Progressive Dinner Deadly E-Book

Elizabeth Spann Craig

• Herausgeber: Elizabeth Spann Craig
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Who wants chips and dip when they can have Dickens and Twain? To the residents of the sleepy town of Bradley, North Carolina, hardworking Jill Caulfield seemed beyond reproach. She volunteered at the women’s shelter, worked at the church preschool, cleaned houses for extra money, and actually enjoyed yard work. And she was nothing less than a saint to cheerfully put up with her unemployed, skirt-chasing, boozer of a husband. When intrepid octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover caught Jill, her new housekeeper, peering into her medicine cabinet, she should have been upset. But discovering that Jill wasn’t such a squeaky-clean goody-goody made her vastly more interesting in Myrtle’s eyes. Myrtle would have happily continued figuring out what made Jill Caulfield tick. If Jill hadn’t foolishly gone and gotten herself murdered, that is.

Leseprobe

Progressive Dinner Deadly

A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, Volume 2

Elizabeth Spann Craig

Published by Elizabeth Craig, 2015.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

PROGRESSIVE DINNER DEADLY

First edition. June 12, 2015.

Copyright © 2015 Elizabeth Spann Craig.

ISBN: 978-0983920809

Written by Elizabeth Spann Craig.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

This and That

About the Author:

Other Works by the Author:

 

For Riley and Elizabeth Ruth with much love.

Chapter One

“The first step,” said Myrtle to her friend Miles, “is to stage a coup.”

Miles took off his wire rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes. “A coup.”

Myrtle beamed as if at a prize student. “That’s it. The book club—as we know it—must be abolished.”

“You’re saying ... now stop me if I’ve got this wrong ... that you and I—the new members of the decades-old book club—will somehow commandeer it away from its current leadership, force it to restructure, and compel the members to read literature we deem worthy instead of beach books.”

“That,” said Myrtle, thumping The Complete William Butler Yeats triumphantly, “is exactly what I’m saying.”

Miles looked at his friend. She was really on a roll this time—she’d run her hand through her poofy white hair until it stood up on end like Einstein’s. She stood six feet tall, not at all bent or cowed by her considerable years.

“And you’re proposing that we do this how?”

“It’s a simple marketing principle. You’re a former businessman, you must understand it. Marketing, you know. Delivering what the people need.”

“Myrtle, I was an engineer, not a salesman.” Myrtle shrugged. Miles gave a sigh. “And we’re doing this why?”

Myrtle rolled her eyes. “You weren’t listening again. We’re doing this because book clubs should celebrate great literature. Literature, sharing a wonderful story, is what brings the world together. Trixie Does Myrtle Beach does not accomplish this goal.”

Miles leaned forward in his chair. “Are you saying the book club actually picked a book called—”

“No, no. I’m saying that’s the kind of tripe you might find on its reading list. And once we’ve started down that road?” She took a deep breath.

“The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the Centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

Miles glanced over at the Yeats collection. “Got it.” He straightened his glasses. “You believe that if we offer the book club serious reading alternatives, they’ll follow us in droves. That we’ll have taken it over. I’m just not sure it’s going to work out that way. It seems a little too easy.”

Myrtle snapped her fingers. “Good point. And I’ve got a terrific idea.”

Miles groaned.

“If things don’t go well, I need a plan B. I fully anticipate that everything will go according to plan, but if it doesn’t, then I’ll leave to go to the bathroom. And you’ll say, “I think Myrtle has a great idea.”

“And why,” asked Miles, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose, “would they care what I think?”