I do so much in a day it’s hard to know where to start! I’m excited to declare my life “stable,” not to mention extremely busy. Have you ever met a thirty-something single mom who wasn’t? My divorce to my college sweetheart was finalized earlier this year, my daughter is doing great in high school, and even though my new tenant, homicide detective Justin Ahola, doesn’t really like living in my basement, he pays his rent on time. I suspect he’d like it better if he was sharing my room, if you know what I mean, but I’m keeping my distance. For now, at least.

I work full-time as a barista at the University of Seattle Hospital Coffee Bar, and my micro-business is doing great. I’m a full-blown artist at heart, and any time I can be creating my gorgeous stickers for customers or teaching them how to journal in my courses or on my video logs, I’m a happy person.

I didn’t feel so stable a couple of months ago, when I found my cousin dead on my basement stairs. Being suspected of killing one of your oldest friends is awful. And we don’t talk about what happened at the hospital in the course of that murder investigation. If a hospital is like a small town, in that you see the same faces every day, all gossiping about the same happenings, it is also a magnet for the dead and dying. As a result, it wasn’t the biggest of deals when I found a mostly dead girl in the hospital parking garage recently. Until I realized she had been stabbed, rather than simply ill.

This time I wasn’t a suspect in her murder, but one of my best friends was. How could I keep my nose out of the investigation when she was cooling her heels in jail? Luckily my journal always comes to the rescue, because writing things down helps a busy person stay on track. My “murder spreads” can even help the police in their investigations!

Still, I hope I don’t make a habit of finding dead bodies. . .

Tattooed to Death by Heather Redmond, Journaling Mystery #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: January 2021
Purchase Link

Single mom, barista and journaling video blogger extraordinaire Mandy Meadows is distracted from her shift in the University of Seattle Hospital coffee bar when her friend – nurse and fellow journaling video blogger Reese O’Leary-Sett – receives a massage from hell at the hands of Coral Le Charme, the hospital’s new massage therapist. But concern over Coral’s dubious skills is the least of Mandy’s worries when she discovers Coral’s lifeless body by a dumpster later that evening.

What dark secrets was Coral hiding? Mandy’s tenant, homicide detective Justin Ahola, is on the case – and he has Reese firmly in his sights. Determined to help her friend, Mandy digs deeper into Coral’s life and makes some alarming discoveries. Can she clear Reese’s name and bring a killer to justice?

About the author
First published in mystery, Heather Redmond took a long detour through romance (as Heather Hiestand) before returning. She has lived in Illinois, California, and Texas, and now resides in a small town in Washington State with her husband and son. The author of many novels, novellas, and short stories, she has achieved best-seller status at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple Books. Her current mystery series are “A Dickens of a Crime” and “the Journaling mysteries.” She writes for Kensington and Severn House. She is the 2020-21 President of the Columbia River Chapter of Sisters in Crime (SinC).

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