For a human, Mabel Skinner isn’t so bad. She understands that nights are much more interesting than days, she takes her time warming up to people, and she likes to know in advance before visitors show up on the farm. Humans have such pitifully inadequate senses, so I help by yowling as loudly as I can whenever I hear a vehicle enter the driveway.

She calls me Pixie and tells everyone I’m an orange housecat, but words don’t mean much to me. I usually prefer to let my actions speak for me, and I’m only making an exception today, because I want everyone to understand exactly how hard a life I have.

See, Mabel abandoned me. She said something about coming back on Sunday, but one day or night is pretty much the same to me as any other, so I was pretty sure that meant she was gone forever. Sure, she left me food, and the human who smells like goats Mabel calls her Emily came by to check on me every day, but it wasn’t the same.

So when there was a ruckus out in the barn where the rest of the cats live, I knew I was the only one who could take care of it. Unfortunately, after the incident during the wedding, Mabel reinforced all the locks so I can’t get outside without human help. I had to wait at the back door until the goat lady showed up, but then I escaped. Humans are so slow. And so blind. She never even noticed me slip right past her feet.

The barn doors were open during the current spell of hot, dry weather. A big black-and-white tuxedo cat emerged to meet me just outside the threshold. We rubbed cheeks, and I sensed the cause of his anxiety. One of the other cats was trapped in the little room that held a sink and toilet. Everyone had scratched at the door all night but had been unable to get it open. If Mabel were here, she’d have noticed and taken care of it, but, as I said, she’d abandoned us all, so it was up to me to get help.

With a wave of my tail, I made it clear to the tuxie I understood. I sprinted back to the farmhouse. That door was closed too, but I knew how to make it to open. It took three yowls before the goat appeared.

“There you are,” she said. “I was starting to worry. You’re not supposed to be outside alone.”

She knelt to pat me, which would have been fine in other circumstances, or perhaps she meant to pick me up, which was never acceptable. I danced out of reach and yowled again.

“What are you going on about?” She turned away from me, as if she could see through the house to the driveway. “Mabel won’t be home for another hour or two, and there shouldn’t be any other visitors out there.”

I knew that. Silly human.

She took a step in my direction, and this time I could tell she was definitely going to try to pick me up.

Oh, good, she wanted to play tag. I yowled again and turned to trot toward the barn.

She sighed, but followed.

Did I know how to train humans, or what?

I led her all the way to the closed door in the barn, and then let the feral cat inside know that it had to talk to the human this once. It meowed, a pitiful sound, nothing like my powerful yowls, but it was enough.

“Oh, no,” Emily said. “Is one of the cats hurt?”

Seriously? How foolish are humans? It’s so unfair that they have opposable thumbs and we don’t. Just open the door, human.

She figured it out eventually, turning the handle and peering inside. A tortoiseshell cat exploded through the opening and disappeared into the shadows in the back of the barn.

My work was done, so I rubbed against goat lady’s ankles to thank her and then strolled back to the farmhouse. She hadn’t given me treats yet, and I knew there was at least one more handful left in the jar my human had filled before abandoning me.

And then I heard a vehicle turn into the driveway. I stopped to yowl and then listened again. Not just any vehicle, but one I recognized. The one that my human rode in.

Maybe she hadn’t abandoned us, after all!

I made a U-turn, causing the goat lady to huff in frustration, and stood at the edge of my human’s parking space as the Mini Cooper pulled into it.

Mabel emerged to say, “Oh, Pixie, did you think I’d abandoned you?”

I meant to turn my back on her to show her I didn’t care. After all, I’d just rescued a trapped cat when all the others in the barn couldn’t do it.

Somehow, though, I forgot to run away, so she scooped me up and hugged me, scratching the spot behind my ears.

For a human, Mabel Skinner really isn’t so bad.

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Laid Out in Lavender, A Garlic Farm Mystery #3
Genre: Cozy
Release: April 2021
Purchase Link

Mabel Skinner still hasn’t acquired a taste for growing garlic, but the app developer-turned farmer does have a nose for rooting out killers . . .

Dreaming she’ll someday return to her less pungent life of computer coding, Mabel continues to honor her deceased aunt’s legacy by running Skinner Farm. To make ends meet between harvests, she’s renting out the property’s mercifully downwind lavender field for summer weddings.

Mabel’s first clients are a retirement age couple celebrating their second chance at love in their later years. Hosting a rehearsal dinner with fresh foods seemed like a good idea to promote the farm—until the dead body of one of the wedding guests is discovered. The suddenly departed was the soon-to-be-ex-business partner of the groom, supposedly poisoned by goat cheese hors d’oeuvres provided by Mabel’s neighbor.

Despite the tragedy and the scandal, the groom insists on keeping his wedding date. But with the adult children from the couple’s previous marriages scheming to stop the new union, Mabel’s farm is reeking with suspects. And if she doesn’t uncover the murderer, her goat farming neighbor will get sent to the pen for life . . .

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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.

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Gin has generously offered to give away one digital copy of Laid Out in Lavender. To enter, please leave a comment below. Giveaway ends April 8, 2021. Good luck everyone!

All comments are welcomed.