2003 NY: Mysterious Press. First edition, first printing, mint, new/unread in a flawless dustjacket, signed by the author. "She's smart and engaging, tough and sexy, as hot for a good story as she is for her hunky cop boyfriend. Now irreverent reporter Alex Bernier is back on the scene in Gabriel, New York, at a cutting-edge music festival where casual sex and designer drugs rule - and cold-blooded murder is the ultimate trip." "Sandbagged into covering the legendary Melting Rock Music Festival, Alex isn't exactly thrilled. Four days of no boyfriend, way too many home-brew drugs floating around, and majorly loud bands aren't her idea of a good time - and neither is sleeping in a tent and sending on-line dispatches from the grungy front. Yet when several revelers begin dying from some bad acid, Alex begins to suspect there's something sinister going down beneath the festival's laid-back atmosphere." With her old nemesis, a savvy New York Times reporter, out to scoop her, Alex starts uncovering a galaxy of less-than-peace-and-love-inclined suspects. Among them: a clique of local teens hiding a dangerous secret a troubled sheriff compromised in his duties a town council president who's ruthless in her pursuit of civic progress and the powers-that-be behind a deep-water cooling project. Soon forced to go outside the law to unearth a lethal conspiracy, Alex must confront a remorseless killer - one who won't say no to showing one persistent reporter the final, deadliest high of all.