A Holland Reads: Protocol by Kathleen Valenti

Book details:

Protocol (A Maggie O’Malley Mystery)

Medical Thriller/Mystery

1st in Series

Henery Press (September 5, 2017)

Paperback: 276 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1635112399

E-Book ASIN: B072JZK43D

About this book:

Freshly minted college graduate Maggie O’Malley embarks on a career fueled by professional ambition and a desire to escape the past. As a pharmaceutical researcher, she’s determined to save lives from the shelter of her lab. But on her very first day she’s pulled into a world of uncertainty. Reminders appear on her phone for meetings she’s never scheduled with people she’s never met. People who end up dead.

With help from her best friend, Maggie discovers the victims on her phone are connected to each other and her new employer. She soon unearths a treacherous plot that threatens her mission—and her life. Maggie must unlock deadly secrets to stop horrific abuses of power before death comes calling for her.

Meet the author - Kathleen Valenti

When Kathleen Valenti isn’t writing page-turning mysteries that combine humor and suspense, she works as a nationally award-winning advertising copywriter. Protocol is her debut novel and the first of the Maggie O’Malley mystery series. Kathleen lives in Oregon with her family where she pretends to enjoy running.

Author Links
Webpage – www.kathleenvalenti.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorkathleenvalenti/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/KathyValenti1
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16773270.Kathleen_Valenti

Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N kobo iTunes

Character guest post:

You know what they say about first impressions? Today I’m getting ready to make the most important one of my life.

Sure, I’ve done the usual assortment of debuts. The first day of middle school (which was also my first day of school as a half-orphan). The algebra speed round to secure my position as Mathletes’ anchor. Interviews for the pharmaceutical research program at the university.

(That is the “usual assortment,” right? Just checking.)

But today…today is the big one. My first day of my first real job.

I’ve worked before, of course. I was a waitress/cashier/busperson/janitor at O’Malley’s Pizzeria. Since my father’s the owner, that meant a less extensive hiring and onboarding process.

“Grab a dish towel, lass.”

That was pretty much the extent of it.

This was the summer Mom got sick. The summer of vehicle restorations and doctor’s appointments and hope lost and found. The summer everything changed, including me.

But now all that’s behind me and everything is ahead of me. The career I studied for. The position I dreamed of. Everything is going according to plan.

Except my wardrobe.

I study my reflection in the mirror, tilting my head this way and that, as though the angle, some kind of trick of light, will improve the image.

No such luck.

I’m drowning in my company-issued button-down, my shoulders the only point of contact with the ecru Polyblend. My skirt, plucked from the clearance rack at Penny’s, kisses my stark-white shins.

I look like a nautically-themed rectangle.

I unzip my skirt and stuff the shirt into the waistband then re-zip. Slightly better, but there’s still the matter of my hair, long and wild and arranged in a style that might be generously described as “carefree.” I wind it into a topknot, secure the red mass with an elastic and re-examine my reflection.

Better. Ish.

I suppose improvements could be made. A swipe of lipstick. A fluff of powder. But it’s almost 8:45 and I don’t want to be late.

First impressions, right?

So I shove a bagel between my teeth, grab the keys to the Studebaker and my new-to-me cellphone, and head for the door.

I’m ready for a fresh start. A new chapter. A chance to define my life instead of the other way around.

From first impression to last, this is going to be a great day.

I can just feel it.