Dru Ann asked me to write about a typical day, so I started this blogpost yesterday. I wrote about how easy and wholesome my life is here in Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania. You might’ve heard about our wide-open spaces, lush landscape, historic structures, gardens, horse trails. I could go on forever. Many of America’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens live here, including my aunt and uncle, Connie and Stuart Mooney.

Aunt Connie is my mother’s sister. I grew up with her two children, Catherine and Stephen. We hung out here, exploring and getting into mischief. I loved being out in nature like that. Good for the soul.

I’m not a member of the one percent, however. Ten years ago, I married my best friend, T.J. Bath. Handsome and strong, T.J. checked all the boxes. Like me, he loves the outdoors and the minimalist life. T.J. is ten years older, which means he’s now thirty-eight. We have a golden retriever named Lucy, and she’s our baby. We don’t have any other children. T.J. had a vasectomy long ago, and that never bothered me. But lately I’ve been thinking about what we’re missing out on by not having kids. I told T.J. I might be changing my mind. Maybe we should look into having his vasectomy reversed.

You might wonder how T.J. and I can afford to live in the posh Brandywine Valley. The answer is simple. T.J. is the caretaker of the land for Caroline and John E. Campbell. We reside in a cottage on their farm, which happens to border my uncle’s estate.

I enjoy baking, and I sell my sour dough bread and cinnamon-almond biscotti at the local farmer’s market.

I started to tell you all this yesterday, but today something turned my whole world upside down. Early this morning, T.J. and Lucy went out to work, as usual. When I got up and started prepping the kitchen, I looked out the window and saw a box sitting on the back steps, big as you please.

Nothing like that ever happened before. The view from the kitchen window was always the same—plain and ordinary. I went outside to see what was up, and I had the shock of my life. Inside the box was a tiny baby.

I tried texting T.J., but he didn’t answer. Who would’ve left a baby on our doorstep? Someone who thought we’d make great parents? I didn’t know what to do, so I called Caro Campbell. She’s technically our boss, but she mostly acts like a friend.

Caro called that nice detective, Oliver Parrott, and he came within minutes. I helped him change the baby out of her adorable outfit and matching blanket, so he could preserve them for evidence. The infant was hungry, and I wanted to feed her. A hot wave of longing filled my insides, and I knew I wanted to keep her.

Detective Parrott said she would have to be checked out at the hospital and turned over to child protective services. Somehow, I feel this baby was meant for us, for T.J. and me. Otherwise, how would she have ended up on our doorstep?

Detective Parrott said whoever left the baby on our porch committed a crime. That our porch was not considered a safe haven for abandoned children. That got me thinking about who would take a newborn away from its parents and leave her for me to find and want?

Would T.J. do such a thing to make me happy? Was I married to a criminal?

Read about Kate’s dilemma and Parrott’s next murder case in Murder Outside The Box, #4 in the Detective Parrott Mystery Series. And if you’d like the recipe for Kate’s cinnamon-almond biscotti, sign up for Saralyn’s monthly newsletter at saralynrichard.com.

Murder Outside The Box, A Detective Parrott Mystery Book #4
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: January 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Chilling events in Brandywine Valley begin with an abandoned baby and lead to the body of a young woman who’s just given birth.

About the author
Saralyn Richard writes award-winning humor- and romance-tinged mysteries that pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools. An active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing and literature. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you. Visit Saralyn here, on her Amazon page here, or on Facebook here.