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Author: Diane Kelly | Website

A CPA and attorney, Diane spent several years at an international accounting firm, where she had the pleasure of working with a partner later convicted of tax shelter fraud. She also served a stint as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas under an AG who pled guilty to criminal charges related to the tobacco company lawsuits. Given this work history, Diane decided self-employment might be a good idea. She also realized her experiences with white-collar crime were excellent fodder for a novel. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her “Death and Taxes” humorous mystery series.

Diane won the prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award in 2009. Her debut novel, Death, Taxes and a French Manicure, will be released by St. Martin’s Press on November 1, 2011. Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte, book #2 in the “Death and Taxes” series, will follow in March 2012.


Published Works & Book Reviews

Death, Taxes, and Extra-Hold Hairspray

When you’re an agent for the IRS, it’s always tax time. And this season, Tara is up to her neck in work with two very knotty cases. One involves a charismatic minister who’s using his mega-church as a tax shelter. The other is a crazy militant who’s trying to turn Texas into a separate country. With her boyfriend out of town and her partner reassigned, Tara is on her own—and things are getting hairy.

If dealing with the Lone Star State isn’t enough, Tara has other new issues to take into account: There’s a sexy new agent named Nick, who’s got her head in the clouds...and Tara’s boss, Lu, who’s having a hair problem of epic proportions: not even her Chinese contraband industrial-strength hairspray is enough to keep her signature strawberry blonde beehive from falling flat. Can Tara help Lu find a wig—and keep from wigging out over Nick? Love, updos, taxes—this time, Tara’s got a whole lot of kinks to iron out…


Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte

IRS Agent Tara Holloway is after a violent criminal running a cross-border money-laundering operation. After her partner is threatened, Tara must risk everything - her career, her safety, and her life itself - to ensure that justice is done. All while counting calories!

Reviewer: Mary Lignor
Review: Feb 14, 2012
Genre(s): Romantic Suspense, Mystery
The heroine of the Death and Taxes series, Tara Holloway, is a special agent of the IRS and is their weapon against income tax dodgers. This is the second book in this series and will soon be joined by the third, "Death, Taxes and Extra Hold Hairspray." Tara and her partner, Eddie, have been assigned to investigate Marcos Mendoza, a suspected loan shark that has most of his connections in Mexico. Marcos ha

Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure

Tara Holloway has got your number. A special agent on the IRS’s payroll, she’s dead-set on making sure that money crimes don’t pay…

Tax cheats, beware: The Treasury Department’s Criminal Investigations Division has a new special agent on its payroll. A recovering tomboy with a head for numbers, Tara’s fast becoming the Annie Oakley of the IRS—kicking ass, taking social security numbers, and keeping the world safe for honest taxpayers. Or else.

Tara’s latest mission finds her in hot pursuit of ice-cream vendor Joseph “Joe Cool” Cullen. Along with frozen treats he’s selling narcotics—and failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns. Over Tara’s dead body. Then there’s Michael Gryder, who appears to be operating a Ponzi scheme…with banker Stan Shelton…whose lake house is being landscaped by Brett Ellington…who happens to be dating Tara. If following that money trail isn’t tough enough, now Tara must face a new conundrum: Should she invest her trust in Brett—or put him behind bars? New love always comes at a cost but justice? Priceless.

Reviewer: Mary Lignor
Review: Oct 25, 2011
Genre(s): Romantic Suspense, Mystery
In this feisty little tale author Diane Kelly, takes us on a fun read with Special Agent Tara Holloway of the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit. Tara and her partner, Eddie Bardin, chase down white collar criminals and some who are not even close to that catagory. Ms Kelley gives us a very peculiar group of characters, extremely witty dialogue and some rich bankers who are into a Bernie Madoff style pyramid sc

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