The Lady Upstairs

Jo works in Los Angeles as a blackmailer, and her targets are men who have it coming: Hollywood producers with wandering hands, actors who cheat on their wives, cops on the take. The pay helps with a debt she is still clearing. It also gives her a way to take some power back for the women of the city.

She answers to an employer known only as the Lady Upstairs, and she works alongside a colleague named Lou. Wanting to earn the respect of both, Jo accepts jobs that grow bigger and more dangerous. Then one of her targets is murdered. The Lady Upstairs and the LAPD both turn their attention to her.

With nowhere safe to stand, Jo plans one more sting, aimed at a rising political star. She intends to run it behind the Lady's back, and to buy freedom for herself and for Lou. As the plan unfolds, she discovers that Lou and the Lady are keeping secrets of their own, and that a large enough payout puts every woman at risk.

This is a modern neo-noir thriller built on a cat-and-mouse chase. The tone is dark and sharp, with a wry, feminist narrative voice, and the plot keeps shifting as the con closes in. The central thread is female revenge.