Hello! I’m Robyn Cavanagh and I’m proud to welcome you to my hometown of Garland, New York. We’re a semi-rural community on the Hudson River in northern Orange County. Though I’ve lived here my whole life and opened an accounting business in town six years ago, it wasn’t until I started my second career in portrait photography that I really got to know my fellow Garlandites. Starting with portraits of high school seniors for their yearbooks, I’ve been invited to record a variety of happy occasions for many families to preserve in their photo albums, collage frames, and mantel displays.

My photography sessions give me a fulfillment that I’ve never derived from crunching numbers. My camera brings me opportunities to coo over newborns sitting for their first official photo, laugh with families posing for their Christmas card picture in matching flannel shirts or plaid pajamas, get misty-eyed taking the portrait of a couple married fifty years, and share the excitement of the engaged couple who smile for their Save-the-Date card photograph.

One bride-to-be whom I’d photographed gave me the chance to stretch my skills and take a portrait of a different sort. Brooke Gibson and her cousin had inherited 16 Clover Lane a few months earlier and Brooke, as executor, was charged with selling the house. Perfectionist Brooke didn’t approve the pictures her realtor had taken of the house with his phone, so she asked me to take the photographs that would be featured in the listing.

What a treat it was to take interior shots of the cozy yellow house and exterior photos of the trim lawn and backyard sanctuary that’s shaded by trees. Certain Brooke would receive an offer for her full asking price within days of the home’s listing, I returned to Clover Lane a few days later to show her the photo portfolio. My sweet collie, Yogi, accompanied me. Bringing my dog to work is a perk of being self-employed.

Brooke wasn’t in the house, so I figured she’d be sitting on the patio on the early-summer Saturday morning. She wasn’t in the backyard either, but she’d lined up paint supplies on the grass. Brooke wanted the entire property to sparkle, even the tool shed.

I wouldn’t have peeked into the shed if not for its door swinging open and banging shut in the breeze. I moved to secure the door and discovered a scene only a forensic photographer would shoot.

Brooke lay, dead, on the shed floor. Beside her was the shovel used to kill her.

Brooke’s heartbroken mother has asked me to help cancel her daughter’s wedding plans by collecting the vendor deposits. I intend to collect something else as well.

Clues to catch Brooke’s killer.

The Double Exposure Murder, A Robyn Cavanagh Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: May 2022
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Robyn Cavanagh enjoys a thriving second career as a portrait photographer in her beloved suburban hometown of Garland, New York. Having built a large portfolio of high school senior photos and family portraits, Robyn is thrilled when math teacher Brooke Gibson hires her to take photos of a different subject: 16 Clover Lane, the house Brooke has recently inherited from her late great-aunt. Brooke will soon put the home on the market and wants Robyn to take the photos for the real estate listing. Robyn thinks the cozy house will attract prospective buyers—until she finds bride-to-be Brooke’s battered body in the garden shed.

When Brooke’s mother asks her help in canceling the wedding plans, Robyn plays amateur sleuth and gathers clues while also collecting refunds from Brooke’s wedding vendors. With help from her friend Will Vonderlin, Robyn assembles evidence of a possible love triangle, financial indiscretions, and neighborhood feuds and builds a suspect list that includes Brooke’s fiancé, a jealous relative, a longtime rival, and a shady bartender. The clues lead Robyn to the killer and a spectacular July Fourth finale complete with a marching band and a parade of howling dogs.

About the author
Jeanne Quigley is the author of the Veronica Walsh Mysteries and the Robyn Cavanagh mystery series. Unlike her fictional sleuths, she has never been a soap opera star or an accountant (though she was an accounting major for a few minutes in the spring of 1985), but she has worked for an educational publisher and in the music industry. A lifelong New Yorker, Jeanne lives in her native Rockland County.

All comments are welcomed.