In my old life, I rarely woke up before noon. In my defense, I was usually out late tailing a mark: cheating spouses, deadbeat dads, people about to be served legal papers. The life of an (almost) PI is one that lends itself to midnight stakeouts and bleary-eyed cups of coffee at dawn, and I used to think it was the only thing in the world I truly wanted.
These days, however, I’m up with the sun. In a place like Seven Ponds Retirement Community, you have to be. All the good pastries are gone by six a.m., and half the population is already drunk on mimosas by the time morning Tai Chi is over.
Despite the fact that I’m currently living in a place where the average age is eighty-four, I’m not an old woman. I’m also not in the habit of getting drunk on breakfast cocktails on every day that ends with a –y, but you know what they say. When in Rome…
In this case, Rome is a retirement community in the town of Draycott, Arizona, where golf courses and crystal shops outnumber schoolchildren 2-1. It’s a great place, assuming you like endless deserts full of cacti and a sun so sweltering that I haven’t stopped sweating since I stepped off the Greyhound bus that brought me here. It’s also the home of my long-lost grandmother, Jade McCallan, a woman I’ve been dying to meet ever since I was a little girl.
Although now that I think about it, “dying to meet” probably isn’t the best term to use in this situation. See, I haven’t even been here one day and sweet Grandma Jade is already being questioned for the murder of her friend and fellow podcaster, George “the Admiral” Vincent. Sure, Grandma Jade is an agent of chaos. And yes, it’s hard to believe that even half the stories she tells about her former life are true.
But she took me in without a second’s hesitation. And her friends have done the same. There’s no way any of them could have harmed a sweet old man that everyone seems to have admired.
Lucky for me, there are plenty of ways to keep an eye on things around here. If the day drinking doesn’t give me enough of an excuse to mingle with my primary suspects, then lounging by the pool does. There are also pickleball tournaments, excursions to the shops in town, and even a man my own age to keep things interesting.
Then again, what’s a man my age doing around here? His chart says he’s had a hip replacement, but the way he keeps popping up and judging me whenever I try to do a little sleuthing says the opposite. Good thing I have plenty of time to relax, unwind, and snoop my way to a conclusion.
After all, I may not be retired, but I am in a retirement home. Time is the one thing I should never run out of…
Murder Runs in the Family: A Seven Ponds Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: April 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Amber thought she had troubles before her grandma was arrested for murder…
Former PI-in-training Amber Winslow has decided to flee her life in the dead of night, carrying nothing but the clothes on her back. Down on her luck and with no other choice, she heads to the sunny state of Arizona to the luxury accommodations of her grandmother’s retirement community. Never mind that Amber’s never actually met her estranged and eccentric Grandma Jade.
As soon as she sneaks her things into Seven Ponds (a place she technically doesn’t qualify for and definitely can’t afford), she’s shocked to learn that George Vincent, a.k.a. the Admiral, was found dead the very night of her arrival. What’s even more shocking is that no one seems particularly distraught over the news of the Admiral’s death or the disappearance of his prize pet tortoise. All anyone can talk about is a missing Vincent family heirloom, and they’re quick to blame Jade for both the Admiral’s murder and the theft of the priceless ring.
Amber doesn’t want to admit the woman she’s just met—and who accepted her without question—could be behind the Admiral’s death, and she’s determined to clear her grandmother’s name no matter the cost.
About the author
Tamara Berry is the author of 18 books across 3 different genres. She began her career as a romance author and now writes both upmarket women’s fiction (as Lucy Gilmore) and cozy mysteries (as Tamara Berry). Tamara graduated from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature before deciding to eschew academia for the more thrilling world of love, murder, and mayhem. In 2023, she was awarded the first-ever Lilian Jackson Braun Award at the Edgars for her cozy mystery Buried in a Good Book. Both she and her work have appeared in such publications as Mystery Scene, Women’s World, USA Today, NPR, and The Spokesman-Review.