Elaine Viets is an Anthony Award and Agatha Award winner. She writes the Dead-End Job Mystery Series which started in 2003 and is set in Florida. It features Helen Hawthorne who left the fast track-- on the run from the court, she wroks dead-end jobs for cash under the table. She works a different low-paying job each novel. Helen finds herself solving murders with each turn she takes.
Elaine also writes the Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper Series which started in 2005 and is set in St. Louis, Missouri. It features Josie Marcus who is a single mom and member of the sandwich generation, mystery shops in St. Louis.