#Sample: My Cozy Mystery THE CORPSE WORE GINGHAM
Check out this short sample I took from Chapter 1 to my cozy mystery
The Corpse Wore Gingham: A Piper & Bill Robins Mystery, Book #1 . I hope you enjoy reading it.
Chapter 1
The wall telephone rang, and Bill Robins, frowning, picked up the handset. He’d just finished removing the last coffee mugs from the top rack of the dishwasher to put away on the cupboard shelf. He recognized Emily Davenport’s nasal voice from when she’d called him on previous occasions. Her octogenarian mother Anna, who lived one house down the street from the Robinses, had not answered Emily’s repeated phone calls or recorded voicemail messages over the past two days.
“I’m concerned about her,” Emily said. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Just name it, Emily,” he said.
“Would you mind going next door and check on her? She may have tumbled down the stairs and broken her leg or hip.”
“I hope not, and I’ll be glad to do it,” he said while shaking his head to mean he was anything but that. It was bad enough he went over to do the handyman tasks and sort of look after her. “I’ll call you right back as soon as I know something. Talk to you later.”
He hung up, grumbling to nobody in particular. Emily was about the only caller using the landline phone, and he regretted not getting rid of it. The Robinses were probably the lone holdouts on their city block to still have one.
“Quit grumbling,” Piper said from the kitchen doorway. She looked up at her husband who never put on any pounds. They dressed in cotton, hers the summery shade of beige and his taupe. “You sound like a sixty-eight-year old grump,” she said. “Who called us?”
His short, slim wife’s sudden appearance surprised him. “Who called us the last time on the landline?” he asked. “Who leaves me grumbling?”
“Just tell me.”
“Emily Davenport from Bakersfield, California, requested me to visit next door and see how Anna is faring.”
“Why? Isn’t she answering her phone?”
“You know she’s half-deaf and refuses to wear her hearing aid. Emily said she has been trying for the past two days to reach her with no success.”
“Did you agree to do it?”
He was annoyed. “Reluctantly, yes, I said I would like I always do.”
“Then we have no other choice but to take out five minutes and pop over to see what’s what.”
He pushed in the dishwasher’s top rack and lifted the door to close it. “Do you know what happened to the house key she lent me? She won’t hear our knock.”
“Didn’t she give it to you the last time you went over? Wasn’t it the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend? We’d just gotten home from the city parade.”
“I slipped the house key into my pocket, and after that where it went is anybody’s guess.”
“I know it didn’t fall out of your pocket during the washer’s spin cycle.”
“Let’s go on anyway. She seldom remembers to lock up despite all my reminders.”
“Has she grown so absent-minded? I hardly bump into her anymore for our chats. You’d better tell Emily her forgetful mother doesn’t keep her house secured.”
“The next time Emily and I talk, I’ll be sure to bring it up. For now, we have just enough time to touch base with Anna before we have to be off.”
“Noreen won’t mind hanging loose if we don’t arrive on the stroke of twelve noon.”
“Let’s still make it snappy.” He cut out of the kitchen, and she followed him.
End of the sample taken from Chapter 1 to The Corpse Wore Gingham: A Piper & Bill Robins Mystery, Book #1
by Ed Lynskey. Please consider marking The Corpse Wore Gingham as "to-read" on your Goodreads account. Thanks for your interest!
The Corpse Wore Gingham: A Piper & Bill Robins Mystery, Book #1 . I hope you enjoy reading it. Chapter 1
The wall telephone rang, and Bill Robins, frowning, picked up the handset. He’d just finished removing the last coffee mugs from the top rack of the dishwasher to put away on the cupboard shelf. He recognized Emily Davenport’s nasal voice from when she’d called him on previous occasions. Her octogenarian mother Anna, who lived one house down the street from the Robinses, had not answered Emily’s repeated phone calls or recorded voicemail messages over the past two days.
“I’m concerned about her,” Emily said. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Just name it, Emily,” he said.
“Would you mind going next door and check on her? She may have tumbled down the stairs and broken her leg or hip.”
“I hope not, and I’ll be glad to do it,” he said while shaking his head to mean he was anything but that. It was bad enough he went over to do the handyman tasks and sort of look after her. “I’ll call you right back as soon as I know something. Talk to you later.”
He hung up, grumbling to nobody in particular. Emily was about the only caller using the landline phone, and he regretted not getting rid of it. The Robinses were probably the lone holdouts on their city block to still have one.
“Quit grumbling,” Piper said from the kitchen doorway. She looked up at her husband who never put on any pounds. They dressed in cotton, hers the summery shade of beige and his taupe. “You sound like a sixty-eight-year old grump,” she said. “Who called us?”
His short, slim wife’s sudden appearance surprised him. “Who called us the last time on the landline?” he asked. “Who leaves me grumbling?”
“Just tell me.”
“Emily Davenport from Bakersfield, California, requested me to visit next door and see how Anna is faring.”
“Why? Isn’t she answering her phone?”
“You know she’s half-deaf and refuses to wear her hearing aid. Emily said she has been trying for the past two days to reach her with no success.”
“Did you agree to do it?”
He was annoyed. “Reluctantly, yes, I said I would like I always do.”
“Then we have no other choice but to take out five minutes and pop over to see what’s what.”
He pushed in the dishwasher’s top rack and lifted the door to close it. “Do you know what happened to the house key she lent me? She won’t hear our knock.”
“Didn’t she give it to you the last time you went over? Wasn’t it the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend? We’d just gotten home from the city parade.”
“I slipped the house key into my pocket, and after that where it went is anybody’s guess.”
“I know it didn’t fall out of your pocket during the washer’s spin cycle.”
“Let’s go on anyway. She seldom remembers to lock up despite all my reminders.”
“Has she grown so absent-minded? I hardly bump into her anymore for our chats. You’d better tell Emily her forgetful mother doesn’t keep her house secured.”
“The next time Emily and I talk, I’ll be sure to bring it up. For now, we have just enough time to touch base with Anna before we have to be off.”
“Noreen won’t mind hanging loose if we don’t arrive on the stroke of twelve noon.”
“Let’s still make it snappy.” He cut out of the kitchen, and she followed him.
End of the sample taken from Chapter 1 to The Corpse Wore Gingham: A Piper & Bill Robins Mystery, Book #1
by Ed Lynskey. Please consider marking The Corpse Wore Gingham as "to-read" on your Goodreads account. Thanks for your interest!
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