Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.
Don’t forget! The Samurai’s Inro, the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, will be available June 1st.
Here’s a quick excerpt just for you:
I cradled the pot with what remained of my mother’s African violet in my lap. They plucked every flower and bud and pulled off half the leaves. The plant would live—I’d make sure of it—but it would take a lot of effort.
Pages from my books lay scattered around. All my first editions survived, they’d only destroyed the more current ones. The latest Jack Reacher book. A biography of Queen Elizabeth. The popular-for-the-moment romance, The Pirate’s Nanny. At least I’d finished reading them.
They used a permanent marker to draw mustaches and beards on the framed picture of me and Eli kept on the end table, a middle school type of prank. Thank heavens the original was digital.
I sat in a kitchen chair and rocked, plotting my revenge. A stream of religious missionaries sent to their door. Dead fish mailed regularly. Confetti bombs. Putting a potato in their exhaust. Nothing legal seemed adequate.
It wasn’t a case of a mysterious suitor, of that I was convinced. It felt darker, bordering on evil. Like the culprit was taunting me. Someone who knew me. Someone I thought was a friend. How else would they understand where to draw the line in the damage they’d done?
But I couldn’t explain this to Freddie without sounding crazy. Either Joe or Luke had called him. The three of them were working on straightening out the furniture in the front room while pretending not to keep an eye on me. They had a right to be concerned. That didn’t make it any less irritating.
What I needed to do was jump in and start cleaning. What I wanted to do was grab my laptop and create a spreadsheet of potential suspects. The police were still questioning neighbors and so far, no one had any helpful information. Freddie, although he hadn’t been assigned to the investigation, was following it and keeping me updated.
The short mental list taking form made me hurt as I added each entry. Gary from the pawnshop. Luke or Joe. Big Daddy Al from the Pink Flamingo. That was, assuming they could hotwire cars, something we’d never talked about. And I bet every one of them had an unshakeable alibi.
Jake.
Eli.
Stay tuned for buy links and more information.