The Princess and the P.i. by Nikki Payne

The Princess and the P.i.

Nikki Payne, Arissa Evans, Jaime Lincoln Smith

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 16, 2025

A Romance pick for readers exploring The Princess and the P.i..

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Who it’s for
A sharp mix of amateur sleuthing, corporate crime, and chemistry under pressure.
Genres
Romantic Suspense, Private Eye Fiction, Black Romance
Published
Penguin Publishing Group, September 16, 2025

About this book

An amateur online sleuth must enlist the help of a jaded PI to clear her name while taking down a shady tech start-up in this exhilarating romantic suspense novel. Fiona Addai is ready to set her plan in motion. To honor the anniversary of her brother’s death, she’s going to steal back his brilliant invention from the ruthless corporation that stole and claimed it as their own.

Continue reading

As a famed Reddit detective known as @Princess_PI, Fiona has used her online connections and sleuthing skills to time every step down to the minute. But with one disastrous misstep, instead of getting justice, Fiona finds herself accused of murder. Maurice Bennett is no stranger to insomnia. These days, he’s not losing sleep over the cases he’s solving—but running from the one he couldn’t. Instead, he’s been settling for small-time scandals that don’t stir up the guilt he’s buried. But when he spots Fiona Addai at the center of a murder investigation, something clicks. And for the first time in a long while, Maurice feels that old spark of intrigue. However, Fiona is not the helpless damsel she appears to be. Sure, she needs Maurice’s help to clear her name, but she’s got conditions of her own: she wants a crash course in real-world detective work. Maurice isn’t exactly thrilled. With every late-night stakeout and tension-filled interrogation, their partnership, rife with tension and unexpected chemistry, unravels a dangerous web of corporate crime and familial secrets. To bring the real killer to light, they'll need to trust each other and that might be the most dangerous gamble of all.

Sleuthing With Sparks

A sharp mix of amateur sleuthing, corporate crime, and chemistry under pressure.

Come here for

  • Online sleuthing tangled with corporate crime
  • A prickly PI partnership with romantic tension

Expect

  • A murder investigation that turns online smarts into high-stakes trouble
  • Late-night stakeouts, tense interrogations, and an uneasy alliance

Where it sits

Romantic Suspense85%
Private Eye Fiction38%
Black Romance36%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Romantic Suspense
  • Black Mystery
  • Black Romance
Authors
Nikki Payne, Arissa Evans, Jaime Lincoln Smith
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
September 16, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Romantic Suspense