Welcome!
Author Christina Harlin has worked as a legal secretary and paralegal in Kansas City, Missouri, law firms for over fifteen years, and is a member of the National Association of Legal Professionals. This experience lends happily to the adventures of Carol Frank in the "Boss" series for which she is most well-known. In her spare time, in addition to writing, Christina enjoys computer gaming, puzzles, and great television, as well as mystery, thriller, and romance novels. She is an avid movie fan who writes essays under the pseudonym Fearless Young Orphan at themovieorphan.com. She lives in the Kansas City area with her family where she is working on the next Carol Frank novel, a second compilation of Fearless Young Orphan movie discussions, and much more.
Visit Christina Harlin, and sample or purchase her books at the following sites:
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Kindle
Nook (Barnes & Noble)
Smashwords (PDF versions available)
Kindle
Nook (Barnes & Noble)
Smashwords (PDF versions available)
My Boss is a Wanted Woman: A Tale of Lies, Love and Lunch Meetings
Christina Harlin, Smashwords Edition 2013
Law office manager Carol Frank thinks that her life couldn’t get much better until her boyfriend, Detective Augustus “Gus” Haglund, asks her to go undercover for a week.
Though Carol’s friends and family had been pushing for a marriage proposal, detective work is the second-best thing Gus can offer. Always a fan of detective stories, Carol jumps at the chance to act as temporary secretary to Nathan Walsh, a real estate attorney who may be using his practice as a cover.
Once Carol is in place, she learns that there is more happening at this firm than even Gus seemed to realize, and that she is not the only detective on the case. Brash insurance investigator Jim Loredo suspects that another attorney, egomaniac Kristen Rogers, is either in big trouble or is the cause of it, and the more Carol learns, the more she agrees with him. Too bad she can’t convince Gus of the same – yet when Carol discovers that Gus is withholding important information about the case, including his own possible connections to Nathan Walsh, she begins to wonder exactly who is telling her the truth.
As Carol navigates the labyrinth of her undercover job, she must fend off the advances of a sex-crazed septuagenarian, the wrath of a quick-tempered drama queen, and the endless phone calls of a germ-phobic “helicopter” mom in the next cubicle. Lucky for Carol, she has the support of her best friend attorney Bill Nestor, who is never too busy to come to the rescue.
What should an undercover secretary do when she thinks she’s watching the wrong suspect? How does a secretary avoid being tagged as a “computer whiz?” How many instructions does it take to make a ham sandwich? Why is it so hard to find enough chairs for an important meeting? Exactly how many more outfits can Carol stand to lose to violent crime? These, and many other questions, will be answered when Carol Frank discovers, My Boss is a Wanted Woman.
My Boss is a Wanted Woman is the third book in the romantic mystery Boss series by Christina Harlin, following My Boss is a Serial Killer and My Boss is a Dead Man.
Law office manager Carol Frank thinks that her life couldn’t get much better until her boyfriend, Detective Augustus “Gus” Haglund, asks her to go undercover for a week.
Though Carol’s friends and family had been pushing for a marriage proposal, detective work is the second-best thing Gus can offer. Always a fan of detective stories, Carol jumps at the chance to act as temporary secretary to Nathan Walsh, a real estate attorney who may be using his practice as a cover.
Once Carol is in place, she learns that there is more happening at this firm than even Gus seemed to realize, and that she is not the only detective on the case. Brash insurance investigator Jim Loredo suspects that another attorney, egomaniac Kristen Rogers, is either in big trouble or is the cause of it, and the more Carol learns, the more she agrees with him. Too bad she can’t convince Gus of the same – yet when Carol discovers that Gus is withholding important information about the case, including his own possible connections to Nathan Walsh, she begins to wonder exactly who is telling her the truth.
As Carol navigates the labyrinth of her undercover job, she must fend off the advances of a sex-crazed septuagenarian, the wrath of a quick-tempered drama queen, and the endless phone calls of a germ-phobic “helicopter” mom in the next cubicle. Lucky for Carol, she has the support of her best friend attorney Bill Nestor, who is never too busy to come to the rescue.
What should an undercover secretary do when she thinks she’s watching the wrong suspect? How does a secretary avoid being tagged as a “computer whiz?” How many instructions does it take to make a ham sandwich? Why is it so hard to find enough chairs for an important meeting? Exactly how many more outfits can Carol stand to lose to violent crime? These, and many other questions, will be answered when Carol Frank discovers, My Boss is a Wanted Woman.
My Boss is a Wanted Woman is the third book in the romantic mystery Boss series by Christina Harlin, following My Boss is a Serial Killer and My Boss is a Dead Man.
Orphans in Space: A Fearless Trek into Bad Sci-Fi Movies
Christina Harlin, Smashwords edition (2012)
Bad science fiction movies beware! The Movie Orphan has been tracking you, and your day of reckoning has come. Christina "Fearless Young Orphan" Harlin, writer and editor of The Movie Orphan, presents this compilation of essays that humorously skewer shameful science fiction films of the last two decades. No sub-genre is safe, as we tackle invasions, colonizations, attacks, supernatural love stories, time travel, alternate realities, powers of the mind, mad scientists, and the heartbreak of the remake. If you love your science fiction bad, your movies worse, and your sarcasm thick, this is the most important book you will ever read!
Never Alone
Christina Harlin, Smashwords edition (2011)
Michael Cooper wanted to stay forever in the church he built. He may have succeeded.
Six years ago, charismatic Southern Baptist minister Michael Cooper died abruptly on the same day a young boy went missing from the small town of Clancy. Called upon to read the lifetime of journals written by the enigmatic man of God is graduate student Sarah Shale, alone in a small country town where her presence is fiercely unwelcome. Cooper’s devoted congregation, led by the menacing Deacon Kashman, wants nothing more than to be rid of her. Cooper’s protégé, the earnest young Pastor Ash Albright, is a man with his own agenda, who needs something else from Sarah. The journals contain revelations both shocking and grotesque, which could create a disaster of his church or a martyrdom of a dead man.
As her research progresses and threats escalate against her, Sarah fears that Michael Cooper may have left more of himself in the church building than just his words on paper. Yet as Michael Cooper reaches for her from beyond the grave, so does another ghost – a young protector whose death has yet to be avenged. Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama of star-crossed passions, buried secrets, ghosts real and imaginary. Willingly or not, the church’s secrets are becoming hers, and Sarah must tread carefully through the minefield of human relationships while she works to unearth the dark corners of the past and the unexplored regions of lonely hearts.
Michael Cooper wanted to stay forever in the church he built. He may have succeeded.
Six years ago, charismatic Southern Baptist minister Michael Cooper died abruptly on the same day a young boy went missing from the small town of Clancy. Called upon to read the lifetime of journals written by the enigmatic man of God is graduate student Sarah Shale, alone in a small country town where her presence is fiercely unwelcome. Cooper’s devoted congregation, led by the menacing Deacon Kashman, wants nothing more than to be rid of her. Cooper’s protégé, the earnest young Pastor Ash Albright, is a man with his own agenda, who needs something else from Sarah. The journals contain revelations both shocking and grotesque, which could create a disaster of his church or a martyrdom of a dead man.
As her research progresses and threats escalate against her, Sarah fears that Michael Cooper may have left more of himself in the church building than just his words on paper. Yet as Michael Cooper reaches for her from beyond the grave, so does another ghost – a young protector whose death has yet to be avenged. Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama of star-crossed passions, buried secrets, ghosts real and imaginary. Willingly or not, the church’s secrets are becoming hers, and Sarah must tread carefully through the minefield of human relationships while she works to unearth the dark corners of the past and the unexplored regions of lonely hearts.
My Boss is a Dead Man: A Tale of Passion, Greed and Job Interviews
Christina Harlin, Smashwords edition (2011)
My Boss is a Dead Man is the follow-up to the comic, office-based romantic suspense tale, My Boss is a Serial Killer. Carol Frank has enough on her plate, working as the office manager at a new law firm while trying to rekindle a romance. Being suspected of murder certainly throws a monkey wrench in the works. But a bad boss from Carol's past - one her friends will know as the Psychotic Sadist - has disappeared under very mysterious circumstances, and Carol is at the top of the Kansas City Police Department's suspect list. The fact that, years ago, she might have hatched the murder plot herself does not make things any easier for her, nor does the fact that her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.
Finding the solution isn't in her job description, but Carol was never one who could leave a mystery alone. The course of her investigation reveals much more than she expected. How does one conduct a successful job interview with a kleptomaniac? Is the most prestigious law firm in town cloning its secretaries? Is it possible to fit both herself and Gus Haglund into her tiny shower stall? How does one talk to her boyfriend's ten-year-old son? And just exactly how many uses are there for a collection of glass paperweights? Once again, Carol pours all her secretarial skills into solving the puzzles of passion, greed and job interviews that emerge when she realizes My Boss is a Dead Man.
My Boss is a Dead Man is the follow-up to the comic, office-based romantic suspense tale, My Boss is a Serial Killer. Carol Frank has enough on her plate, working as the office manager at a new law firm while trying to rekindle a romance. Being suspected of murder certainly throws a monkey wrench in the works. But a bad boss from Carol's past - one her friends will know as the Psychotic Sadist - has disappeared under very mysterious circumstances, and Carol is at the top of the Kansas City Police Department's suspect list. The fact that, years ago, she might have hatched the murder plot herself does not make things any easier for her, nor does the fact that her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.
Finding the solution isn't in her job description, but Carol was never one who could leave a mystery alone. The course of her investigation reveals much more than she expected. How does one conduct a successful job interview with a kleptomaniac? Is the most prestigious law firm in town cloning its secretaries? Is it possible to fit both herself and Gus Haglund into her tiny shower stall? How does one talk to her boyfriend's ten-year-old son? And just exactly how many uses are there for a collection of glass paperweights? Once again, Carol pours all her secretarial skills into solving the puzzles of passion, greed and job interviews that emerge when she realizes My Boss is a Dead Man.
My Boss is a Serial Killer: A Tale of Murder, Romance and Filing
Christina Harlin, Smashwords edition (2010)
Legal secretary Carol Frank is great at her job, even if she must cope daily with the extreme quirks of her obsessive-compulsive boss, Bill Nestor. Attorney Bill produces wills and other estate documents for his clients, many of whom are elderly widows who, for some mysterious reason, later commit suicide. Or do they? Carol takes notice of the high mortality rate of Bill's clients when a criminally attractive detective comes to the office asking questions. Though at first her interest in the case is purely an interest in the detective, she begins to suspect that there is something more going on with Bill's client list than customer service.
Revealing a conspiracy while navigating the waters of office politics isn't covered in the company policy handbook, and Carol must find answers to some hard questions. Is it acceptable to work for a killer, as long as he's polite? Do kinky sex games with a detective signify underlying psychoses, or just that she's easy? Does a secretary have to get pre-approved paid-time-off in order to run for her life? When one is attacked at the office, does destruction of clothing count as a tax write-off? These and many other murder, romance and filing dilemmas will be tackled in My Boss is a Serial Killer.
Legal secretary Carol Frank is great at her job, even if she must cope daily with the extreme quirks of her obsessive-compulsive boss, Bill Nestor. Attorney Bill produces wills and other estate documents for his clients, many of whom are elderly widows who, for some mysterious reason, later commit suicide. Or do they? Carol takes notice of the high mortality rate of Bill's clients when a criminally attractive detective comes to the office asking questions. Though at first her interest in the case is purely an interest in the detective, she begins to suspect that there is something more going on with Bill's client list than customer service.
Revealing a conspiracy while navigating the waters of office politics isn't covered in the company policy handbook, and Carol must find answers to some hard questions. Is it acceptable to work for a killer, as long as he's polite? Do kinky sex games with a detective signify underlying psychoses, or just that she's easy? Does a secretary have to get pre-approved paid-time-off in order to run for her life? When one is attacked at the office, does destruction of clothing count as a tax write-off? These and many other murder, romance and filing dilemmas will be tackled in My Boss is a Serial Killer.