Pixie, a judgmental marmalade cat that Mabel Skinner had been guilted into adopting was sitting like a loaf of bread on the corner of the over-sized kitchen table that used to get used regularly by the many friends of Mabel’s aunt. But now Aunt Peggy had died, and her much-less-social niece was the owner of Stinkin’ Stuff Farm, producer of the best garlic on the east coast.

Pixie had watched intently as Mabel looked everywhere she could think of for her phone, with no success.

“Well?” Mabel asked. “Where do you think I should look?”

Pixie was known for yowling her opinion even when it wasn’t requested, but she had nothing to offer at the moment, except for a couple slow blinks and then a quick turn of the head to stare at the back door.

A moment later, Emily Colter, the owner of the neighboring goat farm, came through the door in her usual white overalls, looking like a supermodel outfitted for an agricultural photo shoot. “I thought you were going to the library.”

“I am,” Mabel said. “But I can’t find my phone.”

Emily closed the door behind her. “Why do you even care? It doesn’t get service here.”

She was right that the device was little more than a paperweight on the farm, but Mabel was an app developer, after all, and it would practically be sacrilege not to have a phone close at hand. Besides, she was planning to use the wifi at the library to contact her boss. He’d given her some time off to deal with probating her aunt’s estate, but it was looking like she might need more than the original few days they’d discussed.

“It’s my security blanket,” she said at last.

“I’m sorry,” Emily said, crossing the room with her arms out with obvious intent to hug. “You’re holding up so well, I forget that you’re grieving.”

Mabel eluded the outstretched arms. “I’ll be fine as soon as I understand what happened to Aunt Peggy.”

“Right.” Emily let her arms drop. “So let’s find that phone for you. When did you last have it?”

Mabel had already tried that, but she knew she’d already hurt the other woman’s feelings by declining a hug. “I had it out in the field, and then I came in here to get my car keys and use the bathroom, and I usually—” Mabel cut herself off, having just remembered where she’d left the phone.
She turned to glare at Pixie. The cat that no one else wanted, because while she was quite beautiful, she caused a ruckus at all hours of the day and night, and she wasn’t particularly cuddly even when she was quiet. Shouldn’t she be at least a little grateful that she now had a home and all the food she could eat?

“Excuse me, Pix,” Mabel said. “But do you think you could move just a few inches?”

Pixie blinked back in faux innocence, but she slowly got to her feet, stretching like a yoga practitioner as she did, revealing Mabel’s phone beneath her on the corner of the table.

Emily hid her amusement. “Looks like you’re all set now.”

Mabel wasn’t so sure about that. She’d already been somewhat overwhelmed by her aunt’s death and having to take over the farm at harvest time, and now her own cat was playing mind games.

Emily left, and before Mabel followed on her way to the library, she stopped to pet Pixie. Maybe the cat was just as overwhelmed by her sudden adoption as Mabel was by the changes in her own life. “It’s okay, Pix. We’ll figure this all out together.”

Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a digital copy of Six Cloves Under. Giveaway ends April 24, 2020. Good luck everyone!

Six Cloves Under is the first book in the NEW “Garlic Farm” mystery series, released April 21, 2020.

App developer Mabel Skinner is about to discover something rotten on her late aunt’s garlic farm—and it’s not the compost heap . . .

Mabel doesn’t know a stinkin’ thing about garlic farming. She knows how to develop an app and how to code. But when her aunt, Peggy Skinner, dies suddenly, Mabel inherits her Stinkin’ Stuff Farm in western Massachusetts. She arrives during peak harvest time—with three days to bring in the entire crop before rain can destroy it.

But Mabel has an even bigger problem: she suspects her aunt’s “accidental death” was murder. As she digs for both garlic and clues, Mabel must contend with a mysterious crop thief, a rival garlic grower her aunt was suing, and a farmer who was after Aunt Peggy’s green-thumb secret. It’s up to Mabel to crack the code on a killer, before she joins the garlic bulbs six cloves under . . .

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About the author
Gin Jones overcame a deeply ingrained habit of thinking and writing like a lawyer in order to write fiction. In her spare time, Gin makes quilts, grows garlic, and advocates for patients with rare disorders. Connect with Gin at ginjones.com.

All comments are welcomed.