The Jinx

The Jinx
Jennifer Sturman

Rachel Benjamin's life might look glamorous, but she has worked into the early morning on more nights, cancelled more weekend plans and slept in more Holiday Inns in small industrial towns than she cares to count (standard practice in the business of mergers and acquisitions).And that picture of her on the recent cover of Fortune? It inspired a reprise of her grandmother's favorite lecture, the one titled "You don't want to be one of those career gals, do you?" (Other popular hits include "Have you met anyone nice?" and "I just want to go to your wedding before I die.")But this week Rachel's job is taking her to Boston, where in between work obligations she plans to squeeze in quality time with her promising new boyfriend. They've just hit the six-month mark and things are going so well, Rachel's not even worried anymore that she'll jinx it.There are just a few little problems: Her friend's been attacked and a serial killer is on the loose–and the two might actually be related. Oh, and her promising new boyfriend? He seems to be squeezing in quality time with his new gazelle-like, model-material colleague…. Now Rachel's making like Miss Marple again, trying to track down her friend's assailant–not to mention get a clue about her relationship. When she stopped worrying about jinxing things, did she jinx everything?

Praise for Jennifer Sturman’s first novel,

The Pact

“Sturman’s debut is a rare delight, and her sharp, sassy writing is wonderfully addictive. Sturman is as adept at detailing a career gal’s search for a good man as she is at crafting a clever mystery, making The Pact a great choice for chick-lit fans and readers who enjoy their amateur sleuthing with a dash of romance.”

—Booklist

“Sex and the City meets Agatha Christie! Jennifer Sturman is an exciting new voice in mystery fiction.”

—Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Every Boy’s Got One

“Why is this debut so thoroughly enjoyable? Perhaps it’s because Rachel is such a winning detective: she sifts through clues at the reader’s pace and does so with wit and pluck. The novel’s mise-en-scène—successful, attractive Ivy League graduates at a lakeside mansion—makes for escapist pleasure, and well-placed cliffhangers, a careful distribution of motives and unexpected twists promise readers light, satisfying suspense.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Great mystery, super characters!”

—Michele Jaffe, author of Loverboy

“This mystery is a fresh and terrific new addition to the chick lit genre. Most of the traditional chick lit elements are here—the heroine’s love life, career and friendships—but the whodunit is an excellent and welcome twist. Debut novelist Sturman delivers great characters, a dash of humor and a mystery that keeps you interested—and guessing.”

—Romantic Times

The Jinx

Jennifer Sturman

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

This book is dedicated to Michele Jaffe.

Have I mentioned that you’re my best friend?

Acknowledgments

I benefited from the support of many friends and colleagues in writing this book.

Laura Langlie offered her usual mix of kind wisdom and unflappable calm while continuing to humor my theory of jinxing. Farrin Jacobs, Margaret Marbury and the team at Red Dress Ink expertly shepherded the manuscript to publication, improving it with every step in the process.

Friends Anne Coolidge, Michele Jaffe and Rulonna Neilson supplied invaluable encouragement and solidarity. Cameron Poetzscher provided a much-needed refresher course in corporate finance, and Holly Edmonds and Daniel Allen graciously assisted in reacquainting me with Boston and Cambridge.

My parents, Joseph and Judith Sturman, my brothers, Ted and Dan Sturman, and my sister-in-law, Lindsay Jewett Sturman, remain remarkably restrained in their discussions of the path my career has taken—in fact, they’ve even been enthusiastic. Finally, my nieces, Miss Edith (Edie) Michael Sturman and Miss Cecelia (Cece) Esther Sturman, kindly allowed me to borrow their names, although they’ve been far less forthcoming with their Pirate’s Booty.

Thank you.

Jennifer Sturman

Like the heroine of her first novel, The Pact, Jennifer Sturman grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the birthplace of another fictional character, Ward Cleaver. She also attended the same school as actress Margaret Hamilton, the Cleveland native who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Ms. Hamilton visited her alma mater when Ms. Sturman was in the fourth grade and told the students how she melted. While sworn to secrecy, Ms. Sturman does offer the following hint: trapdoor.

Ms. Sturman graduated from Harvard College with a degree in History and Literature, magna cum laude. She began her business career as a financial analyst in mergers and acquisitions at Goldman, Sachs. Unlike her heroine, Ms. Sturman did not thrive on the all-nighters and number crunching demanded by Wall Street, although she managed to sustain herself by consuming a steady stream of Diet Coke. After two years, she enrolled at Harvard Business School where, with the aid of yet more Diet Coke, she earned her MBA with distinction. She then joined McKinsey & Company as a management consultant, advising clients in media, consumer packaged goods and retail on a broad range of strategic issues. She now works in corporate strategy at Time Warner, but she does not get free cable.

Ms. Sturman resides in Manhattan. She has no free time, but if she did, she would probably spend it doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, watching bad teen movies from the '80s and sipping drinks that come with little umbrellas in them.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen