There's a lot to like about Madeline Carter, stockbroker, day trader, turned investigator.

The story opens dramatically with the killing of Madeline's stockbroking partner on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange by a crazed investor who, having already killed his mother, turns his gun on himself.

As a result Madeline decides the stock exchange, and New York, is the last place she wants to be. She sells up and moves to Los Angeles for a change of life. A chance meeting with a lover she hasn't seen for a decade leads to him telling her that he is about to become the new CEO of a small LA company. He tells her to watch the share prices and Madeline decides to buy. When he is kidnapped on his first day in office, in fact before he had walked through the front door, and then share prices plummet, Madeline decides to investigate, rather predictably putting herself in danger.

A couple of sub-plots make MAD MONEY an interesting light read with an unusual amateur sleuth. It is Linda Richards' debut novel. Apparently we can expect two more Madeline Carter novels in e-book format, THE NEXT EX and CALCULATED LOSS, to make their appearance in the next few months. ( )