New Release: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 “I hope you don’t mind,” Becca said, when Devona had gone ahead of them, and they slowed down to take the four steps. “I’m just too tired to … to fight for him.”

“Oh, my dear girl.” Sarah squeezed her hand. “I don’t blame you in the least. I don’t much like Conrad right now, myself. He calls me ‘Granny.’ When did he pick that up?” She shook her head. “Until that boy gets his head out of his backside, I wouldn’t inflict him on anyone. Let’s give him a few weeks to straighten out and realize that sparkly, jangly little two-stepper isn’t right for him.” She winked when her words got a snort of laughter from Becca. “Then we’ll make him work a little while for our forgiveness. If he doesn’t straighten out … well, I’m still of sound mind and body, and nobody has a legal leg to stand on if I decide to give the company to someone else. Ever considered becoming a landlord?”

“Me?” She caught her breath, forcing a laugh when the words actually brought a stab under her breastbone.

Becca most certainly had considered going into the landlord business. When she thought she and Conrad would become business partners, then partners in a much deeper, more personal aspect. She shrugged, helped Sarah up the stairs, and fought not to let a different image fill her mind: Simone working alongside Conrad, changing policies at Fontaine Realty, offending clients, giving management jobs to her relatives, and ruining the reputation that Albert and Sarah had worked so hard to establish. 

For Sarah’s sake, she might just consider it.

New Release: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 “Oh, my dear.” Sarah reached out a thin, elegantly long hand to clasp Becca’s. “That big nincompoop did something wrong, didn’t he?”

She wanted to laugh, lightheaded with relief that Sarah wasn’t blaming her. If she had to lose anybody when this relationship with Conrad went south, she didn’t want that person to be Sarah.

“Well, he called me Becks, for one thing. And Simone was hanging on him, and they were getting ready for a picnic supper at Windows.” She shrugged. No way was she going to admit that Conrad played the “Oh, hello, stranger, what do you want?” card on her. So juvenile.

“I honestly don’t know what’s happened with that boy. He’s avoiding everybody, irritating clients, changing everything around at the office.” Sarah held out her bent arm for Becca to loop with hers, and they turned to head across the parking lot to the back door of the church. “Between those mules I call sons and that brother appearing out of the blue …” She sighed and patted Becca’s hand. “It’s like he’s had a nervous breakdown. But of course, big, strong men don’t admit they’ve got nerves, so he has to push away everybody who cares about him.” 

“And then some,” Rufus said, catching up with them and passing them with a few pushes on his wheels. “Guy’s ticked every time I try to fix the newest thing he messed up with the office computers.” He shook his head, then sped up, zipping to the left to the wheelchair ramp into Cadburn Bible Chapel.

New Release: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 

Becca wasn’t in the mood to even try to play act, to pretend she didn’t see Sarah until she opened the van door to climb out. She waved as soon as she saw the older woman’s head turn in their direction. Her smile froze when Sarah covered her mouth and turned her head. Becca climbed out of the van and nearly stumbled.

This had to be very bad. Becca wished Sarah hadn’t played matchmaker. They could still be friends, Sarah could still be her mentor and role model, with no awkwardness between them. If the shadow of Conrad wasn’t there, hovering over them right that moment.

Conrad was a jerk. He and Simone certainly deserved each other. Becca couldn’t think of a single thing she had done to make him look at her like he had no idea who she was yesterday. She would have thought, from seeing him in business and trustee meetings, and at church and community events, he was the kind of man who would let someone know if they had offended or irritated him, and do it privately, politely, calmly. Not act like a brat. Was he punishing her because she followed through on her commitment to six months of missions work, a promise she had made before they started getting serious? 

Definitely, he and Simone deserved each other.

New Release: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 Sunday, July 3

 Becca thought the morning sun shone too brightly as she stepped out of the back door of the duplex to go to her car and head to church. She paused and raised a hand to shield her eyes and considered turning around and going back inside. No one would blame her if she didn’t come to church that morning. Patty and Roy had both expressed concern last night that she had worn herself out, trying to get back up to speed so soon after returning home.

The other back door opened. Rufus slid out onto the porch, followed by Devona. The siblings paused. If Devona could get herself up for church, after returning from her business trip at 2am, Becca decided she could make the effort too. When Rufus suggested they ride in together, she was glad to accept.

Until she saw who was getting out of a car in the handicapped parking space next to the one where Rufus parked his van. Silver-haired, frail, elegant Sarah Fontaine was the last person she wanted to see.

Especially with a curl of guilt dropping into her stomach to stab her. She wasn’t wearing the Mizpah coin. She wasn’t sure where she had dropped it yesterday when she got home from Book & Mug.

And yet … if anyone would understand what was going on with Conrad, that would be his grandmother.

RELEASE DAY: Book & Mug Mysteries #2, DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 

RELEASE DAY!!!!

Now available in Print, Ebook, and Audiobook!

Book & Mug Mysteries #2

Becca Sheridan comes home from overseas with big hopes, but Conrad Price, the center of those hopes, has changed. For one thing, he has kicked her square dancing club, the Four Corners, out of Windows on the River, the venue they have used for years. It's little comfort that he also kicked out the Tippy Toes tap dancing club, led by Becca's high school rival, Simone Radcliffe -- because now Conrad and Simone are an item.

 

Or are they? Over the months that follow, Conrad seems to be two people. His grandmother, Sarah Fontaine, grows afraid of him. Then estranged Fontaine relatives return to Cadburn Township, wanting to take away the family busines. Is Conrad trying to fix the family rift, or make it worse? Is he trying to get back together with Becca, or does Simone still have him wrapped around her glittery fingers?

 

When Sarah dies on vacation, and there is no body to bury, Becca starts asking questions she should have asked months ago. A Fontaine uncle vanishes, then there's a dead body in Cadburn Creek. Is Conrad trying to make things right with Becca or not? And just what is in the letters Sarah left behind, to be read at the settling of the family trust?

 

When Four Corners is allowed to return to Windows on the River, Becca should be dancing for joy. But something just doesn't feel right. What else will she uncover as she and friends from Book & Mug dig into what has been hidden all these months in Cadburn Township?

 

Pssssst!!!

Check my goodies page at www.Mlevigne.com, to find out what might be FREE today, to celebrate the release of the newest troubles and twists and turns in Cadburn Township .....

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 

“I’m just fed up enough, I don’t care about client privacy,” Eden said. “Miss Sarah asked me to try to figure out what he did when he was with his brother in Virginia. She’s afraid Conrad got dragged into something, and he’s cutting off everybody to protect them. Especially her.”

“Well, that sounds more like the Conrad we know,” he admitted.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“He just never struck me as someone who would be too proud to ask for help.”

“Huh.” He considered that for several moments. “You could be right.”

“I know I am.” She smirked at him. The brief light moment faded. “She’s scared for him, but until I get some answers, some information on this brother of his … I have an awful feeling the name and information he gave me on this supposed brother Steve will prove to be false.” 

“Which means Conrad is in big trouble. Bigger trouble. Miss Sarah sure doesn’t need that.”

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

  

“Any estimate how long it’ll take to get things fixed?” Olivia asked as she got to work on the first few orders.

“Doesn’t matter.” Tom Bedford leaned on the counter with a hangdog expression. “The sign says all clubs and meetings and events are canceled until further notice. Supposedly, they found mold when they went looking for the leak.”

“Supposedly?”

“Whoever is doing the repairs isn’t anybody we know. We just know what was on the sign, and what people have overheard.” He shrugged. “Bottom line is, we gotta find some other place to meet. Conrad was in a lousy mood, came darn near cussing us out, just because we wanted some real answers.”

“That doesn’t sound like Conrad,” Kai said, more to himself than anyone else.

Eden agreed with him, when he stopped by her apartment after closing up the shop for the night. She let him know that despite Conrad saying he would call her nearly a week ago, she had yet to hear from him. He wasn’t answering texts or voicemails or emails. He was never available, and just when someone caught sight of him, he ran off, like he knew people were looking for him. Rufus had reported that he was always in a bad mood, he had lost weight, and he smelled like he had taken up smoking, the few times they were in the realty office at the same time. He hardly ever saw Conrad, who seemed to be avoiding everyone. It didn’t matter if Rufus responded to the phone calls and emails he ignored, or if he couldn’t fix any client problems without checking with Conrad, or tried to fix any problems at all, Rufus always seemed to be in the wrong.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 “Get your facts straight,” Faith Evans said. “There’s some big pipe leak over there upstairs, lots of the flooring torn up. They’re just angry that nobody bothered letting us know, so we could make other arrangements or just not meet tonight.”

“Huh. The leak can’t be too bad. Heinrich sure would have let everybody on the street know, if there was a leak at his place.” 

That earned a few chuckles from some of the square dancers. Heinrich had a reputation as a curmudgeon, and that was being generous. Anything that inconvenienced or irritated him was aired to everyone on the street. He didn’t seem to care if he drove away customers from his coins and gems shop, or the other shops in the lobby of the Windows building. Just yesterday, he had gotten into a shouting match with Spencer Wilcox, owner of the electronics store at the end of the building. Heinrich had let everyone know the security cameras were down again. Spencer rightly pointed out that making the breakdown public knowledge just encouraged anybody who wanted to try to break in.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 Tuesday, June 28

“I tell you, Becca isn’t coming home soon enough,” Dave Alderman grumbled, stomping through the door of Book & Mug that evening.

Kai looked around in time to see nearly a dozen people coming into the coffee shop, and more coming out of the door of the Windows building. The evening had grown to that odd half-light when the streetlights were flickering and warming up but weren’t needed yet, the twilight not quite setting in. He recognized a good number of the people as members of Four Corners, the square dance club that met every Tuesday night at Windows on the River. But at 7:30, they should just be getting started, not finishing up for the night.

“What do you got that’s good?” Greg Wells called out as he stomped through the door behind Dave.

“Good for cooling down some hot heads,” his wife, Ginny, added.

“What happened?” Kai stepped up to the counter as Olivia moved up to handle the influx of customers.

“Got kicked out.” Dave hooked his thumb over his shoulder at the building across the street.

“For what?”

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 That evening, Kai came upstairs for a break and reported some fuss across the street for an hour or so. Heinrich, the most troublesome of the shop owners in the Windows building, had grumbled and stomped up and down the sidewalk, insisting the security cameras, one inside the lobby and one outside by the doorway, were broken. He had online access, and nothing was visible on the screen. When the security firm that maintained the cameras came out to do repairs, they discovered someone had sprayed the motion sensors and the lenses with black paint, rendering them useless. And no one saw the vandalism being done.

Eden made note of the incident, and sent an email to the security firm, to find out if they had contracts with other businesses in Cadburn, and if any other security cameras had been attacked. Her first reaction was to blame it on more petty nastiness from someone who supported Roger Cadburn and feared Conrad would run against him in a few months. Yet how would rendering the cameras useless harm Conrad? 

She was gathering more questions to ask him, the next time he could be nailed down to one place and forced to talk.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 “Uh, looks like he has a date.”

“Yeah, with a really strong dose of –“ He let out a disgusted groan, but when he turned his wheelchair to look up at her, his expression was entirely mischievous. “Really, really strong mental drugs, y’know?”

“You’re such a mean little boy.”

“Yeah. And proud of it.” Rufus let out a sigh and bent forward, giving a hard push with his arms, and slalomed his way through the incoming afternoon traffic to get to the bookstore side of the coffee shop.

Eden gnawed on his comments and what she had seen as she retrieved a mocha whip and headed back up to the office. Something just struck her as wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Other than Conrad not contacting her when he got back into town. Not a word on the problems he and his brother had been dealing with. She was still facing roadblocks in obtaining the basic information on Conrad’s adoption. His adopted parents had hesitated for only a day before signing release forms to make their side of the adoption accessible and open to investigation. Someone on the other side was keeping the door locked. What had Conrad’s birth parents needed to hide? She wondered if Conrad’s brother knew that he had asked for the investigation, and if he did, his feelings on the matter. Was he insulted, thinking his story wasn’t believed?

She got to work on several requests for her assistance and waited for Conrad to make contact.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

Saturday, June 18

 

“Now I’ve seen it all.” Rufus stopped short after making a right turn from the elevator and stared at the front of the coffee shop.

Eden nearly ran into him, coming out of the elevator behind him. She stepped up, resting one hand on the back of his wheelchair, and turned to look at what had him slowly shaking his head.

Conrad was walking out of the shop with that too-skinny Simone Radcliffe hanging on his arm like she needed him to keep her upright. That dopey grin he wore did not belong on his face. Especially focused on Simone. Eden shook her head, flashing back to what Sarah Fontaine had said a few weeks ago about Conrad waiting for Becca Sheridan to return from her short-term missionary trip.

“I didn’t know he was back in town,” she said, as the two walked out the front door and seemed to vanish for a few seconds, into the brilliant early afternoon sunlight.

“Neither did I,” Rufus murmured. “He didn’t get back to me, when I told him I finally got things cleared up with the office system. But if he figured he’d talk to me … why didn’t he come on up?”

 

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 

“You sure?”

“The way I see it, this can only do me good. Get out of town, away from the whole political machine before Prince Roger can drag me in.”

“Does that mean you’re planning on running for trustee?” Eden perked up. “Finally?”

“I’m considering it. The best way to keep my nose clean is make it hard for him to set me up for some public humiliation, like he used to do when we were kids.” Conrad shrugged. “Then there’s the whole mess with Becca.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Total silence. I’m hoping it’s just Internet stupidity, emails getting lost in the ether, and Simone isn’t up to the mental games she was playing in middle school before she went mental. She’s gotten hacked at me for no reason, just out of the blue confronts me and yells at me for not calling or stopping by when I said I would. I never said I would. Ever. I avoid her.”

“Yeah, that’s a good reason to get out of town,” she murmured.

“And Rufus doesn’t need me breathing down his neck while he’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with the company computers, and on which end.”

“He’s the best.”

“You ought to know, you trained him.”

“I can’t take all the credit.” Eden shook her head. “The guy’s a genius, he just needs a few road signs. Sometimes you have to whack him over the head with the road signs, because like a lot of geniuses, he can be oblivious when it comes to common sense, but … yeah, he’s got a great future ahead of him. Just as long as the CIA doesn’t drag him away into some clandestine operation.”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. Glad he’s family. He and Devona are good for Grandma. I’m glad their mom came into her life when she did, needing a family. They sure needed her, when my long-lost uncles cut them off.”

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 “I didn’t say that.” Eden offered him a smile. The business smile, as Kai called it. Cool and calm and confident, that could slide over into threatening at a moment’s notice, and freeze demanding creepazoids in an instant, if necessary.

“You don’t have to. Sometimes those business smarts Grandpa trained into me come in handy, figuring out people and situations in other areas. You’ve gotta be good at reading people when you work real estate. All the horror stories you hear about the renters-from-hell, you don’t want that happening to you, so you learn to sniff out the delinquents and troublemakers and vandals before you sign the lease.” He leaned back in his chair, and raked his fingers through his fine, pale curls. “And figure out how to say no to the really big troublemakers without giving them an opening to sue you for prejudice or something else.”

“I have a few remote connections to people with access to higher security clearance,” Eden began. 

“No, it’s okay. I’ve got a few ideas I need to follow up on first. Steve mentioned something … still need to figure out if it’ll help with my other problems, or just make them worse. The only way I can do that is to meet him face-to-face.”

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 Monday, June 6

 

“All the indications are that there’s something federal involved in the mix,” Eden said. She kept her head bowed over the far-too-thin stack of printouts from all the research she’d been doing for Conrad and studied him from under her eyebrows.

She needn’t have bothered being so discrete. Conrad didn’t see her. He frowned, new furrows in his forehead and around his mouth, staring at a spot a few inches off the surface of the conference table between them. They were alone in the office upstairs from Book & Mug for the moment. Troy was due back in another half hour from a trip to Michigan. Eden looked forward to hearing if he had learned anything new from a tenuous lead about their hidden backgrounds.

“Most of what I’ve been learning has been the shadows cast by the information I can’t get at. Kind of like deciding the shape of something from the hole it left when it passed through other things. I thought at first the difficulty came from the adoption records being sealed. Now …” She slid the bankers clip back onto her copy of the reports and sat back in her chair. “Either your brother is involved in something dangerous, and he’s being protected --” 

“Or he’s dangerous in and of himself, and the further I have you dig, the more danger you could be bringing on yourself.” He nodded and only flicked his gaze up to meet hers for a moment.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

“It’s bad enough that Radcliffe girl is dogging his steps. Sometimes I’m afraid Becca went to help with that school to get away from her.”

“Radcliffe?”

“Simone. The one who leads that tap dance club. Glittery little …” Sarah’s upper lip curled up for a moment.

“Simone. Right.” Eden had to think for a moment, before recalling a thin, sharp-faced girl who always had something glittery on her clothes, no matter the weather or season. She showed up in Conrad’s shadow more and more often lately, whenever Eden saw him. “I can’t imagine Becca running away from anyone, least of all a rival.”

“Oh, there was some nasty mess when they were in middle school, and Simone blamed her, brought it up constantly. Another girl was hurt by a boy who was trying to romance her and Becca and Simone, all at the same time. Now what was his name …” Sarah’s lips pursed as she thought. She sighed and shook her head. “He’s gone, the girl’s gone, and Simone keeps using the whole ugly mess to try to slap Becca around, even though it was never her fault. And Becca can’t seem to shake off the guilt that she never should have felt in the first place.”

“You really care about her, don’t you?”

“I adore the girl. If Conrad ever slows down enough to figure out what’s good for him, I’m hoping those two make a permanent partnership. They’re good for each other.” She nodded for punctuation. “And then he found out he was adopted, from that idiot, Frank.” She sniffed. “That’s one of my three stubborn, self-righteous sons. The nerve of them, waltzing in a week after their father’s funeral and declaring themselves in charge, I should just step aside. And then stopping just short of threatening legal action when Conrad stood up for me and wouldn’t let them in the office, much less hand over the passwords and keys and checkbooks.” She shuddered, visibly shaking off the icy fury that cracked some of her usual sweet serenity. “I’m worried for Conrad. You’ll help me look out for him, won’t you?”

“You know I will.” Eden grasped Sarah’s hand and squeezed it.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

 Tuesday, May 10

 

“Eden?” Sarah Fontaine rested a thin hand on Eden’s elbow, just as she reached for the bag left on the end of the counter at Book & Mug by the delivery girl from Celestial Dragon.

“Hi, Miss Sarah.” Eden smiled despite the sudden electric zing of apprehension that shot through her at the elderly woman’s composed, delicately regal expression and posture. “Something I can do for you?”

“Could we talk? Privately?” Sarah looked around the coffee shop, four-fifths empty just before the afternoon rush began.

“Sure.” She took a firm grip on the handles of the bag and gestured with a tilt of her head for Sarah to follow her to the brass cage elevator around the corner from the front counter.

The metal gate rattled open, Eden gestured for Sarah to step in first, and in moments they were riding up to the second-floor office. She didn’t try to disguise the searching look she gave the woman. Something was gnawing at her. Sarah hadn’t so much recovered from the loss of her husband, Albert, as she had simply carried on. Eden wondered now if that resilience and serenity she envied in Sarah was more mask and determination than reality.

“What can I do for you?” Eden led her guest over to the seat next to her workstation.

“I’m not as sure as I would like to be, of the answer you’ll give me …” Sarah settled into the swivel chair and rested her tapestry handbag on her lap. “Conrad has been meeting with you quite often, over the last few weeks. I hope – please tell me it has to do with business and not personal reasons?”

“Uh … it’s entirely personal for Conrad, but not for me. And that’s about all I feel comfortable telling you. I’m sorry,” Eden hurried on. Something skipped in her chest when Sarah closed her eyes. She reached to lightly grasp the elderly woman’s wrist and was relieved when Sarah opened her eyes and smiled. 

 “I won’t press you. I hoped he had hired you to do some investigative work for him, and not … well …” She shrugged. “Honestly, I was worried he had given up waiting for Becca to come back to town.”

“Me and Conrad? No.” She tried not to laugh, sensing it would insult the woman. After all, Conrad was really the only grandson she had. He had confided in Eden about the reconciliation efforts of one of his Fontaine cousins, but until that actually happened, Conrad was pretty much all she had. One daughter was dead, the other lived in Montana, and whatever had caused her sons to turn their backs on her and Albert so many years ago, it couldn’t be gotten over and healed in a matter of a few days.

Upcoming release sample: DANCING ON MY GRAVE

Book & Mug Mysteries #2

Becca Sheridan comes home from overseas with big hopes, but Conrad Price, the center of those hopes, has changed. For one thing, he has kicked her square dancing club, the Four Corners, out of Windows on the River, the venue they have used for years. It's little comfort that he also kicked out the Tippy Toes tap dancing club, led by Becca's high school rival, Simone Radcliffe -- because now Conrad and Simone are an item.

 

Or are they? Over the months that follow, Conrad seems to be two people. His grandmother, Sarah Fontaine, grows afraid of him. Then estranged Fontaine relatives return to Cadburn Township, wanting to take away the family busines. Is Conrad trying to fix the family rift, or make it worse? Is he trying to get back together with Becca, or does Simone still have him wrapped around her glittery fingers?

 

When Sarah dies on vacation, and there is no body to bury, Becca starts asking questions she should have asked months ago. A Fontaine uncle vanishes, then there's a dead body in Cadburn Creek. Is Conrad trying to make things right with Becca or not? And just what is in the letters Sarah left behind, to be read at the settling of the family trust?

 

When Four Corners is allowed to return to Windows on the River, Becca should be dancing for joy. But something just doesn't feel right. What else will she uncover as she and friends from Book & Mug dig into what has been hidden all these months in Cadburn Township?