Karen’s Killer Book Bench: AN EX IN THE PUZZLE, Crossword Puzzle #Cozy #Mystery by Louise Foster
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AN EX IN THE PUZZLE
Crossword Puzzle Cozy Mystery
BY LOUISE FOSTER
BLURB
I’m Tracy Belden, a single mom on my first solo case as a PI. Instead of creating crossword puzzles, I’m searching for my wealthy ex-husband’s second wife, missing for three days.
I was hoping she ran off with his money. Then, I found her body.
Now, the police are eyeing me as a suspect. To make matters worse, my precocious, 11-year-old son and my geriatric landlady are trying to solve the case without me. If my puzzle solving skills can’t lead me to the killer, I’ll be finishing my crossword puzzle in jail.
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AN EX IN THE PUZZLE
Crossword Puzzle Cozy Mystery
BY LOUISE FOSTER
Excerpt
14 Across; 9 Letters;
Clue: Not eager.
Answer: Reluctant
CHAPTER 1
“Didja find the body?” Marcus, my eleven-year-old Korean foster son, thumped his backpack onto a kitchen chair without breaking eye contact. He walked over and planted himself between me and the coffee pot. He knew the danger. He just didn’t care. He’s a crime junkie.
He’d asked me the same question three mornings in a row. Monday through Wednesday. Every day I’d been on the case.
Tracy Rae Belden’s my name. Five-nine. Short, straight brown hair and a moderately slim form that owes nothing to selfrestraint. It’s also no secret I hit thirty-five last week.
I wanted to tell my boy-child I wasn’t looking for a body, especially not one of a possibly dead female. However, with the promise of coffee within sight, I ignored his ghoulish question. Instead of answering, I pivoted around him and walked to the small kitchen of our loft apartment. Grabbing a mug, I poured myself a cup of ambrosia.
Stuck in a car for the past ten hours on an overnight stakeout, I had avoided drinking too much liquid, especially caffeine. Suffice it to say I considered it within my parental rights to drink my pumpkin flavored coffee before answering him. One sip of the scalding liquid sent a jolt racing through every nerve in my body and brought a smile to my lips.
“Speaking of bodies… ” Mrs. Colchester, my seventy-plus landlady, looked up from cooking scrambled eggs long enough to wave my spatula at me. “I’ve something to tell you on the subject, ducks.”
Mrs. C’s British accent was a perfect complement to her newly acquired air of an English ex-patriot. Her mop of white curls and a short, plump figure were the icing on the cake.
I wasn’t sure how long the accent would last considering it was all of four weeks old. Every time I asked about the change, she acted as though I were the crazy one.
Right after the accent made an appearance, she decided I needed a maid and announced she would fill the position. The woman has been letting herself into my apartment Monday through Friday for the past month. She never lifts a finger to clean, but neither do I, and it’s my apartment.
Fortunately – or not – she also watches Marcus when I’m on a job. I’d planned to ask a woman down the street. However, since Mrs. C was here anyway, I decided to go with the flow and have her stay overnight.
The older woman continued speaking without waiting for a response. “Me cousin works with a man who says he saw a woman’s body in a gully by the new development, a mile or so from the estate. He agreed to talk with you.”
“I don’t want to talk to anyone about a body.” I wanted to sit in my apartment and drink coffee until I stumbled to bed. “Have him call the tip line.”
“I knew she was dead.” Marcus slammed a bowl and a box of cereal on the table. “Her husband set a booby trap to kill her during the party so he’d have an alibi. Our science class is going to work out how today.”
After making a mental note to do a background check on the science teacher, I turned to Mrs. C. Her announcement had jolted me awake faster than the caffeine. “Yesterday your theory was that she ran off.”
“And I’m holding to it.” Mrs. C stabbed the air with the spatula hard enough to send a chunk of egg flying across the kitchen like an angry bird with a death wish. “But it wouldn’t hurt for you to talk to the man.”
“T.R. will get the goods.” Marcus dribbled milk on his shirt as he pointed a spoon at me. “I’ll go with you.”
I put my head in my hands and wondered if I’d survive the conversation much less the investigation. The fate of Mrs. Randolph McKiernan, the former Ms. Cassie Reed of Black Oaks, Kansas, has absorbed the entire city of Langsdale, Nevada, since the wealthy woman disappeared Saturday night, three days ago.
She’d run upstairs during a gala she and her husband were hosting at their home and never came back. No one had seen or heard from her since. No ransom demands. No calls. Nada.
Her disappearance was like a mystery play had come to town. Was she dead? Had she gone hiking in the desert? Had she run off with a lover? Pick a theory. Everyone had one. Most included a trip to Las Vegas, a bright lure three hours south of Langsdale.
I imagine the woman in the South of France, living large with a huge chunk of her hubby’s money. After a second, longer sip of coffee, I smacked my mug on the table. I only hope she cleaned him out.
Why do I care?
The missing woman is wifey-number-two.
I was wifey-number-one.
Fifteen years ago, with my usual impeccable sense of timing and luck, I divorced my deadbeat spouse eighteen months before a stock tip earned him a fortune. He now has a mega-mansion on the outskirts of the city. I live in a downtown apartment and work three jobs.
After wifey-number-two went missing, a PI buddy I do research for asked if I’d help with surveillance. Since I’d just gotten my PI License, and stakeouts pay more than shuffling paper, I agreed. My second job, when I’m not watching exhusbands whose second wives have disappeared, is mailing items sold via infomercials.
In whatever spare time I have left, I create crossword puzzles and sell them to newspapers and magazines. The pay barely keeps me in flavored coffee, but it’s my first love and by far the most entertaining. A rare moment of silence had me hoping that the body disposal debate had ended.
About Author Louise Foster…
Louise Foster is the author of the Crossword Puzzle Cozy Mystery series. She didn’t pursue a writing career until well out of college. However, a lifelong love of reading and solving puzzles proved to be good training when the writing bug bit. While she enjoys reading many different types of books, from thrillers to fantasy to science fiction, mysteries have always intrigued her.
Working on jigsaw puzzles as well as crossword puzzles with her family has also been a constant part of her life. A habit that carries through to today.
In the Crossword Puzzle Mystery Series, her love of writing and solving puzzles came together. Hopefully, you’ll love the quirky characters and their high-spirited adventures as much she enjoyed writing them.
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Links to Louise’s websites, blogs, books, #ad, etc.:
Kindle (and Kindle Unlimited) – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097Q7CWP2
Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1955458014/
Audiobook – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1NTSMK8/
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Thanks, Louise, for sharing your book with us!
Don’t miss the chance to read this book!
