by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of Gemini Moon. We also have a link to order it from Amazon.

Lella York is headed home from her annual trip to Italy. She’ll get to visit with her son Kyle for a day or two, catch up with her BFF Ruby, and see her cat, Flash. It turns out Kyle a budding actor, can’t stay. Well, that’s okay, she’ll catch up on her sleep and call Ruby in the morning. At least Flash will be glad to see her.

Flash is more than glad. The litter box is full, the food and water bowls not only empty but dusty. There’s a note in the mailbox that her mail is at the post office, the box was too full. What happened to Ruby taking care of all that for her?

In the middle of her sleep, Lella gets a phone call from a police detective, talking about “the Russell case.” Sleep-fuddled, Lella thinks something happened to Ruby and in a way, it did. Her husband, Tom, was shot—by Ruby. She says he was cleaning his gun and set it on the desk. Ruby picked it up to look at it, and it went off, shooting Tom in the head.

Once Lella figures out it’s not Ruby who is dead, she tries to find her. She’s not at home, cell phone voicemail is full, and no one’s seen her.

Ruby and Lella’s husband had been friends. When Lella’s husband, Nick, was driving Ruby’s car, it went off the road, killing Nick and leaving Ruby with a head injury that affected her memory. Lella’s afraid she’s having another memory lapse due to the stress of Tom’s death which was ruled to be accidental.

Things really get weird when the police detective asks Lella out and then the next thing she knows, Ruby’s been reported missing and Kyle is the main suspect in her kidnapping and possible murder. Answers are slow coming and no one seems to be in a sharing mood.

Ruby’s nowhere to be found, Kyle was driving her car, his car appears and disappears at random, Ruby’s house burns to the ground, things at Lella’s house make her think someone’s been there, and she finally gets a letter from Ruby—with the house and mailbox keys, no note.

The storyline is a complicated one as Lella tries to figure out her own life, the police detective’s interest in her, and Ruby’s life as well. She tries to protect Kyle who takes his time in jail much more calmly than she does. Secrets abound in this mystery. Pay close attention to the details and you’ll still have questions at the end. Be prepared to want to read this in one sitting, and then maybe read it again to see where you missed some clues.

At the back of the book, find an excerpt of Venetian Moon.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Gemini Moon, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “gemini,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 31, 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.

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.