Shamus in the Green Room

Chapter One

Playing it cool wasn't in my repertoire, but that didn't mean I couldn't fake it.

I leaned against my silver Camry, ran my fingers through my hair, and laughed insouciantly.

"You're kidding, right?" asked my best friend, Lael.

"Ooh," said my daughter, Annie. "You probably shouldn't have worn white."

I swatted at a bee while trying to remember the last time I'd gone to a car wash.

"Bees love perfume," yelled my second-best friend, Bridget, who was walking up the path toward my house. "And I can smell yours from here."

"Isn't this exciting?" asked my neighbor Lois, of no one in particular. "Don't lose your place in line, now," she chided her twin sister, Marlene, who was placing a can of cat food in the driveway for the local strays. The bees headed her way, favoring savory salmon over spicy Oriental notes. "It isn't every day that Cece has a gentleman caller."

My fiancé, Peter Gambino, glowered at her.

"For the last time, he's not a gentleman caller." I twisted around to brush the dust off my fur-trimmed ... read full excerpt from: Shamus in the Green Room ebook