Bartender, I'll Have Another Murder

When the hospitality industry turns into a hostile industry …

Charlie Champagne's life as a Las Vegas Catering and Convention Services Manager is one of hectic schedules and frequent 24/7 chaos. Keeping the peace, spinning bad news into good, being therapist, complaint department and fix-it person all rolled into one just comes with the territory of a CCSM.

But solving murders is not usually included with the job, so Charlie's intuition, investigative powers and steady hand are about to be put to the test.

An otherwise ordinary woman with an ordinary life, a loving husband and a collection of beloved pets, Charlie also happens to have some extra-ordinary psychic abilities, which might come in handy as she works with Rex, a local detective, to get to the bottom of the mayhem that has been visited upon 'her' hotel, the Paradise Spectacular Resort Hotel and Casino.

Meet a cast of quirky characters, most of whom find their way to the Libations on the Lobby ("LOL"), the ParaSpec's bustling haven for gossip, where Charlie often goes to de-stress from VIP events and putting out fires, all while hearing random melodies playing in her head that help her navigate the sometimes un-navigable.

Will Charlie prevail and help solve a string of hideous murders, or will she herself fall prey to the murderer?

Dick & Lisa Lynn Backus are a husband-and-wife team, writing as one. Much of their joint inspiration comes in post-lunch brainstorming sessions punctuated by note taking, jumping for joy, laughing, conspiring … and sometimes forgetting, which leans to later arguments. These sessions often work best when lubricated by strong measures of champagne, cabernet and chocolate. "Bartender, I'll Have Another Murder" is their first collaborative effort.

Dick is a retired career traffic engineer, with no track record in the book marketplace. He admits, however, to a long desire to write, and has a few unfinished and unpublished works stuck in a desk drawer somewhere. Lisa Lynn has had many stints as a catering and conventions services director/manager – 18 of them in Las Vegas – like this book's protagonist. She has also co-written a non-fiction book entitled "Catering and Convention Service Survival Guide in Hotels and Casinos" as well as several foodie and wedding columns in Las Vegas-based periodicals.