The Red Hot Empress

Book excerpt: Annie Szabo has discovered a miracle: Jimmy Qi, a kid from Chinatown with the power to heal using music. He's dazzling, he's a scoundrel, he's wise, and he makes a great newspaper article. But now everyone wants Jimmy: an evangelist; a tong society; a CDC doctor; a dolphin fanatic; and an FBI agent who seems too good to be true. Feeling responsible for creating San Francisco's latest hot commodity, Annie enlists her mother-in-law, the audacious fortune-teller Madame Mina, to help keep Jimmy safe from his avid pursuers. But then the bodies start turning up. Though the spicy Szabo women would like to kick back with a warm lover, a good movie, and a few laughs, life has something else in mind. One meeting with an extraordinary boy leads them headlong into a wild adventure.