I was very surprised when my ex-husband Bill showed up in my office this morning. Bill had been very dismissive of my decision to leave Parkland, NC, and move to the small town of Celosia to start my own private detective agency. I’d left my pageant past—yes, I was in pageants, starting with those awful Little Miss Pageants where I wore fake teeth and tons of makeup. All my mother’s idea, and it took years to convince her that being Miss America was not my life’s goal. I’d established Madeline Maclin Investigations and had solved several murders in Celosia.
Back to Bill. He found himself in a real problem and didn’t want anyone in Parkland to know about it. Of all the worst clichés, he was having an affair with Nadia Conrad, his children’s nanny. She was from Celosia, but now she was missing, and he wanted me to find her before his dirty little secret came out.
At first, I didn’t want to help him. But the only case I had at the moment involved finding a missing necklace the owner claimed was an alien artifact, a step up from the lost umbrellas and overdue library books I’d often been asked to find. I wanted to be the bigger person, so I agreed to help Bill.
Well, I’d had screwier cases. My second husband, best friend, and partner in solving mysteries, Jerry Fairweather, was trying to leave his con man past, but his friends from Con World kept showing up to complicate things. I have to admit that some of Jerry’s skills, such as lock picking and easily talking our way out of awkward situations had helped on previous cases. Jerry had promised me he would get out of the game, but I was worried that Big Mike, the head of the organization, would appoint Jerry as his successor. Big Mike was also courting my aloof and persnickety mother, and much to my amazement, she liked him.
Just today I’d learned that Rodman Fogarty, one of Jerry’s old acquaintances, was in town to promote his book, True Invasion. Fogarty was convinced that Carson’s Crater, a local landmark, was the result of a UFO landing and that aliens had camped out in near-by Carson’s Cave.
My investigation led me to Nadia’s friends, all of whom were near Carson’s Cave years ago when one of them had a fatal accident. When Jerry and I found Nadia’s body in Carson’s Cave, I knew this was more than just coincidence.
What was the real reason Fogarty showed up in town? Was there any connection to the missing necklace? And what was with the giant crop circle that appeared in a farmer’s field? There were plenty of secrets floating around like UFOs, mysteries that needed to be solved.
Just leave it to a junior con man and an ex-beauty queen.
Buried Secrets, A Madeline Maclin Mystery Book 7
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: August 30 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
PI Madeline Maclin is hired by Bill, her ex-husband, to find Nadia, his missing nanny. While searching for meteor rocks in a local cave, Madeline and current husband, Jerry stumble on Nadia’s body. Bill scrambles to cover up his affair with the nanny, while Nadia’s friends are more interested in covering up a previous death in the cave than in finding the murderer. A whacky UFO hunter arrives looking for aliens, but seems more interested in Jerry’s con-man past. It’s up to Madeline to dig up the secrets that have been buried far too long and solve the case!
About the author
Jane Tesh, a retired media specialist, lives in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Andy Griffith’s hometown, the real Mayberry. She is the author of the Madeline Maclin Mysteries, featuring former beauty queen, Madeline “Mac” Maclin and her reformed con man husband, Jerry Fairweather, and the Grace Street Mystery Series, featuring struggling PI David Randall, his psychic friend, Camden, and an array of tenants who move in and out of Cam’s boarding house at 302 Grace Street. Ghost Light is her first standalone mystery and the first to feature an asexual heroine. She has also published six fantasy novels. When she isn’t writing, Jane plays the piano and conducts the orchestra for productions at the Andy Griffith Playhouse.
Visit Jane’s website at janetesh.com and her Facebook page.