Description:

"I've been married so many times, they should revoke my license," says NY model, and reluctant pilot Lalla Bains.

Running her dad’s Crop-Dusting business in Modesto, California she’s hoping to dodge the inevitable fortieth birthday party. But when her trophy red ‘58 Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask why a widowed piano teacher, who couldn’t possibly see beyond the hood ornament, was found strapped in the driver’s seat. Reeling from an interrogation with local homicide, Lalla is determined to extricate herself as a suspect in this strange murder case. Unfortunately, drug running pilots, a cross-dressing convict, a crazy Chihuahua, and the dead woman’s hunky nephew throw enough road blocks to keep Lalla neck deep in an investigation that links her family to a twenty-year old murder only she can solve.
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Wise-cracking detectives--from the rank amateurs who somehow stumble into the practice of investigating, to the licensed professionals with their fancy gizmos and snazzy Yellow Pages listings--are a dime a dozen in mystery novels... but a wise-cracking, ex-fashion-model, crop-dusting sleuth? That puts a quirky new spin on the genre, in R.P. Dahlke’s peppy debut, A Dead Red Cadillac. A Dead Red Cadillac may be Dahlke’s first published work, but it doesn’t read that way; the author is assured in her storytelling, crafting a witty, breezy, and thoroughly-entertaining lark peppered with interesting characters in a unique setting... and even tossing in some (much-appreciated) surprising twists along the way.
The Literate Kitty Blog spot 1/21/12

“Ex model and motorhead, Lalla Bains, pilots us through a murder investigation with more twists and turns than the coast highway and with an ending more satisfying than the purr of a perfectly tuned ’58 Cadillac.” Lesley Diehl, author of A Deadly Draught, Mainly Murder Press; Dumpster Dying, Oak Tree Press
“Fresh and fun! With its engaging, down-on-her-luck sleuth, homicidal Caddy and a decades-old mystery, R.P. Dahlke’s promising debut, A DEAD RED CADILLAC, will keep you turning those pages and guessing wrong right up to its surprising conclusion.” Kris Neri, Lefty Award-nominated author of REVENGE FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE
“Fast paced and fun with an outwardly tough but inwardly vulnerable lady-pilot, drug smuggling and plenty of eccentric characters.” Rhys Bowen, award-winning author of the Molly Murphy and Royal Spyness mysteries. Bless the Bride, March 2011

Review

"... Lalla Bains, pilots us through a murder investigation with more twists and turns than the coast highway and with an ending more satisfying than the purr of a perfectly tuned '58 Cadillac."
--Lesley Diehl, Author of A Deadly Draught

"... With its engaging sleuth, R.P. Dahlke's promising debut, A DEAD RED CADILLAC, will keep you turning those pages... right up to its surprising conclusion."

--Kris Neri,award winning author of Revenge for Old Time's Sake

"Fast paced and fun with an outwardly tough but inwardly vulnerable lady-pilot, drug smuggling and plenty of eccentric characters."
--Rhys Bowen, award-winning author of the Royal Spyness Mysteries.

From the Author

I got to thinking why I so very much like reading and writing about strong women. To be honest with you, I think it's because I've spent most of my life as a wimp, doing as I was told, minding my manners, saying all the right, and expected, things,  until one day I realized being miss-goody-two-shoes was getting me exactly nowhere. Since then, I've been called disrespectful, annoyingly forward, and my favorite--uppity.  To make up for lost time, I now suit up as Lalla Bains, born again bachelorette, ex-NY Model, crop-duster, sometime amateur sleuth.   I might as well let her tell it... she's crowding me for the spotlight anyway. 

Lalla Bains here, and I seldom do as I'm told especially after my lyin', cheatin' whoring  second ex-husband took up with yet another too-tasty-to-resist side-dish. 
 So what if I took a baseball bat to his recently restored vintage Caddy? It was worth it just to watch him  try to yodel  his way out of this latest lie... like I didn't catch him and his secretary fogging up the windows of his pimp-mobile.
I smashed in the headlights, the driver's side window, and just for good measure, slashed the tires. That way, he had to get a tow.  I skinned him of the Caddy in the divorce and, just for spite, painted it candy apple red.
That's me, hell raiser--well, sort of. Flying and partying don't mix during the long hard days of summer.  Even if I had the energy  I get too damn little sleep as it is and now that I'm fu-fuuu-fu-forty.--'kay, that's--that's just--rude to laugh. You try my life for a day--up at three a.m., chasing after lazy pilots and the smart mouthed ground crew I inherited when my dad when he went  in for a triple by-pass.
"Would you mind coming home and taking over the crop-dusting business?" he says, coughing lightly into the phone. "I might not be around much longer." 
Miraculously recovered, my tight-wad father is now too busy to take back his desk, what with rediscovering  a whole new wardrobe from the back of his closet.  He's in leisure suits, squiring local widows to funerals and scarfing up free meals at the wakes while I try to shake off the ankle biting Chihuahua we inherited from the last murder case.
On the bright side, my love life is finally out of the dumps since I have a wonderful relationship with Sheriff Caleb Stone. Well, that is, it would be, if only I could do as I'm told and stay away from solving crimes. It's not my fault that people die at my feet, or they're found six feet under a local lake strapped into the front seat of my trophy red caddy.
But, If I did as I was told and stayed out of trouble,  I never would have solved those cases.  Besides, it helps keep my mind off turning fu-fuu-forty.  So, now you understand why well behaved women seldom make history is now my motto.
Note to self: tattoo the above quote somewhere I can clearly see it when I'm in another jam.