The cab driver dropped me off at the milonga on a sultry Buenos Aires evening. The lights in the club were dim except for a spotlight on the dance floor where women in fishnet stockings and red chiffon dresses slit high on their legs danced the tango with men in fedoras, their eyes blazing with passion.
I sat in my late aunt’s reading chair at Cassandra’s Collectibles, the Justice Bay shop I opened a few months ago to sell items Lydie collected during her travels. As a marketing tactic, I created a backstory for each item to entertain our customers and enhance their shopping experience. This one was about a poetry book we were selling.
My young assistant Arthur looked over my shoulder as I wrote. “What does dancing the tango have to do with Prologo Para Una Permanencia y Otros Poemas?” he asked, struggling to read the Spanish title.
“I don’t always know the full story behind our merchandise, but this chapbook was an actual gift to my aunt from the Argentine guy who taught her to dance tango during a trip to Buenos Aires.”
The shop door swung open, interrupting our conversation. A middle-aged woman with weathered skin and a shock of salt-and-pepper hair walked in, wearing a colorful cotton skirt and a summer patchwork coat, which wasn’t exactly suited for the Northern California winter. Judging by her attire, I didn’t think she was a local.
Arthur walked over to greet her, sweeping his bony arms to encompass the room. “Let me know if you have any questions.”
Her facial muscles seemed taut. “I have something to show you.”
Arthur and I exchanged wary glances as the woman removed a piece of rough cloth from her oversized bag. It was a crewel embroidery tableau, depicting saints and sinners in various scenes from heaven and hell. It looked old.
“My Irish great-grandmother made this,” she said, her gaze darting between me and the door. “I’m willing to sell it to you for the right price.”
The naïve style didn’t seem Irish, more like South American folk art, but the vibrant colors and skilled craftsmanship would appeal to someone.
“How much do you want for it?” I asked.
She once again shot a furtive glance toward the street. “Fifty dollars.”
Arthur gave me a sideways look and a shake of his head. His instincts were likely right. She seemed nervous, and it was suspicious that she wasn’t asking a higher price. Maybe she was desperate for money, or the tapestry had been stolen and she had to dispose of it, or she knew that’s all it was worth.
I weighed the pros and cons before taking two twenties and a ten from the cash box under Arthur’s disapproving glare. The woman grabbed the money from my hand and hurried out of the shop. I stewed for the rest of the day, worried that I had made a terrible mistake.
I had no idea how terrible it was until the next morning when Justice Bay’s Chief of Police, Skip Kowalski, came into the shop to show me a photo of a woman found dead on the beach. I recognized her immediately as the person who sold me the tapestry. My adrenaline surged when I learned she had a copy of my birth certificate in her coat pocket, placing me in the middle of yet another homicide investigation.
A Dark September Night – A Justice Bay Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: August 2025
Format: Digital, Print
Purchase Link
The death of Emmaline McCoy’s beloved aunt Lydie in a hit-an-run accident shatters her world. Granted two weeks of bereavement leave from her corporate Los Angeles job, Emma heads to the small Northern California coastal town of Justice Bay to settle Lydie’s estate and sell her waterfront cottage.
As Emma navigates grief and lookie-loo home buyers, she opens a popup store in town to re-home the antiques and collectibles accumulated from her aunt’s travels. The sluggish pace of the police investigation and a growing belief that her aunt’s death was not an accident compel her to search for clues on her own. Her investigation uncovers alarming information and stimulates the onset of bizarre paranormal visions. Emma’s out-of-body images and her amassed evidence point to the person at the wheel of the murder car, landing her in a killer’s crosshairs.
In her corner throughout the ordeal are her aunt’s wise and quirky Siberian Forest cat Boo, her retired FBI Special Agent neighbor, Walter Kestrel, and his easy-on-the-eyes nephew Cooper Dane, a recovering attorney-turned-sailor whose skill set extends beyond tying bowlines and litigating torts.
About the author
Patricia Smiley is the author of the Tucker Sinclair mysteries and the Pacific Homicide series. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Two of the Deadliest, an anthology edited by Elizabeth George. A Dark September Night is the first book in her new Justice Bay series, set in a small coastal town in Northern California. Patty has taught writing at various writers’ conferences across the U.S. and Canada. She is the former president of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles and currently serves on the board of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. For more information, visit www.patriciasmiley.com.