Killer Words (Mystery Bookshop) by V.M. Burns
About Killer Words
Bookstore owner and mystery writer Samantha Washington comes to the aid of the cop who once arrested her own grandmother . . .
Sam and Nana Jo are back in sleepy North Harbor, Michigan, where Sam is eagerly awaiting the publication of her first book. In search of more immediate excitement, Nana Jo hits the casino with her fellow Shady Acres Retirement Village gal pals—but they get more than they bargained for when they witness Detective Bradley Pitt decking mayoral candidate John Cloverton.
As Sam well knows, mystery novels are full of brilliant detectives, genius sleuths, and hero cops. Detective Bradley Pitt—aka “Stinky Pitt”—is another story. In the past, the dull-witted detective has mistakenly accused members of Sam’s family for crimes they didn’t commit. Now, it’s his turn: when Cloverton turns up dead, he’s arrested. With his predilection for polyester, Pitt has been wanted by the fashion police for years, but Nana Jo knows her former elementary school math student would never commit murder—it doesn’t add up. Somebody’s framed the flatfoot to take a fall, and Sam and Nana Jo must step in to restore the reputation and good name of Detective Pitt.
KILLER WORDS
Hello, my name is Samantha Washington, and I own a mystery bookshop in North Harbor, Michigan. I also write British historic cozy mysteries and sometimes, I get involved in solving mysteries when the police seem to be following the wrong path. Detective Bradley Pitt of the North Harbor Police Department isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. I learned that when we first met (The Plot is Murder)and he accused me of murder. Just because I hadn’t gotten along with the victim and he was found murdered in the courtyard behind my bookstore, Detective Pitt latched onto me as the killer and refused to let go. If it hadn’t been for my sister, Jenna, who’s a lawyer with a reputation of being a Pitbull, my grandmother, Nana Jo, and her friends from Shady Acres Retirement Village, I might be sitting in jail today. Falsely accusing one person of murder could have been chalked up as a mistake. But accusing me of a murder I didn’t commit isn’t Detective Pitt’s only faux pas. He also erroneously accused my assistant, Dawson Alexander, my grandmother, and my stepfather of murder. Thankfully, I’ve been able to prove him wrong and find the real killers. No thanks to Detective Pitt, or Stinky Pitt, as my grandmother likes to call him. Despite the fact that I’ve prevented the miscarriage of justice and saved his reputation, Detective Pitt hasn’t appreciated my intervention in his cases. He’d prefer if I minded my own business and left the job of tracking down killers to the professionals. In that area, Detective Pitt and I are in agreement. I’d prefer nothing better than to run my mystery bookstore and focus on writing.
At last, things in my world seem to have settled down. My loved ones aren’t embroiled in a murder. My agent has sold my manuscript and I’m about to realize a long-held dream of becoming a published author. My personal life is progressing, and all is well. When my publisher suggests I work on building my brand and my social media platform, Nana Jo and I take a class on marketing for social media at the local college. That’s where we meet, John Cloverton. Cloverton is a marketing expert with lots of irons in the fire, including a run as North Harbor’s next mayor. That is until Detective Pitt arrests him in the middle of our first class. Later, when Cloverton is found dead, Pitt is accused of the murder and arrested. Personally, I’m content to take Detective Pitt’s advice and allow the professionals to do their job. However, my grandmother has a different plan. Nana Jo knows Detective Pitt can’t detect his way out of a brown paper bag, let alone a charge of murder. And despite his many faults, she isn’t about to sit back and allow one of her former students to take the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. Nana Jo can be very persuasive and before long, sheenlists me, my sister Jenna, and our friends to find the real killer. It doesn’t take long to uncover that Detective Pitt had a motive, the opportunity, and the means to kill Cloverton. Finding the real killer will take all of my skill and a good amount of luck. In this case, failure could cost a lot more than freedom and a prison sentence. It could mean the difference between life and death.
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About V.M. Burns
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