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Stephanie Bond

Kill the Competition Mass Market Paperback – November 1, 2003

by Stephanie Bond (Author)

426 ratings

Part of: a humorous romantic mystery (5 books)

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Good girls finish last...

That's Belinda Hennessey's new philosophy in life, work, and love after moving to Atlanta to escape a disastrous six-hour marriage. Now she has a killer job, spunky carpooling gal-pals, and the velvety voice of a traffic helicopter reporter to guide her on her way. She's even feeling lively enough to contribute to the manual on relationships and men her friends are writing to kill time during their commute.

But then a traffic mishap with a drop-dead gorgeous cop unleashes a series of events that bolsters Belinda's new bad-girl attitude -- she gets a tune-up from "Officer Goodbody," catches the eye of the throaty traffic reporter, and is targeted for a big promotion. But before Belinda can say "corner office," a coworker is murdered, and evidence points to a carpool conspiracy! With a killer on the loose, her friends at one another's throats, and two men offering southern comfort, Belinda knows only one thing for certain: climbing to the top can be murder on a girl.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Avon
Publication date

November 1, 2003
Dimensions

4.19 x 0.96 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

0060539836
ISBN-13

978-0060539832
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its title and blood-red cover art, this tart, down-to-earth tale from Bond (I Think I Love You, etc.) focuses more on the nature of female friendships than on the murder mystery that throws the heroine's life into a tailspin. New to Atlanta, finance specialist Belinda Hennessey is glad to have her carpool mates to take her mind off her failed marriage. Before she can get too comfortable, however, she hits Officer Wade Alexander's police cruiser, misses a crucial meeting and clashes with her malevolent boss, Margo, who wants her to overlook the fact that the company they're merging with may have fudged its numbers. Belinda reluctantly agrees and then finds herself in hot water when Margo turns up dead. Though at times too gullible for her own good, Belinda comes into her own over the course of the novel. Her uncertainties about her job, her zany friends and her budding relationship with Wade are ably portrayed, as is the setting (Bond describes Atlanta's traffic as only a resident could). Clever snippets from the carpool quartet's work-in-progress, a relationship dos and don'ts book for women ("DON'T underestimate the extent to which men underestimate women"), leaven the story, as does the women's banter. Readers who prefer heady sex and romance won't find either here, but for those who appreciate fun, classy, relationship-centered tales: DO read this novel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Stephanie Bond walked away from a corporate career in computer programming to write romantic fiction full time. These days she uses her computer keyboard to produce fast-paced novels with a comedic twist. Stephanie lives with her husband and her laptop in midtown Atlanta.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avon (November 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060539836
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060539832
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.96 x 6.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,179,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #281,281 in Contemporary Romance (Books)
- #306,950 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
426 ratings

About the author

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Stephanie Bond

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Stephanie Bond was several years into a corporate computer programming career when an instructor in her evening MBA program remarked she had a flair for writing and encouraged her to submit a project to academic journals. Stephanie adds, "But instantly I thought 'I wonder if I could write a romance novel?' "

She spent every spare moment the next couple of years writing and submitting manuscripts before selling her romantic comedy IRRESISTIBLE? to Harlequin Enterprises. After selling ten projects, Stephanie walked away from her corporate career to write commercial fiction full time. To date, she's published over 100 romance and mystery projects with Harlequin, Random House, St. Martin's Press, HarperCollins, and more recently, under her own imprint.

Stephanie's independently published romantic comedy STOP THE WEDDING!, a Kindle bestseller in three languages, is now a Hallmark Channel movie! Check local TV/DVR guides for encore airings.

Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta and is probably working on a story at this very moment. Be sure to Follow Stephanie on Amazon to receive notifications when she releases a new book!

Customer reviews

5 star		60%
4 star		29%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kate Moore

Kill The Competition

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

This was not a book I would recommend. The whole time I was reading it I couldn't decide which was worse. 1. That I spent money on it. or 2 that I was wasting valuable reading time on this. My husband asked me early on in the book what it was about. I said "nothing has happened yet, I don't know what it's about." He asked me again later, what it was about. I still didn't know. (I was reading it on my Kindle, so I could check my reading progress. I was at 25%.) I said it was advertised as mystery, but still nothing. The "mystery" didn't start til I hit 55% The only reason I powered through the book and didn't quit was that I've read several books by this author and they've been good. So I was hopeful that she could pull it out.

Helpful

TBreakiron

Another great and entertaining mystery.

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2012

Verified Purchase

When the book starts up you meet Belinda who has recently moved to Atlanta and who has recently joined a carpool with three other women from her office. Part of the reason the women carpool together is because they live outside of the perimeter of the city and traffic is usually a nightmare trying to drive into work. She's been able to join the carpool because a woman that was once a part of it died a few months before from an accident involving an elevator at work. During the drive all of the women like listening to a particular radio station because the man who does the traffic report has quite a sexy voice. In fact he ends up reporting the very accident Belinda gets herself into when she runs into the back of the police car in front of her. From there she meets the very handsome cop who is quite irritated and she ends up with three tickets from the adventure that morning and ends up missing a very important meeting she was supposed to have been in that morning.
When she ends up having a very public argument with her boss that really should have gotten her fired, instead the woman promises her a job promotion which would be giving her quite a hefty raise which is unusual in the economy. She keeps that news to herself meanwhile all the while continuing to go on her carpool as usual as well as some concerns about some of the numbers that don't ad up quite as well as they should on some financial papers. The dreaded employee evaluations are coming up and everyone's nervous. Belinda goes into her evaluation and things pretty much go about as well as she hoped. She's not sure how much longer she can keep it from everyone but she has two weeks to think about it as Margo is finally going on that vacation to Hawaii that had previously been postponed.
After getting her car back from being repaired Belinda is incredibly shocked to discover something shocking in the trunk. The rest of the story is solving the mystery of what's found in her trunk and whether it has anything to do with what happened to the last person that had her position in the company. Meanwhile she finds herself with the potential for romance with the cop and the air traffic reporter.
A subplot of the book is concerning what is actually in an envelope that she receives from her husband who after the ceremony couldn't bring himself to sign the marriage certificate. Part of the reason why she moved to Atlanta to get away from her failed marriage back home and give herself a chance for a fresh start. Throughout the course of the book we find her picking up the envelope and your curiousity builds about what exactly is contained inside. You do get an answer to that question at the very end of the book in a special epilogue.

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2012

Verified Purchase

Belinda is running from a nightmare of a white wedding. Having the groom go through the motions and then not sign the paperwork...leaving you with a lot of unanswered questions...Most women I know would want a fresh start where questions about the past can be avoided.

As she eases into her new job with a BigWitch of a boss and a commute through the worst commuter traffic in the southeast. She joins a car pool with three women who are wild characters. One is absessed with shopping and is fighting for the life of her Bloomie's credit card. Husband has the scissors at hand and is ready to shread their debt. Another is making money on the side by helping foreign men obtain their green cards. They live with her and she gets a lump sum when their paperwork is complete. Finally, there is the mysterious woman who is taking a lot of medications and disappears weekly for a reason she won't talk about.

Add in the interesting men. The stalker neighbor...The traffic reported with the sexy voice who just happens to use the gym in the women's building...The 'goodbody' policeman who they meet in a shocking way on Belinda's first day driving car pool.

Putting all these folks together would be a start for fireworks and interesting romantic possibilities...then comes the day Belinda decides to take her wedding momentos to Goodwill and finds one of her new Atlanta 'friends' taking up trunk space and not saying much.

Now we are in a race against the cops to prove Belinda didn't put her friend in the trunk and find out who she can trust.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Cici

Yilk! I really liked this book!

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2012

Verified Purchase

I started reading this almost as soon as I downloaded it, because the references to the Atlanta traffic being incorporated in the story caught my attention. I'm one of the millions who have tried to navigate through or around Atlanta, praying all the way that we would arrive safely, and on the same day we started through town. The carpool in the traffic was a great way to introduce the characters, and set up the plot lines. As another reviewer said, I think I know someone like all the people in this book, so I felt I was in familiar surroundings throughout.

By the half way point in the book, I was still trying to guess what was going to happen next, and I don't think I guessed right even once! That kept the book intensely interesting, and me very anxious to see what direction the author was going to take next.

No spoilers from me - you will enjoy finding out the twists and turns at the pace the author set. But I will say a big THANK YOU to her editor and the others who prompted Ms. Bond to write the epilogue. As the story wrapped up. my mind was screaming for the answer that was finally provided in the epilogue. Don't skip ahead - you will get the answers when it is time to. The only question I have left is - where did the expression "Yilk" come from? I'm guessing it is a form of 'Yikes' but a new one to me.

Another author I'm adding to my "Read more from ..." list! Loved this book

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Top reviews from other countries

Lynda Kelly

Ignore The Errors And Enjoy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2012

Verified Purchase

This author has written a lot of books but this was the first I have read. I think this one was great. I really enjoyed it. It's about a bunch of four different women carpooling who all work in a furniture store in Atlanta.
She does use a word that annoyed me quite a lot-yilk........I've not heard of that before but it jarred on me each time I saw it ! There were also a few crashing spelling errors which I was shocked to see as surely an editor has been employed. Hook for book/budding for building/minors for mirrors being a few. Not good and let it down.
There were some great laugh out loud moments-most for me involved her relationship with her cat Downey. I'd recommend it but just ignore the errors.
She had a clever idea with the epilogue and I liked that. I also like what she wrote at the end as it's so true these days. "I know you have a lot of entertainment choices at your fingertips, so I'm thrilled you chose to spend a few hours with my story"......nice touch I thought.

Anne

Great read - a 'can't put downer'1

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2012

Verified Purchase

Never read this author before. In fact, my usual reads are more in the serious murder investigation department. I wanted to give this a try for a bit of a change and was very happily surprised that I could enjoy the humour along with a decent murder to boot! The couple of bits of passionate encounter went down quite well too! Good strong story and I didn't even manage to figure out 'who dunnit' before the end.
I felt very comfortable with the characters and their descriptions were great - enough info to feel you kind of know them without going into that much that you end up getting bored!
Will be reading more by this author again I'm sure!

Spirit of Karate

Good read; maintains the mystery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2012

Verified Purchase

I read the book while I was on holiday and was pleased that it kept me entertained. It's a relatively light read, no need to get the synapses sparking too much, however it does actually manage to keep up the mystery until the perpetrator is revealed.

I felt that the author had a real feel for her characters and managed to show the main people as likable but also still flawed, as real humans are. It was nice to see that it wasn't all cutesy.

On the back of this book I have gone and bought some more books from this author and would definitely recommend that you give her a try if you are into these kind of genres - and definitely a great read for sitting out on the terrace enjoying the summer evenings.

One person found this helpful

Avid reader

A really fab read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2012

Verified Purchase

A jilted woman moves into a new town and becomes part of a car-pool. As the women begin to grow closer, so they are framed for murder.
A murder- mystery book for women which combines the story of a woman beginning to trust with a good who-dunnit!!!
Easy to read and good solid plot made it a definate winner!!

2 people found this helpful

janey74

Intriguing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2012

Verified Purchase

A humorous romantic mystery which was easy to follow. This was my first novel by Stephanie and I also got this free, in fact all her books I have got while on offer which I think is good to promote them as I then pass on recommendations to others. Good story and I couldnt guess the ending.

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Kill the Competition Mass Market Paperback – November 1, 2003

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Stephanie Bond

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