I woke to the soft snore-snorting of my sweet, but very old Chinese Crested, Moxie. Silently, I slid out of bed and into my blue robe with the yellow stars and an old pair of slippers, trying hard not to wake Moxie or my girls down the hall. I padded into the kitchen and brewed a cup of coffee, then relaxed at the kitchen table before the getting-ready-for-school whirlwind began.

I couldn’t help but be excited. Not only were my home-flipping partner Pam and I going to close on our very first house, a cute Craftsman with quick profit potential, we’d also be starting the minor remodeling. I’d be tearing out the faux cedar paneling in the second bedroom’s closet, and Pam planned to paint. We’d even thought we might do take-out from our favorite restaurant, Mis Amigos, at lunchtime.

That’s not exactly the way things went down, though. We did sign the docs and pick up the keys at escrow (with a high-five afterward), but as soon as I’d begun removing the paneling, something happened that would jeopardize our hopes and dreams, as well as our financial futures. Hiding behind the faux cedar was a corpse!

He had been entombed in a makeshift, well, aquarium is the best word, in a solution filled with flecks of his own skin. Some of his snow-white hair floated out from his head like a makeshift halo, but the rest lay at the bottom of the aquarium. Oh, and he was completely naked.

I responded the way any normal woman would. I screamed, scooped up Moxie, and ran down the hall to get Pam, who didn’t believe me. She had to see for herself, despite my warnings. She shrieked even louder than I had and raced out the front door. I held her hair as she threatened to toss her cookies.

We stood in the Seattle drizzle for a while, waiting for the police. When Sargeant Daniels arrived, he clearly doubted our story. After glancing inside the closet, however, he apologized. Fortunately, it was easy to forgive a man as cute as he is. But then he said we’d have to stay out of the house until the police finished their investigation, and he didn’t know how long that would be.

Visions of financial ruin flashed before our eyes.

Would we ever get on our feet and away from our lying, cheating exes?

Read “Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage” to find out.

Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage, A Flippin’ Good Mystery Book #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: May 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Thirty-four, newly divorced and parenting two little girls, Jan Weatherly is determined to make it on her own doing what she knows best: do-it-yourself home flipping. With her BFF Pam Bacchus by her side, she purchases their first fixer-upper—a cute Craftsman cottage with quick profit potential in rainy Rainier, Washington. With the first swing of her claw hammer, however, Jan pries back faux cedar paneling and reveals a nude, snow-haired corpse floating in a makeshift aquarium. If that didn’t fully sour their dreams in a plume of formaldehyde-tinged air, Sergeant Daniels arrives and bans the women from the crime scene. Will they continue sleuthing, despite Daniels’s warnings, or simply wait for their dreams of financial independence to fall apart?

About the author
I’m a storyteller at heart. After retiring from teaching reluctant and eager readers and writers, elementary school-age through college, I’ve refocused my energy and am spinning yarns once again. I have two novels slated for publication in 2024 through The Wild Rose Press: Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage, a cozy mystery with a female amateur sleuth duo and a backdrop of home flipping; and Toxic Torte, a cozy culinary featuring a sassy young newspaper reporter investigating the murder of a caustic restaurant critic. I also have two mid-grade readers available through Perfection Learning Corporation: The Truth Test and Recipe for a Rebel, and an edgy, Indie-published YA, The Lie. Additionally, I have over 100 publishing credits in short fiction, nonfiction and poetry, in publications as diverse as Vegetarian Journal, Seattle, Black Belt, NW Palate, Palm Springs Life, Bridal Connections and The Binnacle. I recently took first place in short fiction for “What It Takes to Scare a Man,” and poetry for “Hope is a Three-Toed Dragon” in a southern California writing contest. I earned an MA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University and had the pleasure of learning from some of the best, most creative writers in the business. In my spare time, I braid rugs from upcycled materials, watch the javelinas dance through my back yard, hike with my husband, and swim with my beautiful grandchildren.