Sample My Just Released Cozy Mystery, Fifth In The Series

My new cozy mystery novel is Sweet Betsy: Isabel & Alma Cozy Mystery Series Book #5. Here is the sample excerpt I've taken from Chapter 1:

Chapter 1

“You’ve dug up a dinosaur bone,” Isabel said. “That’s all there is to it.”

“I say it’s a human bone,” Alma said, shaking off the dirt crusted on the long, whitish object. “No dinosaur this dinky ever roamed the blue planet.”

Isabel frowned. “Alma Trumbo, you did not just dig up a human bone from our flowerbed. It’s got to be a dinosaur bone, dinky or not.”

“A dinosaur bone, eh?” The short, stout Alma gave her tall, slim sister the old up and down. “What then, are we the Flintstones living in Bedrock?”

“I hardly think so. Quiet Anchorage is a bit more sophisticated. You’ve read one too many whodunits involving buried bones.”

“You know how much I love to read our mysteries.”

“Even so, didn’t I warn you to curb your reading binge? I begged you to slow down, but you poohed-poohed me as you always do. Believe it or not, your older sister is also wiser, and she can still teach you a thing or two.”

“Help me think of whose bone it is, Old Wise One.”

“I just told you it belonged to the late Mister T. Rex.”

“No, it’s got to be to that young lady. You know the one I mean who went missing three summers ago. We used to see her at the IGA while grocery shopping. She liked to buy the black cherry Greek yogurt and kosher dill pickles. Who was she? Her last name rhymed with tweet and parakeet.”

“Betsy Sweet?”

“That’s her!”

“The Sweets live in the rose-colored stucco house next to Gandy Brothers Drilling and Pump Company.”

“They used to live there, but they moved away.”

“The hunt for Betsy went on for several days, and none of our search teams could find a trace of her. If we’d had Petey Samson back then, his supercharged nose would’ve tracked her down in a jiffy.”

Alma didn’t want Isabel to start singing the praises of their pet, a rescue beagle, or she wouldn’t shush until sundown.

“I’ve found the missing lady,” Alma said. “Say welcome home, Betsy Sweet.”

“Not so fast there. You can’t be holding part of her.”

“Not only that but I’m getting in touch with Sheriff Fox about it.”

“Sheriff Fox has better things to do than settle our bone dispute.”

End of the sample excerpt taken from Chapter 1.

Thank you for your interest in my cozy mystery. You can click on this link to the Goodreads page for Sweet Betsy: Isabel & Alma Cozy Mystery Series Book #5 to find out more about it.