, motive, and opportunity all point to out-of-work actresses Bootsie Kittredge and Babs Harrison. Their claims of righteousness and lack of guilt seem fabricated, thanks to a cheerfull announcement made to the patrons
