Mary McGill made her first appearance in Dying For A Change and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Mary.

My name is Mary Elizabeth McGill and I am a widow in my mid-seventies. You’ve probably already guessed the age part, given my silver hair and lack of a waistline. I’m retired from years of teaching what used to be called home economics to middle schoolers. I miss it sometimes, I loved the kids, but don’t miss the interminable tuna fish casserole and thousands of hand stitched aprons they turned out Those classes are called something else now and the children no longer make tuna fish casserole. No loss.

I was married to Samuel McGill, my high school sweetheart, for almost fifty years. He passed away suddenly the year I retired, and I miss him sorely. He owned the only insurance agency in our small town of Santa Louisa in California’s central coast. Now I own it but don’t run it. Instead I occupy my free time with helping put on events in our small but rapidly growing town. What I mean is I somehow end up chairman of the committees that put-on the 4th of July celebration parade and fireworks, or the annual spring rummage sale at the church or the Halloween party in the town park. You see, Sam and I didn’t have any children, much to our sorrow, so these events occupy a blank spot in my life. I guess you could call running them my hobby, but they are certainly a time consuming one. However, my three sisters have moved away and the only relative I have left in town is my niece, Ellen McKenzie now Dunham, so I have the time to give. Ellen is married to our Chief of Police, Dan Dunham, and I love them both dearly. I have always lived here and know most everyone in town, but Ellen and Dan are my family, unless you count Millie, my cocker spaniel and constant companion.

Millie is the first pet I’ve ever had. No other dog, no cats, birds or hamsters. It’s not that I don’t like animals, I do and so did Sam, but we never seemed to find the time to acquire one. Then, a couple of years ago, there was a terrible murder in our town. The pet store owner was stabbed to death and I somehow ended up with his dog, Millie. You can read about that scary adventure in Purebred Dead.

At first, I wasn’t too sure I wanted a dog, but it didn’t take long before Millie became just about the most important thing in my life. We live in the same house Sam and I moved into after our wedding. The town has grown but Millie and I can still walk to downtown and often do. The house hasn’t changed much, I still have the same kitchen cupboards, but I’ve had a slipcover made for my favorite big reading chair in my favorite shade of blue. Millie sits beside me as I read, her head in my lap, and her paws are not always immaculate. Slip covers wash.

I read a lot. I always have. I have a pretty good selection of books on my shelves, but the library is within walking distance as well, so I never have to worry about running out of books. Mysteries are my first choice; Elizabeth Peters’ Amalia Peabody can put me in a good mood no matter how bad the day has been. Millie seems to like her as well. I tend to read aloud the best passages and I know she listens.

I love to cook, always have, and still do. I’d much rather bake a cake than watch most sports except for ice skating when it’s on the TV and, now, dog shows. I don’t go on vacation much, either. Sam and I used to go camping up the coast of California to Big Sur, but I don’t do that by myself. However, I did go to Virginia to help a friend who had inherited an old colonial mansion, complete with a ghost. We found the ghost dead on the living room carpet. It was on that trip that I learned about hearth cooking, how to make syllabub, and finally figured out who had killed the ‘ghost, who up to that time had been a very alive but not very nice man. You can read about it in Murder By Syllabub.

Life in Santa Louisa is usually pretty quiet, and our live seem to have fallen into a pattern. Millie makes sure I’m out of bed early as she likes her breakfast on time. Our day often revolves around committee meetings, events we’ve had scheduled, and everyday things like visiting Ruthie who owns the Yum Yum café. We sit in her storeroom, catching up on what’s happening in town, or visit Glen Manning, president of our local bank who can be counted on to give Millie an ear rub. Of course, we stop to chat with people we know along the way. It’s amazing how much information we pick up without meaning to, and how it sometimes comes in handy.

You see, even though we’re a small town, we’re not immune to crime, not even murder. Not the drive by and shoot someone you don’t know kind. We have the more, well, human frailty kind. Greed, revenge for a perceived slight, protection of a reputation that doesn’t need protecting, that sort of thing. For some reason, maybe because my nephew-in-law, Dan Dunham, is chief of police, Millie and I have gotten involved in solving them. Or maybe it’s because I’ve lived here so long and people tend to tell me things, not important things but sometimes they complete a puzzle. Like that extra piece of a jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere but when it finally falls into place, so does the whole picture.

That’s certainly what happened recently, when, Halloween day, while we were setting up the evening’s events in the city park, someone dressed as a clown robbed our bank. A woman was killed and Dan Dunham, my nephew, was shot. Trying to find out who was behind that clown mask was not easy, but this one was personal, so I did my best to help. It involved figuring out how a wedding dress, a service dog in need of a job and a corn cob Halloween maze all fit together. It got a bit confusing but when the final piece fell into place. . .well. . .I’ll only say that Millie and I are not eager to repeat that night.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and a nice, quiet holiday season. Thanksgiving dinner will be at my house and while everyone will bring something, I will make the stuffing. That is a tradition no one seems to want to change and its fine with me. There will be much discussion about what wines to serve, if we really need creamed baby onions, but the stuffing is always the same. I only hope nothing happens to disturb the peace between now and then as I have a whole stack of books waiting beside my big chair and plan on reducing the pile. Millie will doze beside me and we’ll have a lovely time relaxing. At least, I hope so.

Read about our Halloween adventure, Dressed To Kill, before you start on your own Thanksgiving dinner preparation. I hope your stuffing comes out perfect. And, I think creamed baby onions are perfect with turkey. This is the fourth book in the “Mary McGill” canine mystery series, released November 5, 2019.

Santa Louisa’s Halloween celebrations are derailed when a masked killer dressed as a clown strikes in the entertaining new Mary McGill dog mystery.

Mary McGill and her cocker spaniel Millie get the fright of their lives on Halloween when they hear gunshots coming from the bank and the robber, dressed in a clown costume, points his gun at them before fleeing the scene. Mary is horrified when she discovers Police Chief Dan Dunham has been shot in the shoulder and a woman has been killed. Why would the clown shoot an ordinary citizen?

Mary soon learns that the victim is Victoria Witherspoon, a local woman who owned a sewing shop and must have recognised the clown costume – because she made it herself. With Dan in hospital and unable to investigate, can Mary and Millie unmask the savage killer clown before he strikes again?

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About the author
Kathleen Delaney grew up in Glendale, California, and now lives in Georgia with her two dogs. She is the author of five mysteries in the Ellen McKenzie series and three previous Mary McGill mysteries. Visit her website at kathleendelaney.net.

All comments are welcomed.