A Drizzle of Trouble by @JoHiestand is a Cozy Mystery Event pick #cozymystery #cozy #giveaway
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  • N. N. Light
    • Oct 13, 2022
    • 5 min read

A Drizzle of Trouble by @JoHiestand is a Cozy Mystery Event pick #cozymystery #cozy #giveaway



Title: A Drizzle of Trouble


Author: Jo A. Hiestand


Genre: Cozy mystery


Book Blurb:


Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but at least he wasn't murdered while playing his harp. At any rate, that's the police conjecture when mayor of Beaudin Trace, Missouri is found dead in his living room, lying next to his beloved instrument.


The death produces a quartet of angry suspects, all with scores to settle with the overbearing mayor. Was one of them tired of the way he was conducting town business, or was there a different motive?


To prove her friends innocent, bakery shop owner Kate Dunbar investigates. But trouble drizzles down like rain, threatening to wash out her work. Luckily for her, she's helped by two cats who seem to lap up the problem and help solve the case without twitching a whisker.


Excerpt:


"I'm going to look at the exterior,” Ron called over his shoulder. “There could be more shingles off the roof in the rear. And maybe another part of the tree. If you're going to make a sandwich, would you make me one? This reconnoitering won't take long."


"If you're as starving as you claim, have lunch now. Surely Alex can see what needs mending when he comes over to give us a repair estimate. Isn't that right, Piper?" Sherry picked up the Scottish Fold cat and cradled him to her chest. "Let's go get some lunch. You look hungry. Come along, Max," she added as the second cat sniffed the base of the harp. "Mama's got a new can of yum-yum for you." She walked into the kitchen as Ron stepped outside.


She rummaged about in a cabinet and grabbed a tin of cat food. After opening it, she plopped a spoonful in each cat dish and set the can on the countertop. The cats hurried up to their places and began eating. "Not so quickly, Max," she said, looking at the large Siberian Forest. "You don't want to get a tummy ache. I doubt that daddy would appreciate driving you to the V-E-T when he's focused on the sick house. Not that he doesn't love you, but you know how he is. Tunnel vision and one-track mind. But mommy loves you." She gave the cat a pat on his shoulder, and returned to the living room, where she placed a large mixing bowl beneath the ceiling drip. The plop of water hitting the container sounded loud in the otherwise quiet of the house. Satisfied with her clean-up contribution, she carried her suitcases upstairs.


She stopped in the doorway of her room and stared open-mouthed at her bed. It seemed to be the target of another trickle of water, for an intermittent plop plop plop fell from the ceiling above the piece of furniture and splatted onto the bedspread. It was dotted with wet patches, and water had splashed onto the carpet and wallpaper near the headboard. The wall's top corner, as well as the ceiling, showed cracks and soggy patches where water seeped through.


Sherry set her luggage in the hall and hurried downstairs as she heard the front door open and close.


"Just as I said before," Ron said as his wife entered the living room. " This is gonna cost us some money."


"Open your wallet, dear. Our bedroom didn't escape the vengeance of Thor, or whoever the rain god is."


Ron moaned, glancing at the staircase. "Is it bad?"


She shrugged and sat on the couch. "I have no idea what Alex will label it, but it'll take some expert TLC. You want to phone him with the good news, or shall I?"


"I can't believe this. We're gone for one week and come back to...to—" He gritted his teeth, rubbing his forehead. "Of all the—"


"Now, now. Don't get angry and explode, dear. You'll need another vacation to calm down."


"Another vacation?" He gave her a look that suggested he didn't think much of her joke. "We could afford this one only because you won that slogan contest."


Sherry smiled and patted her lap as Piper jumped onto the couch. "It was a great entry, wasn't it? 'The best way to get plastered is with Goo Globs.' Catchy. Who can forget such a product when they need plaster?" She gave the cat a pretend kiss on the nose before adding, "Too bad there's a non-competition clause or whatever it is in the contest rules. I could've also offered my slogan as a drunk driving campaign. Of course, it would need a slight alternation, such as leaving off the product name Goo Globs, but I could come up with something. Couldn't I, Piper?" She gave the cat a final pat before he jumped down and padded over to the harp.


"Will you stop talking to the cats and help me think?" Ron strode over to the foot of the staircase and gazed upwards, as if he could see the bedroom. "Should we increase our deductible so we don't have to pay so much out of pocket next time?"


"Next time? Lord, I hope there won't be a next time. Anyway, aren't you doing all this backwards?"


Ron turned toward her, frowning. "What do you mean? I should have my lunch first?"


"No. I mean phone Alex to come out to look at everything and write up the claim for the insurance. Then you can talk to him about changing the deductible. You can't do that now, when we're about to put in a homeowners claim."


"Oh. Sure. That would seem a bit unprofessional, as though I was asking him to do something shady before the claim was processed."


Sherry waved her hand at him, shooing him from the room. "Go look at the bedroom, then phone Alex, then have lunch. I don't know how you conduct your council meetings, but I'm sure you're the first mayor of Beaudin Trace who's on his way to having an indoor swimming pool in his house."


Ron's hands balled into fists as he glared at her. "I don't know about that, but I'd say it speaks of a certain councilman who constantly wishes the house will fall down around my ears. That's in addition to something else that's more permanent in the Unlucky Fortune category."


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What makes your featured book a must-read?


It’s funny. The mayor’s wife has some witty, sarcastic remarks to her husband. Two cats are featured, which gives the story a bit of coziness. There’s the lure of looking for treasure. And the zany song writing professor is back with some more off the wall songs. Plus, I think it’s a good mystery!


Giveaway –


Enter to win a $15 Amazon US or Amazon Canada gift card



Open Internationally. You must have an active Amazon US or CA account to win.


Runs October 12 – October 19, 2022.


Winner will be drawn on October 20, 2022.



Author Biography:


Jo A. Hiestand grew up on regular doses of music, books, and Girl Scout camping. She gravitated toward writing in her post-high school years and finally did something sensible about it, graduating from Webster University with a BA degree in English and departmental honors. She writes a British mystery series (the McLaren Mysteries)—of which three books have garnered the prestigious N.N. Light’s Book Heaven ‘Best Mystery Novel’ three years straight. She also writes a Missouri-based cozy mystery series (The Cookies & Kilts Mysteries, of which "A Trifling Murder" is the second book) that is grounded in places associated with her camping haunts. The camping is a thing of the past, for the most part, but the music stayed with her in the form of playing guitar and harpsichord, and singing in a folk group. Jo carves jack o’ lanterns badly and sings loudly. She loves barbecue sauce and ice cream (separately, not together), kilts (especially if men wear them), clouds and stormy skies, and the music of G.F. Handel. You can usually find her pulling mystery plots out of scenery—whether from photographs or the real thing.


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