Charlotte "Charlie" McNally and her TV producer, Franklin "Franko" Parrish, are once again ready to take on a special case. Charlie is an investigative reporter for Channel 3 TV assigned to pursue the mystery of the knock- off purses. Flying back to Boston, Charlie realizes the ticket attendant issued a second luggage tag when she only checked one piece of luggage. When retrieving her bag in Boston, she aids a classy woman taking her large suitcase off the luggage carousel. The funny thing is she can't recall the lady being on her flight. The lady then gives her an invitation to a purse party.

While investigating and masquerading as a housewife to attend the purse party, it becomes obvious someone is making a killing selling the counterfeit purses being copied from the exclusive Delleton-Marachelles purse line. Franko and Charlie learn how to tell the difference between a genuine purse and a copy from Zuzu Mazny-Latos and Luca Chartiers, executives of the family-owned company. This is the beginning of dodging danger while pushing her professor boyfriend, Josh, to the background. Charlie and Franko endanger their lives by joining the FBI in a sting to take the perpetrators down. Receiving threatening anonymous calls and FBI officers being killed is still not enough to stop Charlie. Her motto is reporting "The Real Thing."

This third novel about the feisty and dedicated reporter Charlotte McNally is equally exciting as the previous ones. Hank Phillippi Ryan has created another action- packed adventure with the danger-seeking woman obsessed with an inquiring mind who will do anything to get "that story" on the air. Definitely fun and clever reading that keeps you on the edge waiting for the next word. Absolutely a recommended read.

Book Summary

Star reporter Charlotte McNally enters the glamorous and high-stakes world of high fashion...and soon discovers when the purses are fake—the danger is real.

To break her latest big-money blockbuster, Charlotte must go undercover—but what if the bad guys recognize her? This savvy TV journalist must face more than her fear of flying when her inside scoop on designer duplicates suddenly turns deadly.

Carrying a hidden camera and dressing to deceive, Charlie finds she's not the only one disguising her identity. Nothing...and no one...is what they seem. And that means nothing...and no one...can be trusted. In her high-risk job and in her suddenly steamy love life, how can she tell the real thing?

Charlie is forced to make some life-changing— "and life and death" decisions. With only a split-second to act and with her own life in the balance, Charlie knows if she chooses wrong it will be the last decision she ever makes.