by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of A Neighborly Killing (winner’s choice either e-book or print), and a link to purchase it from Amazon.

Regan McHenry and her hubby, Tom Kiley, are realtors. You’d think that would be a fairly calm life with the only problems being a leaky roof or who pays the closing costs. You might have been right before Regan woke up to the sound of gunshots and an argument on their back lawn. When Tom investigates, he finds the body of their neighbor, Paul.

There’s a rifle and a handgun, and two voices were heard so it seems obvious Paul fought with someone and was killed. Regan is shocked when the coroner rules it a suicide. Well, Regan just has to find out what really happened. After all, it was in her yard!

Paul had listed his property with Regan’s agency but at an overinflated price. When Regan researches the listing,
she finds he’d done the same thing with other real estate companies. His hoping-to-be-ex-wife Melody, says she didn’t really need the money yet, Paul was paying the mortgage and taxes and it was just his way of delaying the divorce.

The divorce stemmed from the death of their daughter Chloe. They’d gone to extreme measures to save the little girl and still failed. Guilt overrode love and Melody moved out.

Paul’s house is ransacked, but no one has any idea who searched the house or what they were looking for. When Regan wakes up to flashlights coming through their back yard and a rock thrown through their door, she’s sure Paul was murdered. Her friend, Officer Dave, doesn’t agree, but he knows her well enough to be sure she’ll find the truth.
Regan and Tom end up buying Paul’s property and becoming friends with Melody. Officer Dave isn’t sure that’s a good idea at all. A spouse is always the first suspect in any murder, not that this was, it was suicide, he says. Melody asks to have a memorial for her daughter on the property as a condition of the sale. Regan agrees.

She’s surprised when Taylor Bingham, the local eco-enforcer, protests the party. What business is it of hers? Taylor says a large crowd will harm the environment and leave trash. Then there’s the head of an odd kind of church, more like a cult some believe. Paul was a believer before Chloe’s death. There are a number of people Paul riled up and a few of them didn’t mind seeing him dead. The question is—which one made the effort to make it happen?

This is the sixth book in the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mystery series. Regan and Tom are a fun couple, vibrant, and not afraid to take a risk. From a cult-like religion, suicides or murders, a Maltov cocktail inspired fire, protesters, more bodies, and green-haired eco-nuts, the action just doesn’t stop. You’ll never look at a For Sale sign the same way again.

To enter to win a copy of A Neighborly Killing (winner’s choice either e-book or print), simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “neighbor,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen June 11, 2016. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

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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.