Joker & Jinx: A Novel (The Mavericks, 3)

The third installment in Kate Crew’s red-hot, banter-filled dark romance series has edge-of-your-seat tension and a classic enemies-to-lovers romance. Harper has spent months distancing herself from her family—and from the guilt of betraying the man she thought she might love. But when her cousin Ivy is murdered, Harper is pulled back into both. Consumed by remorse and the need to uncover the truth, she is determined to solve the case. Before she can even begin looking into it, the police are convinced they already have their prime suspect—Hero, the dangerous, brilliant, infuriating man Harper once betrayed and the man who has every reason to hate her. Fresh out of jail and determined never to return, Hero wants nothing to do with Harper or with a murder investigation that immediately puts a target on his back. Ivy was killed only days after his release, and the timing all but guarantees his arrest. Harper knows Hero well enough to recognize the truth—he didn’t do this. But if she can’t prove it, he will be sent back to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Hero reluctantly accepts Harper’s desperate proposition: they work together to find the real killer, and Harper will clear his name. But Hero warns her—if he goes down for Ivy’s murder, he’s taking her down with him. As they retrace Ivy’s final days, Harper and Hero uncover a web of suspects, buried family secrets, and escalating threats that make it clear someone is trying to stop them. As Hero and Harper play the killer’s deadly game, Hero’s heart is snatched up by the woman he swore to never let get close again. Tropes: • Morally grey mmc • Enemies to lovers • Murder mystery • Unlikely detectives • Biker gang • Touch her and die