A Hard Bargain
by Jane Tesh
Summary
Former beauty queen turned PI Madeline Maclin solved one murder case, but is still having trouble being taken seriously and still unable to declare her true feelings to her best friend, Jerry Fairweather, who’s wrestling with a dark family secret. When film director Josh Gaskins is murdered during “Curse of the Mantis Man,” Madeline sets out to solve the case, but she may have to make some hard bargains with Jerry and with herself.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
This case started with a hamburger, specifically a double deluxe three-cheese hamburger with tomato and pickle at Deely’s Burger World. Jerry and I were having a late breakfast in town while Nell finished painting the upstairs bedrooms at the Eberlin house. Nell’s smoldering gaze had warned me I’d better get Jerry out of the way before she stapled him to the wall. Since he’d already knocked over one paint can and torn the drop cloth, I understood her concern.
Jerry hit the bottom of the ketchup bottle with unnecessary force. “I don’t know why she doesn’t want me to help. It’s my house.”
“Because you create more mess than you’re worth,” I said just as a huge glop of ketchup fell on his plate, splattering his dragon-patterned tie. “Get over it. Besides, I want you to see my new office.”
The letters, “Madeline Maclin, Private Investigations,” weren’t quite dry on the door of my new office in the Arrow Insurance Building on Main Street. I had a desk, though, and a filing cabinet. All I needed now were cases to solve.
Jerry tried to wipe the ketchup off his tie and succeeded in adding new shades of red to the already garish dragons. Since it was a sultry Monday morning in July, he’d left his jacket at home and rolled up the sleeves of his light green shirt. I’d opted for khaki shorts and a pink tank top.
“Any jobs yet?” he asked.
“No, but lots of interested phone calls.”
“You should have tons of cases. Everybody knows you caught Juliet Lovelace’s killer.”
Two weeks ago, ex-beauty queen, Kimberly Dawn Williams, had been convicted of the murder of aspiring beauty queen, Juliet Lovelace. Juliet’s death had been only the second murder in ten years in Celosia.
“That doesn’t translate into more work for me,” I said. “Although, I’d be happy with missing objects and philandering spouses.”
Most of the phone calls to my new detective agency were offers to judge local beauty pageants or coach contestants. My fame as a past Miss Parkland had caught up with me. People take one look and assume I’m only useful strutting down a runway. It doesn’t matter that I’ve cut my hair shorter than Jerry’s and just wear sunscreen on my face. Something about me screams “Beauty Queen.” I have my mother to thank for that.
I must have let my glum thoughts show on my sunscreened face because Jerry looked sympathetic.
“It’ll work out, Mac. Just give it a little more time.”
Reviews
"Fans of Joan Hess' Maggody series will be happy to find a new sleuth on the screwball southern cozy beat." Booklist
"Madeline Maclin is swamped with three mysteries in his charming second installemtn in Tesh's cozy series
Author's Biography
Jane Tesh lives and writes in Mt. Airy, North Carolina