Title Merry Wrath Mysteries Box Set 2 – Books 4-6
Author Leslie Langtry
Genre Cozy Comedy
Publisher Gemma Halliday Publishing
Book Blurb
From USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry comes a boxed set of three laugh-out-loud mysteries! This boxed set includes three, full-length novels in the bestselling Merry Wrath Mysteries series, including:
Movie Night Murder – book #4
Merry Wrath has seen dangers galore in her former job as a CIA field agent. But nothing has prepared her for this—an overnight Mommy and Me lock-in with her Girl Scout troop, complete with movies, dodgeball, four cats, a baby…and a dead body.
Mud Run Murder – book #5
Ex-CIA Agent turned small town Girl Scout leader, Merry Wrath, thinks she has her hands full getting her troop ready for the Mud Run out at scout camp. But when she realizes some at the Agency thinks she's leaked classified intel, Merry is suddenly dodging bullets as she tried to clear her name...making it a Mud Run for her life!
Motto for Murder – book #6
Ex-CIA Agent turned Girl Scout troop leader, Merry Wrath, is busy planning a wedding... until she witnesses a midnight murder next door. Or does she? Plagued by insomnia, she's not sure what she saw. But when strange incidents of arson start popping up all over Who’s There, Iowa and a mysterious woman vanishes, Merry begins to believe her neighbors are foreign spies and vows to find out.
Excerpt From Book #4 MOVIE NIGHT MURDER
CHAPTER ONE
Reverend Miller stepped up to Riley and me, smiling as he sprinkled us with holy water. Kelly and her husband Robert immediately took a large step backwards as I burst into flame. This is what I get for going to church.
I didn’t really burst into flame. I had my suspicions, and apparently, so did my best friend and her husband, but I didn’t. I just haven’t been to a church in…never.
“Nervous?” Riley mumbled to me out of the side of his mouth.
“Oh, and you’re perfectly at home here?” I asked.
“Of course. I’m a Methodist, born and reared,” He replied smoothly.
I had to admit – he looked completely at ease in this large Lutheran church in Who’s There, Iowa.
“I knew I should’ve shot you dead that time in Kabul.”
“Do we have an atheist in our midst?” Riley feigned horror.
“No. Just an avowed agnostic. I still can’t figure out why Kelly chose me to be Finn’s Godmother and I have no way of even comprehending why she chose you to be the Godfather.”
Riley didn’t reply because at that moment, he was in the midst of handing my tiny namesake over to Rev. Miller to be doused with water. The two-month old screamed in protest, flailing her fist in the perfect right hook that landed on the minister’s chin. I couldn’t help but smile. This kid was definitely a future spy. Maybe it made sense to have two CIA agents as her godparents after all.
My name is Merry Wrath. I was born Finnoughla Merrygold Czyrgy, here in this small city in Iowa. And I used to be a CIA agent, but now I’m just a Girl Scout leader – a job that is infinitely more dangerous than being a spy.
Almost two years ago, I was outed by the Vice President of the United States, while still in the field. He was angry with my father, Senator Cyzrgy’s take on one of his policies, and accidentally turned my name over to the press.
The CIA retired me with a nice severance package and I changed my name to Merry Wrath (my mother’s AWESOME maiden name) and slunk back here to live out the rest of my life in what I thought would be a dull retirement.
It’s been anything but. In the past year I’ve been framed for the murder of various terrorists and a prison escape by an American spy, fought off a smuggling ring at camp and dodged the Yakuza in Washington DC. With my troop of eight-year-old little girls in tow.
And I suspect they’ve loved every second of it. Kelly, my co-leader, wasn’t so convinced.
Reverend Miller handed me Finn and the little girl stopped crying immediately. As I look into her tiny face, I think she’s smiling at me. And then I smelled it. My former career as a spy did not prepare me for this.
“Thank you everyone for joining us today,” The good reverend said. Wow – I missed something. Was it over?
“Please join us in the basement for punch and cookies,” He added.
I handed the baby to Riley. He was a natural with her. That’s another thing I never knew about him. I watched as his grin faded to horror when he smelled what’s just happened.
“I’ll change her, Riley,” Kelly stepped up and took her daughter from my former boss’ arms. “Head downstairs and we’ll meet you in a moment.”
“Nice of you to take time off from work for this,” I said as the two of us descend into the dungeon of horrors.
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” Riley replied.
Huh. The basement was actually not bad. My complete lack of experience in the churchy department had led me to believe it would be a torture chamber that would do the Spanish Inquisition proud. Instead, it’s a sunny room with carpet and the Lutheran Ladies League standing behind a table full of cookies and bars. A large punch bowl filled with bright green liquid resembling anti-freeze, rested at the end.
Rex, my boyfriend and detective of Who’s There’s finest, was sitting with the twelve little girls from my troop. They’re abnormally quiet. I wondered if he’s drugged them into submission.
“Thanks for watching them,” I greeted Rex with a kiss.
“No problem. They’ve been great.” He kissed me back. “I think they would’ve been fine up there.”
I shook my head, “Kelly would never forgive me if they had a water war in the baptismal font or stole the communion wine. How did you get them to be so quiet?”
Rex turned to look at the little girls. They were sitting completely still, wearing cute dresses and patent leather shoes. They looked expectantly at the doorway.
“I just told them if they were quiet, they’d get to hold the baby when she came down.”
A unified scream that hasn’t been heard since the war cries of the Norse Berserkers in the twelfth century erupted from the table. Finn had arrived and was now surrounded by little girls reaching for her with sticky hands.
“You let them eat first?” I asked Rex.
He nodded, “I really had no choice.”
I totally understood. But now the diminutive ladies were sugared up and waging a greedy assault on Kelly. I turned away. She could handle it. Time for some punch.
“So, did you burst into flame when the reverend sprinkled you with holy water?” Rex asked as he ladled me a cup of the green, frothy fluid.
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Author Biography
Leslie Langtry is the USA Today Bestselling Author of 3 Cozy Comedy series. Leslie is a recent empty nester (which means she gets all the Pizza Rolls to herself now) and lives in the Midwest with assorted, unruly pets, with whom she does not share her Pizza Rolls. You can sign up for her newsletter at LeslieLangtry.com.
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