Title: Peril in the Pool House – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery
Author: Judy L Murray
Genre: Traditional mystery
Book Blurb:
A bed & breakfast haunted
A guest stabbed
A couple’s future in ruins
Real estate rule #3: It’s the rare buyer who wants to buy a haunted house.
A grand opening for Captain’s Watch Bed & Breakfast on the outskirts of the little Chesapeake Bay town of Port Anne is creating quite a stir. Real estate agent Helen Morrisey sold the neglected Victorian to state senator candidate Eliot Davies and his wife, Alison. Despite rumors of ghostly images, they’ve toiled for months to bring the painted lady back to its prime. Now, the couple is ready to celebrate and the whole town is invited.
A piercing scream cuts through the chatter as their party winds down. Helen bolts toward the pool house with her on-again, off-again love interest, Detective Joe McAlister, steps behind. A hysterical Alison is standing over the motionless body of one of their guests. A nine-inch pair of antique fishing shears juts from the woman’s back.
Helen takes in the shocked expressions of guests gathered at the pool edge. Why would someone want this woman dead? Has the tale of a ghost roaming Captain’s Watch returned to haunt Eliot and Alison? Getting involved in another local murder investigation could be the kiss of death for her relationship with Joe. Yet, she knows a murder in her friends B & B might cut their future to ribbons. Is it time to consult the expertise of her infamous Detection Club sleuths? Or should she look the other way before her own reputation is bloodied?
Peril in the Pool House is the third book in the award-winning Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series.
Excerpt:
Joe stood, his arms across his chest, and watched the sun dropping toward the water. He turned to Helen. “What’s Davies and Hollowell’s piloting business have to do with a ghost?” He sounded doubtful.
“The story is Isaac loved to go night fishing. He left one Sunday in the summer of 1967 and never returned. His little skiff washed ashore a few days later. They never found his body. People say they’ve spotted his spirit watching the bay from this room. I’d swear I saw an image flash across these windows earlier today.”
“You would say that.” Joe pulled Helen close. “You don’t think the flash could have been sun reflecting on the glass?”
“Must you be so logical?” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I admit, the only member of my Detection Club who ran across ghosts was Nancy Drew. My guess, you never read The Whispering Statue, one of my favorites. She found out it was a clever trick.”
“Glad to hear you haven’t lost your mind completely. I never made the connection, but is Davies Road named after the captain?”
“It was. He was a part of Port Anne’s Town Council for years and did a lot to help the town grow after World War II.” Laughter ebbed and flowed from the pool edge below. “Think we should get back to the party? It has to be winding down.” Helen scanned the lawn. The pool house doors were closed, and its lanterns glowed from within. Pool water reflected the moon lighting up the bay. They watched as two youngsters chased each other across the grass and down toward the docks.
An earsplitting cry and a crash of dishes cut through the party chatter below.
“Help! Help! Someone help!”
Helen pressed her hands to the tower’s window glass. “Who’s shouting? That sounds like Alison!”
Joe gripped the sill. “What’s happened?”
“I don’t know. Do you think she’s hurt?” Helen’s eyes widened. “Look! She’s in the doorway of the pool house!” She picked up her heels, turned and started down the narrow stairway in her bare feet. Reaching the main stairs on the third floor, she rounded the banister with Joe racing down the main stairs right behind her. They ran through the big house, dodging guests, and out onto the terrace. She stopped and jammed her heels back on. They tore across the lawn, pushing past a cluster of people encircling the pool edge.
Helen halted in the doorway. “Alison, are you hurt? What’s happened?” She touched her shoulder. Alison wailed, turning to exposure her blood-spattered hands covering her face.
They stepped around her and jerked to a stop. The motionless body of Eliot’s campaign manager, Kerry, was stretched across the bluestone floor. A set of large, wooden-handed scissors jutted from a wound between her shoulder blades. A rivulet of blood trickled across her dress. Her face was turned to the side, stark and colorless in the moonlight, with her arms splayed out to her sides. Broken shards of glass and dishes were scattered across the victim and Alison’s feet.
Helen took in the shocked expressions of everyone gathered at the pool house entrance behind her. Why would someone kill this woman? How could this happen?
Joe leaped into official law enforcement mode. He pulled his badge from his jacket vest pocket and flashed it above his head at the stunned crowd.
“Everyone! Everyone! Listen up! I’m Detective Joe McAllister from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office! I need your attention. You need to step back but remain here. Do not, I repeat, do not leave the property.” His calm, no contest deep voice told them he was now in charge. There was no doubt. Pulling out his cell phone, he hit one digit. Within three rings, the voice of his partner, Rick Lauer, came across the call.
“Joe. Didn’t expect to hear from you on a Sunday night,” he joked. “Helen send you home early?”
Joe cut him off. “Not quite. I’m at the Captain’s Watch B&B party on Blue Point Road, Port Anne. A woman’s been stabbed. I need medics here and a crime scene squad STAT. I need enough officers to control the guests and keep them from leaving.”
Rick’s tone shifted into emergency mode. “On our way.” He clicked off.
“What’s happened?” Eliot’s voice traveled over everyone’s heads as he broke through the group. Shawn and Lizzie were right behind him. “Where’s Alison?” He stopped short at the sight of his wife covered in blood and the body sprawled on the floor. “My God! It’s Kerry!”
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
The grand opening of Captain’s Watch Bed and Breakfast in one of Chesapeake Bay’s historic mansions, is ruined when the body of Kerry Lightner, a high-powered political campaign manager, is found in the pool house with fishing shears in her back. Is the killer a rival politician, an ex-lover, a jealous co-worker, or the ghost of missing harbor pilot Isaac Hollowell? When state senate candidate and B&B owner Eliot Davies becomes the prime suspect, his friend real-estate-agent-turned-amateur-investigator Helen Morrisey and her Detection Club of fictional women sleuths vow to solve the case—even if it means the end of Helen’s romance with Detective Joe McAlister. PERIL IN THE POOL HOUSE, the third in Judy L. Murray’s award-winner Chesapeake Bay Mystery series is smart, fast-paced, beautifully written, and utterly charming. Five stars!
Cozy mystery fans will delight in following Maryland realtor Helen Morrisey as she solves a double murder with the assistance of the vintage detectives populating her imagination. Lucy Burdette, author of the USA Today bestselling A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS
Giveaway –
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Open Internationally.
Runs July 23 – July 29, 2024.
Winner will be drawn on July 30, 2024.
Author Biography:
Winner of the Silver Falchion Award, IPPY Gold and Silver Awards, an Agatha Award Nominee, and recipient of two PenCraft International First Place Awards. Her Chesapeake Bay Mystery series debuted in 2021 with Murder in the Master, followed by Killer in the Kitchen and Peril in the Pool House. A former Philadelphia real estate broker and restoration addict, Judy has worked with enough delusional sellers, jittery buyers, testy contractors, and diva agents to fill her head with back-office insight and truth versus gossip. She began her professional writing career, after graduating in newspaper journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University, as a reporter and magazine columnist, and holds an MBA from Penn State University. She lives atop a cliff on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband. They’re buffeted by winds in winter and invaded by family and dogs in summer. She is represented by Level Best Books and Blackstone Audio Publishing. Sign up for her newsletter at www.judylmurraymysteries.com to learn more.
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