A Rose from the Dead
by Kate Collins
Summary
Who knew death could be so . . . rosy?
Abby Knight, our feisty, fearless florist, is back in her sixth zany mystery. This time she’s tackling a group of fun-loving – but not all living—morticians at a convention of funeral directors. Hoping to drum up more business for her struggling flower shop, Bloomers, what Abby got instead was murder. It’s up to Abby and her hot, hunky P.I. boyfriend, Marco, to look beyond the trappings of death and find the killer.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
“Okay, guys, great joke. Phone booth-in-a-coffin. Ha, ha. Now let me out. The door is stuck.”
I waited a moment, then pressed my ear against the smooth pine finish, listening for snickers coming from the other side, but all I heard was silence. I pushed against the wood, but it didn’t budge. “Ross? Jess? Are you leaning against the door? Come on. It isn’t funny anymore. I’m claustrophobic.”
When the booth still didn’t open, I pounded on it. “Let me out of here!”
More silence. I pictured them pinching their lips shut so they wouldn’t guffaw.
And the reason you trusted a pair of twenty-three-year-old males in the first place was?
I ignored that smug little voice of rationality. Let it find its own answers since it was rattling around in my head anyway. Right now, my only concern was breathing, because the air in the two feet of space around me had suddenly become unbearably stuffy.
Sweat beads gathered at my temples, plastering my hair to my skin. Why wasn’t this phone booth air-conditioned? Was a little vent in the ceiling too much to ask? I gave the door one last smack with the heel of my hand, then rested my forehead against it. “You guys are in major trouble now because I’m phoning the police. Won’t you be embarrassed then?”
The silence roared in my ears. Or was that my shallow breathing?
I turned to reach for the ebony receiver behind me. The phone was a replica of the old coin-operated kinds of my mother’s generation, and the handset felt awkward and heavy as I held it to my ear. In the light of the dim red bulb overhead I read the instructions on the front of the machine. Insert coins? I actually needed money to make the call? I didn’t have any money with me. How had people functioned before cell phones?
Luckily, I never went anywhere without mine. I replaced the clunky black phone, slipped my hand in the pocket of my khakis, felt for the sleek, stainless steel case, flipped it open, and thumbed in 911. “Hello, yes, I’d like to report being locked in a coffin. Wait. Don’t hang up. This isn’t a joke. My name is Abby Knight. I own Bloomers Flower Shop, and I’m at the morticians’ convention in – yes, my father is Sgt. Jeffrey Knight, formerly of the New Chapel PD – anyway, could you send someone over to – yes, he is doing well, considering his injury. Sure, I’d be happy to pass along your best wishes – if you’d send someone over to get me out of here!”
At once the door of my jail opened, flooding the space with bright light from the floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite side of the hallway. I blinked several times, holding up a hand to shade my eyes until the blurry male shape before me came into focus. To my relief, it wasn’t either of the two pranksters who had imprisoned me. It was Marco, the hunk-of-the-Midwest, the man who could make me breathe shallowly and like it just by sauntering into a room.
“What were you doing in there?” he asked, regarding me curiously as I emerged fanning my face.
What, indeed?
Reviews
"Clever and action-driven....This is fun, easy reading and sure to delight Ms. Collins’ fans as well as newcomers"-- Betty Cox, Reader to Reader
"...[A]ction, sexual tension, intrigue, and humor….A fast-paced and enjoyable read"--Once Upon A Romance
”...[A] spirited heroine surrounded by zany characters, humor and irreverence"--Romantic Times
Author's Biography
Kate Collins is the author of the popular, best-selling Flower Shop Mysteries. For her plots, Kate draws upon her own love of flowers, and states firmly that none of the zany characters populating the fictional town of New Chapel are based on people she knows. Honest.