Nearly Departed
Series: An Eve Appel Mystery #7
Author: Lesley A. Diehl
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 180
Release Date: January 14, 2020, Epicenter Press
Summary:
Tired of sitting surveillance on insurance fraud, apprentice PI Eve Apple Egret gets her first big case, one where the outcome is important and personal. Eve’s best friend Madeleine has few relatives, so her Uncle Shamus is special, but someone is determined to kill him and has tried several times. Eve is certain she can identify who is after him, but this time she may have taken on more than even our self-confident Eve can handle. Coping with a growing toddler and a teenager, devoting time to the consignment shop and finding someone who can go undercover in a sexual harassment case all vie for Eve’s attention. Eve knows she cannot fail Madeleine. This is more than her favorite uncle’s life. His death would mean devastating loss for Madeleine and call into question Eve’s commitment as a friend and her ability as a PI.
Excerpt
Prologue for Nearly Departed
Can Eve find out who is trying to kill Madeleine’s beloved uncle or will she be forever a sham of a detective and a failure in the eyes of her friend?
With one last loving look at the picture, Angus MacAngus lifted it from its hook on the wall and added it to the cardboard box he planned to place in storage while he rented out his house in Scotland. The other artwork on the walls of his study might be worth more in dollars than this small handmade picture of a grinning cat, but he loved it more than all the expensive objects in the house put together. The cat was a decoupage of rice, beans, seeds and other natural items glued onto a linen canvas. The ears were of different sizes, and the face was lopsided, rounded on one side and flat on the other. His grandson, Dylan had made it for him.
Angus and his wife Carolyn had been separated for over a year, and he was closing the house to travel. His wife now lived in the United States in a Naples, Florida condo she filled with new possessions. When she left, she turned down his offer of the furniture in the house as well as her share of his extensive art collection.
“Pay me my half,” she had said with a dismissive flap of her hand. “Everything here reminds me of us, and I want to begin again. Besides, how would all this dark, heavy furniture fit into a sun-filled place on the beach?”
Once she settled into her new home, she wrote to him—he knew she wanted to rub his nose in how happy she was without him—to brag about how much she was in tune with the Florida coastal style. “It’s so me,” she said in her letter. He knew the breezy, beachy lifestyle in Florida was only part of the reason why she loved her move there. The other was her love affair with Angus’ best friend from college which blossomed when the friend came to Scotland the year before last. His friend Bruce hadn’t visited for many years, not since Angus’ son Mickey was young. Now Carolyn was off leading her new exciting life. If he was honest about their relationship, he had to admit there hadn’t been much between them these last few years. He wasn’t happy she had left, but he didn’t miss her either.
Angus loved the house in Edinburgh and didn’t consider anything in it dark or heavy and certainly not the picture he held in his hands. He ran his fingers over it, feeling its bumpy texture. His grandson Dylan had made it from the seeds gathered from the gardens and fields surrounding the villa the family had rented one summer in Italy. It had been the last time all of them had been together, and even his son, Mickey, whose disposition leaned toward angry and morose, seemed happy in the warm Mediterranean sunshine, running to catch up with Dylan, picking just the right seeds for the project.
He clutched the picture to his chest as if embracing it would bring back those happier days.
Angus shook his head and laid the picture carefully in the storage box. He intended to return to Scotland after he traveled with Mickey, Mickey’s wife Darcie and Dylan to visit some relatives in the States. First on his list was his niece Madeleine Boudreau Wilson whom he had not seen in over thirty years. He remembered her as a bright, happy child with flaming curls and a bouncy nature. Now she was grown, married with twins. They must be handful. He smiled to himself, wondering if they had the signature red hair that went with being from the family MacAngus. His son didn’t, but his grandson did. Angus’ own hair was struck through with white now, lightening his youthful carrot top red.
The smile on Angus face faded. He groaned, feeling his age and sank into his favorite overstuffed chair. Suddenly a thought came to him. Why put his grandson’s gift to him in storage? It was small enough to fit into his carry-on luggage, and what airport security personnel would deny his bringing into the country his grandson’s handmade craft? He got out of the chair and with a spring in his step, he strode into the bedroom where his suitcase lay on the bed. He inserted the picture between a sweater and a pair of dress slacks and closed the case, giving it a reassuring pat on the top. Safe for the trip.
About the Author
Cows, Lesley learned as a child growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she went to the field to herd them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t her career path, she took a job as a stripper, book cover stripper for a publishing company, that is. Now after many years as a college professor and university administrator, she has returned to the world of books and uses her country roots and her training to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. “A good chuckle,” says Lesley,” keeps us emotionally well-oiled long into our old age.”
Contact the Author
Giveaway
Prize: Trade paperbacks of two anthologies, each containing a short story by Lesley: “Lunch Break” in The Best Laid Plans and “Leave it to Cleaver: inThe Killer Wore Cranberry: A Fourth Mean of Mayhem Plus Mass Market Paperback of A Sporting Murder, book 1 in the Eve Appel Mysteries or (2) Digital Copy – Scream Muddy Murder (Big Lake Murder Mysteries) by Lesley A. Diehl
Tour Organized by:
To find all the tour information, click the banner at the top of the page.
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Thank you for dropping by! What do you think of Nearly Departed by Lesley A. Diehl?
Be sure to enter the giveaway and check out the other stops.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
Thank you for being part of the book tour for “Nearly Departed” by Lesley A. Diehl.
Sounds like a great book and one that I would love the opportunity to read.