New Release | The Slay’s the Thing by Louise Stevens #cozymystery #newrelease #bookboost
top of page
  • N. N. Light
    • Aug 24, 2023
    • 3 min read

New Release | The Slay’s the Thing by Louise Stevens #cozymystery #newrelease #bookboost



Title The Slay’s the Thing

Author Louise Stevens

Genre Cozy Mystery


Book Blurb


I’m Amanda Seldon and I knew it would be a change to leave my soul-sucking corporate career and move back to my sleepy hometown to pursue my dream of being an author. But I never suspected it would literally be murder.


Working part-time at a summer stock theater is perfect to earn some cash. Until someone gets killed and the police chief suspects me. The cherry on top is the chief’s brother is my childhood crush, and I don’t want to be wearing an orange jumpsuit when we meet again. I set out to find the murderer with my two best friends, fun-loving aunt, and my anxious rescue dog. No problem, right? We’ve all read plenty of mysteries, and Fluffy is an attack shih tzu.


It’s the second act of my life, and in a play that’s when the exciting stuff happens. Exciting is fine, but will I be a free woman when the curtain goes down?


Excerpt


I hadn’t taken five steps before another muffled thump sounded from the theater. That was it, we were going home. Now. I took off at a run for my office. Once there, I tapped out a quick text to Jeremy.


­­––Leaving the theater now. Lost track of time. BTW, I heard something a little while ago. Is anyone supposed to be here tonight??––


Fluffy lifted her head off the dog bed as I rushed in and shoved my books and laptop into my tote bag in a haphazard fashion. I clipped the leash to her collar and said, “C’mon, girl, we’re outta here.”


At the doorway, I paused long enough to flick the light switch to the off position, and then shut the door behind us. I stopped and listened and heard nothing, and breathed a sigh of relief. It must have just been my imagination, which had always been on the overactive side, according to my parents. It’s one of the reasons I loved writing fiction so much, but right now it seemed like more of a negative than a positive.


I stopped walking and my head lolled back on my neck. Darn it all to heck, I still needed to set the alarm system. And it was located by the stage door in the back of the theater. Where my overactive imagination thought it heard thumping.


Oh, well, there was nothing to be done. I had to set the alarm. It was the last thing Jeremy said to me. Plus, I had to have imagined the noises. Or perhaps I really heard something, but misinterpreted what it was. Maybe a squirrel or a raccoon had gotten into the theater and were clomping around. I heaved a sigh. That had to be it. We were in the middle of the woods, after all, it wasn’t unheard of for critters to get into the building.


I hustled Fluffy into the theater and rushed down the aisle toward the stage. The dim emergency lighting, which was left on all the time when the theater was in operation, was the only illumination. Once we reached the stage, Fluffy trotted up the steps before me, and I followed along.


On the stage, my dog made a beeline for the very spot I wanted to avoid. The one where we had found the body. Who knew Fluffy was such a little ghoul?


“Not that way, Fluff. We need to get to the stage door on the other side of the stage.” I tugged gently on her leash, but she continued to sniff the wooden floorboards.


While I debated how I could juggle everything else I carried to try to pick her up like a furry football and make a break for the stage door, she finally stopped sniffing and lifted her head.


“That’s a good girl, Fluff, let’s go home.” I turned and walked toward the other side of the stage, but stopped short when the leash pulled taut and wouldn’t let me go any further.


I looked back at my dog, only to find her staring fixedly up into the rafters over my head. She growled low in her throat. My gaze nervously flicked in the direction she was peering, and I caught a glimpse of a shadow up above.


Someone was in the rafters.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)


Amazon:


Barnes & Noble:


Apple:


Kobo:


Smashwords:


Tolino:


Vivlio:


Author Biography


Louise Stevens is the author of the Port Sunset Mysteries, and the Second Act Cozy Mystery series. A lover of mysteries since her discovery of Nancy Drew many years ago, she is thrilled to be writing cozy mysteries now. She lives in Maryland with her husband, who also loves a good mystery, in a house packed with books.


Louise Stevens is the pen name of contemporary romance author Donna Simonetta.


Social Media Links


Facebook:

Amazon Author Page:

Twitter:

Goodreads:

BookBub:

Tags:

bottom of page