Eve Appel Egret first appeared in A Secondhand Murder and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Eve.

What is your full name?
My name is Eve Appel Egret

How old are you?
I will be celebrating my 39th birthday in a few months.

What is your profession?
When I lived in Connecticut, I worked part-time in several clothing stores. I love designer fashions, but like many, have never been able to afford them, so I discovered thrift shops where I searched for secondhand fashions. I also found weekend yard sales are great places to look for the label brands of clothiers. It was because of my love of bargains that I moved to rural Florida to open a high-end consignment shop with my best friend, Madeleine Boudreaux. It was our mission to bring fashion to those living off coast.

Do you have a significant other?
I met my husband, Sammy Egret, by accident, really by accident when I was run off the road in my convertible. Sammy came to my rescue. I can’t say it was love at first sight because Sammy and I are out-spoken individuals and we spar with one another even after over five years of marriage. It’s interesting, however, than although Sammy is Miccosukee, our differences of opinion never involve arguments over cultural issues.

What is their name and profession?
Sammy runs the family’s air boat business in Sabal Bay, Florida, and he also works as ranch manager for Madeleine’s husband, David Wilson who runs a hunting reserve.

Do you have any children?
Sammy and I have three boys we adopted when their mother died and their father was killed. The boys are Miccosukee, and their father was Sammy’s half-brother. Sammy and I also have a daughter, Nettie, named after Sammy’s mother, Renata. Nettie takes after me in personality. She is bold, unafraid and tries to keep up with her older brothers. She is tall like Sammy and me. She has her father’s black hair and my blue eyes. Sammy and I would like more children. Because my parents died in a boating accident when I was young, I’m all about surrounding myself with family, and family means those people who are related to me as well as close friends like Madeleine and her family.

Do you have any siblings?
I was an only child, raised by my maternal grandmother, but Madeleine and I are like sisters. We met in the fifth grade. Because she was so tiny and shy, I had to step in and teach her how to handle the kids who bullied her. She and I have each other’s backs always.

Who is your best friend?
Madeleine, my business partner and friend since we were young.

Do you have any pets?
No, I’ve never had a pet, but my boys and Nettie like to ride horses as did my grandmother when she lived in Connecticut. I love horses, but I must admit they are probably the only thing I have any fear of, well, except for the alligators here in Florida.

What town do you live in?
I lived outside Hartford, Connecticut during my first marriage, but I find that the country life here in Sabal Bay, Florida suits me just fine. When I first came to town, people here viewed me with suspicion, not only because I am a flamboyant dresser (I always wear stiletto heels making me soar several inches over my natural height which is close to six feet) and choose to wear my hair short, blonde tipped and gelled into punky spikes, but because my views on community matters tend to be more liberal than others living in this area.

Would you say you live in a small town or a big city?
Sabal Bay is really a small town serving the surrounding ranching and farming community. The largest population center is thirty miles to our east on the coast of Florida. Madeleine and I get much of our used merchandise for the shop in West Palm Beach.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
Sammy and his family along with other members of the Miccosukee tribe are constructing our house next to his grandfather’s place on a large canal that leads into Lake Okeechobee. It will be large enough for all our kids and right next door to the cabin where Sammy’s father and grandfather live. While it has all the modern amenities, it looks like the traditional stilt houses the tribe builds, but it has a shingled roof, not a thatched one. I like the thatched roof look, but don’t fancy the small lizards that like to inhabit them.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Absolutely the kitchen where someone, usually not me because I’m a terrible cook, is preparing food. Grandfather Egret as we call Sammy’s grandfather is a wonderful cook as is my grandmother. On many occasions, my friend, Nappi Napolitani (he might be a mob boss, but we’ve never gotten the real story on that) stops by to prepare Italian food.

Favorite meal and dessert?
Much as I love the homemade meals, I adore getting a rack of ribs and cole slaw from the Burnt Biscuit Bar and Grill. Anything chocolate for dessert is fine with me.

Do you have any hobbies?
Hobbies? Well, in the past it seemed I loved to chase down criminals for leisure, but now it seems I do it as a profession. Other hobbies? Who had time for them with kids to raise and criminals to chase?

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Grandy (my grandmother) and her husband Max used to run a fishing boat charter out of Key Largo, so I’ve spent a lot of time there with Madeleine and David, their kids, husband Sammy and our kids. I yearn to get back up North some summer, especially in the Adirondacks. I’m hoping Sammy and I can take the kids there for a trip. Camping, maybe?

What music do they listen to?
Madeleine and I like to sing on karaoke nights at the Burnt Biscuit. Even with a few scotches in us, we still sound awful, but we both like to do a little two step to country music.

Do you have a favorite book?
I like to read Agatha Christie and Sue Grafton. Kinsey is my model for a skilled private eye, and when I get older, I hope I can follow in Miss Marple’s footsteps. I’m certainly nosey enough!

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Sammy and I love to take our canoe and paddle down the canals to our favorite hidden swamp shack. I love to look at the birdlife on the canal. The kids love their hometown rodeos, and we enjoy watching them compete.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Sassy Memories

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m apprenticing to become a private detective. My mentor is Crusty McNabb who runs his own PI business. He’s teaching me some important points in the PI business. I have to admit he’s also showing me some irregular methods in sleuthing, not illegal, but highly unusual like how to clear a room of people if you want to search it (hint-toss in an alligator and watch the folks beat feet, but then, of course, you are responsible for getting rid of the alligator). I have a friend who’s a gator hunter, so it’s no problem for me.)

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
When I first got started in Crusty’s PI business, I spent much of my training sitting in a car surveilling people involved in insurance fraud. For a female PI and one who was pregnant, hours without a bathroom was an issue, and sometimes I missed dinner. I like to eat, so I always packed snacks, sometimes a rack of ribs and double fries and cole slaw just to get me through.

In recent cases, I’m more active, interviewing people, annoying others, chasing bad guys through the swamps in an airboat, or using my contacts to enter buildings I’m not supposed to be in. I like to work with a partner, so I often find myself tracking down clues with the help of my dear friend and alleged mob boss, Nappi. The best part of working with Nappi is that he usually cooks dinner after our work is finished. He’s a great cook!

Nearly Departed is the seventh book in the “Eve Appel” cozy mystery series, released February 11, 2020.

Tired of sitting surveillance on insurance fraud, apprentice PI Eve Appel Egret gets her first big case, one where the outcome is important and personal. Eve’s best friend Madeleine has few relatives, so her Uncle Shamus is special, but someone is determined to kill him and has tried several times. Eve is certain she can identify who is after him, but this time she may have taken on more than even our self-confident Eve can handle. Coping with a growing toddler and a teenager, devoting time to the consignment shop and finding someone who can go undercover in a sexual harassment case all vie for Eve’s attention. Eve knows she cannot fail Madeleine. This is more than her favorite uncle’s life. His death would mean devastating loss for Madeleine and call into question Eve’s commitment as a friend and her ability as a PI.

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About the author
Cows, Lesley learned as a child growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she went to the field to herd them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t her career path, she took a job as a stripper, book cover stripper for a publishing company, that is. Now after many years as a college professor and university administrator, she has returned to the world of books and uses her country roots and her training to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. “A good chuckle,” says Lesley,” keeps us emotionally well-oiled long into our old age.”

All comments are welcomed.