My mother says OCD stands for “Occasionally Complicated Daughter” which makes me laugh, because it’s true. Except for the “occasionally” part. I don’t try to be, but my recent OCD diagnosis put me into a bit of a tailspin. I mean, I had my life all planned out: good grades all through school would lead to a big-deal scholarship to an important college where I’d get my dual degrees in criminal justice and public safety then apply to the Denver police department.

Up to that point everything was perfect, but then it all fell apart. I tried to reassemble the pieces of my life and psyche on my own, but failed miserably. Now I’m in my 30s and had to move back to Chestnut Station, the town where I grew up, out on the eastern plains of Colorado. It’s nice to be back with my parents and my best friend Rico, second-in-command at the Chestnut Station PD, but nobody this old should be in permanent residence in the twin bed of their youth.

When I was finally able to drag myself out of that bed, I found that Mom and Rico had wrangled me a job as a waitress, working for Jake at the Chestnut Diner. He’s been cool about my history, once I set him straight about the difference between actual OCD and just being persnickety.

The job suits me for now, maybe forever. There’s a reliable rhythm to waitressing. Find out what people want to eat, tell Jake to make it, bring it to them, clean up after they leave. I like reliable. It makes sense to me.

That is, it made sense until I found a dead man face first in his plate of biscuits and gravy when I was working alone one night. The chief of police—who hates me, by the way—immediately tossed the wrong person in jail, I was almost sure of it. But once he gets his mind set on something it takes a blowtorch to get him off his position.

Luckily I have a blowtorch. A metaphorical one, anyway. It’s the crossword puzzle I secretly create for our local paper that the chief loves to solve. It occurred to me I could plant subliminal clues in there to lead him down the investigative path I want him to follow. So far it’s working, but to solve this mystery I’ll have to think outside the boxes . . . before the killer gets the last word.

Puzzling Ink is the first book in the NEW “Crossword Puzzle” cozy mystery series, released November 3, 2020.

1 DOWN: DEATH BY HOMICIDE
Quinn Carr wishes her life could be more like a crossword puzzle: neat, orderly, and perfectly arranged. At least her passion for puzzles, flair for words—and mild case of OCD—have landed her a gig creating crosswords for the local paper. But if she ever hopes to move out of her parents’ house, she can’t give up her day job as a waitress. She needs the tips. But when a customer ends up dead at her table—face down in biscuits and gravy—Quinn needs to get a clue to find whodunit.

6 LETTERS, STARTS WITH “M”
It turns out that solving a murder is a lot harder than a creating a crossword. Quinn has plenty of suspects—up, down, and across. One of them is her boss, the owner of the diner who shares a culinary past with the victim. Two of them are ex-wives, her boss’s and the victim’s. A third complication is the Chief of Police who refuses to allow much investigation, preferring the pretense their town has no crime. To solve this mystery, Quinn has to think outside the boxes—before the killer gets the last word.

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About the author
Award-winning author Becky Clark is the seventh of eight kids, which explains both her insatiable need for attention and her atrocious table manners. She likes to read funny books so it felt natural to write them too. She surrounds herself with quirky people and pets who end up as characters in her books. Readers say her books are “fast and thoroughly entertaining” with “witty humor and tight writing” and “humor laced with engaging characters” so you should “grab a cocktail and enjoy the ride.” Subscribe to her mailing list to apply to be part of her Review Crew and read her books before they’re published. She writes the Mystery Writers Mysteries, and the Crossword Puzzle Mysteries, among other things.

For more information visits Becky’s website at beckyclarkbooks.com, on Facebook, on BookBub, on Amazon, or on Goodreads.

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Leave a comment about crosswords, OCD, or really, anything at all to be entered into a drawing for a digital copy of Puzzling Ink. Giveaway ends November 5, 2020. Good luck!

All comments are welcomed.