by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Egg Drop Dead. We also have a link to order it from Amazon, and from an indie bookstore where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Suzanne, Petra, and Toni make up the Cackleberry Club. It’s mostly a restaurant, kind of a diner but with tea parties in the afternoons and special events at night. There’s a section of good books to read and another full of skeins of yarn and knitting needles. As they say, something for everyone.

It’s Halloween and time to decorate for the spooky. First, Suzanne has to go to Mike Mullen’s farm to pick up cheese. There’s a pizza night coming up, and they can’t be short of cheese for that! Usually Mike hears her car pull up and comes out to meet her. This time, she has to go looking for him, with bad results. His slashed body is in the cheese room, and he’s dead.

Suzanne’s been mixed up in murders before so she knows the routine. Still, that doesn’t stop her from having a small meltdown as she wonders if the killer could still be close by. When she sees someone moving through a field, she thinks she might have missed meeting his killer by a matter of minutes.

Petra, who is the excellent cook, feels Suzanne should stay out of the whole mess. She’s sure Mike’s wife could have nothing to do with his death. Toni thinks Suzanne should investigate. The Sheriff just wishes she’d serve up his cinnamon rolls and stop asking questions.

There’s a nice touch of romance for Suzanne as she’s engaged to Sam now. Toni, well, she still hasn’t signed the divorce papers for her goofy husband. His newest idea is a carwash which sounds like a good one until he reveals he wants to hire an all-woman crew so he can advertise a wet t-shirt wash. As usual, his efforts are not well thought out. To distract himself, he decides to help investigate, spilling bits of information best kept.

There are a number of suspects, despite the fact that Mike was well-liked. His wife seems in a rush to sell the farm. The developer just happened to be right on hand to make an offer. The kid next door is thought to be odd although Suzanne doesn’t see it.

This is book seven in the Cackleberry Club series. Childs also writes the Scrapbook Mysteries and the Tea Shop Mystery series. Petra shares recipes for chicken pickin’ stir fry, egg drop soup, molasses bread, harvest pumpkin soup, rice pudding, pumpkin fudge, cheddar breakfast strata, cherry cake bars, and apple scones. There’s a bonus excerpt from Pekoe Most Poison, a Tea Shop Mystery, coming in March 2017.

To enter to win a copy of Egg Drop Dead, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “drop,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 14, 2017. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Egg Drop Dead

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Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch, in the land of blues, booze and shoes—St Louis, Missouri. While writing magazine articles to support her mystery book habit, she secretly polishes mystery books of her own, hoping, someday, they will see the light of Barnes and Noble and a Kindle. You can find several of Sandra’s short stories at Untreed Reads including her newest, “Arthur,” included in the anthology titled, Flash and Bang, available now. Look for Denali, in the anthology Dogs and Dragons.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.