title: A Cutthroat Business (Savannah Martin Mysteries) (Volume 1)
author:  Jenna Bennett 
description: The idea for <b><i>A Cutthroat Business</i></b> came to me back in 2005, when I was studying for my real estate license. I had a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old and a desperate need for a job I could fit around my kids' schedule, and real estate seemed like a good idea. There was a lot of talk about personal safety, and about the many things that might lurk inside an empty house - from murderers and rapists to flashers and muggers - and the idea of a brand new realtor walking into an empty house and finding a dead body came from that.<div><br><div></div><div><br>The title was easy. Real estate is a tough, competitive, dog-eat-dog business, and I never stood a chance of making it. By 2008, I had retired my license and was writing full time. And that's the story of how the Savannah Martin series came to be, and also the story of how I ended up with job I could fit around my kids' schedule. It just wasn't the job I thought I'd end up with.</div></div>
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  Praise for the Cutthroat Business mysteries
  
  
  “A frothy girl drink of houses, hunks and whodunit narrated in a breezy first
  person.” —Lyda Phillips, The Nashville Scene
  
  “The hilarious dialog and the tension between Savannah and Rafe will delight
  fans of chick-lit mysteries and romantic suspense.” —Jo Ann Vicarel, Library
  Journal
  
  “Equal parts charming and sexy, with a side of suspense. Hero and heroine,
  Savannah Martin and Rafe Collier, are a pairing of perfection.” —Paige
  Crutcher, examiner.com
  
  
  “Kooks you in the first page and doesn’t let go until the last!” —Lynda Coker,
  Between the Pages
  
  “Move over Stephanie Plum, there is a sassy, sexy sleuth in town! If you enjoy
  your cozy mysteries with a good shot of romance, and a love triangle with a
  sexy bad boy and a Southern gentleman in the mix, then you will love this
  book. A Cutthroat Business is very reminiscent of the Stephanie Plum books,
  but the laughs are louder, the romance is sexier and there is a great