Hey, y’all! I’m Lyla Moody, and I’d like to welcome to Sweet Mountain, Georgia. It’s a lovely little “Mayberry-esque” town located in the foothills of the mountains. I’ve lived here my entire life and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Typically, I’d offer to show you around because we pride ourselves on our hospitality here in the south. But today has been a day from hell, excuse my language.

You see, this morning, on my way into work, my car broke down. I work for my uncle Calvin at Cousins Investigative Services. While I waited on Triple-A, a car nearly runs me over, and inside was my friend Carol Timms and some man I didn’t recognize. Carol and I both belong to The Jane Doe Book Club. We read mysteries, true crime, and cold cases. Anyway, she was in quite a state, her mascara had run all down her face, and before I could inquire to her predicament, she peeled out of the parking lot. And to make matters worse, her husband reported her missing. He told me she’d been abducted and had been gone for four days.

As you can imagine, I was in a state myself after that, feeling guilty that I hadn’t thrown myself on the hood of the car and rescued her. I told the other Jane Does all about it at our club meeting. But it gets worse. Much worse. My friend Melanie and I find Carol. Or I should say Carol was delivered to me in a suitcase, dead.

I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around how this happened, and I don’t plan on sitting idly by either. And neither do the other Jane Does. I’ll use my new PI trainee status to find out what happened to my friend, even if it ruffles some old southern feathers. You see, here in Sweet Mountain, old southern families reside. Our tea is sweet, our accents are sweeter, and our ladies are expected to be the same. Murder doesn’t quite fit in.

I firmly believe in taking advantage of what the good Lord gives you. And he gave me an ample portion of the gift of gab and a curious mentality, along with a great head of copper-colored hair and porcelain skin that I took excellent care of. I use everything in my power to find out who killed our fellow club member.

So, as I said, I hope y’all will forgive me for not giving you the town tour. But if you’d like to stay awhile, I know a lovely hotel overlooking the river and I’m sure I can get you a deal on your stay. And if by some chance you decide you’d like to lend a hand in helping in the investigation, we welcome you. We can use all the help we can get.

On Borrowed Crime is the first book in the NEW “Jane Doe Book Club” cozy mystery series, released October 6, 2020.

The Jane Doe book club enjoys guessing whodunit, but when murder happens in their midst, they discover solving crimes isn’t fun and games. . . 

Lyla Moody loves her sleepy little town of Sweet Mountain, Georgia. She likes her job as receptionist for her uncle’s private investigative firm, her fellow true crime obsessed Jane Doe members are the friends she’s always wanted, and her parents just celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. But recently, with her best friend Melanie on vacation, and her ex-boyfriend and horrible cousin becoming an item and moving in next door to her, her idyllic life is on the fritz. The cherry on top of it all is finding Carol, a member of the club, dead and shoved into a suitcase, left at Lyla’s front door.

Unusual circumstances notwithstanding, with Carol’s heart condition, the coroner rules Carol’s death undetermined. But when they discover the suitcase belongs to Melanie, who had returned from her vacation the following morning, Sweet Mountain police begin to suspect Lyla’s best friend. Determined that police are following the wrong trail, to clear her friend’s name, and to not allow Carol become one of the club’s studied cold cases, Lyla begins to seek out the real killer. That is, until she becomes the one sought after. Now, finding the truth could turn her into the killer’s next plot twist, unless she wins the game of cat and mouse.

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About the author
Kate Young writes southern mystery novels. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Guppy Chapter. Kate lives in a small town in Georgia with her husband, three kids, and Shih Tzus. When she is not writing her own books, she’s reading or cooking.

All comments are welcomed.