Usually I leave Bagels ‘n More, the local Sun City West gossip-central hub, with indigestion from listening to my mother and her book club ladies vent about everything from food prices to whose lawns haven’t been weeded. And if they weren’t complaining, my mother was regaling them with cute anecdotes about her neurotic Chiweenie dog, Streetman. Cute all right, if you don’t mind snapping, barking, and hiding under tables. Yeesh! Unfortunately, I left today with a headache from trying to figure out who the “deli-witch” was and why everyone detested her.

Apparently, she worked at the local supermarket and was a misery. But that misery didn’t last long, because a few days later, my mother called to tell me the woman fell to her death from the library tower stairs. Worse yet, the fall was deemed “a suspicious death,” and who was on the stairs at the same time? My mother’s book club friend, Louise Munson, who just so happened to be there doing her cardio exercises.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, my mother insisted I get my fiancé and my boss, both detectives in the firm where I work as their bookkeeper/accountant, to investigate the matter before the sheriff’s office sends someone to arrest Louise. By the way, I’m Sophie Kimball, Phee for short, and I moved out west a few years ago. I’d been working a number of years for the Mankato Police Department in Civil Service and would be still be back in Minnesota had it not been for my friend, Detective Nate Williams. He retired to Arizona and insisted I join the new investigative firm he was starting. What Nate hadn’t told me at the time was that his office wasn’t very far from where my mother lived. Still, it was a great move. Especially when Marshall Gregory, who I knew back in Mankato, joined the firm and we reconnected.

Anyway, I tried to tell my mother that Marshall and Nate had enough on their plate tracking down a number of stolen trail horses from local dude ranches and private horse properties in the area. So much for that! She insisted I pick up the slack and see what information I could glean at the local dog park since our source for intel, Cindy Dolton, was bound to know something.

Sure enough, Cindy pointed me in the direction of the Boomers Club and the library, where the deli-witch, Billie Churl, frequented. From there, it only got worse. In order to elicit information, I found myself playing water volleyball with a man whose Gila monster tattoo all but jumped out at me. I then went on to track down Billie’s reading material to see what she was into. Yeesh! Money laundering, hedge funds and the dark arts of all things! Luckily, my aunt Ina knew a few Wiccan friends who were acquainted with Billie and they wanted nothing to do with her. So much for that.

I moved on to chatting with her co-workers in the deli and using a ruse in order to scope out her condo while Marshall and Nate trekked to Tucson in order to follow a lead on those stolen horses. This time my efforts weren’t a total bust. I actually thought I found a suspect and notified our local sheriff investigators, Deputies Ranston and Bowman in exchange for them telling me about the bizarre wounds on Billie’s hands – not a result of her fall. More than likely, wounds from wrestling with an animal. Holy Cow! What was that woman into?

Then, to make matters worse, my mother told me someone pushed Louise off the curb after Bingo and she nearly got runover by cars. Convinced it was Billie’s killer, who thought Louise might have seen him or her, the book club ladies decided they would all spend sleepover nights at Louise’s house. Terrific. That meant we got Streetman to sleep over at our place. Did I say sleep? Marshall was stuck in Tucson on the horse trail and I had to contend with a middle-of-the-night fiasco involving Streetman and our Roomba, which was programmed to go on while we slept.

With the book club ladies exhausted from spending nights with Louise and her obnoxious parrot, I had no recourse but to step up my unofficial investigation. Or snooping around, as the case may be. While Marshall and Nate honed in on those horses, I tracked down Billie’s car and rooted through her old trash to figure out who had it in for her. What I learned took me on a wild goose chase to southern Arizona, along with my mother, my aunt, and (gulp) Streetman, culminating in an unforgettable Wiccan celebration in the foothills before the perpetrator could be caught.

If nothing else, my life is interesting and gratifying. Marshall tells me I should consider becoming a detective but frankly, all the excitement I want to handle is on a spreadsheet while sitting at my desk.

Saddled Up 4 Murder, A Sophie Kimball Mystery #9
Genre: Cozy
Release: March 2022
Purchase Link

With a killer on the loose and horse thieves plaguing the area, it’s up to Sophie “Phee” Kimball to corral the clues and bring an outlaw to justice . . .

Spring is in the air as Sun City West gears up for its annual Bye Bye Birdie festivities, when residents bid a fond farewell to the snowbirds and happily reclaim the town for themselves. But planning comes to a screeching halt when the town curmudgeon plummets to her death from the library bell tower and sheriff’s deputies suspect foul play. With the celebration on hold—and Phee’s mother worried that she won’t get her moment in the spotlight on a local TV show slated to cover the event—Phee is thrust into the role of sleuth once again to find the killer.

As Phee soon discovers, there’s no love lost between the town and the unfortunate victim, and with the clock ticking and virtually everyone a potential suspect, she’s got her work cut out for her. Then a passel of horseflesh goes missing, and Phee starts to think the two crimes might be connected. With the town on edge and high noon approaching, she’ll have to wrangle with a band of daring desperados and lasso a lawbreaker who’s dead set on sending her to boot hill . . .

About the author
New York native Ann I. Goldfarb spent most of her life in education, first as a classroom teacher and later as a middle school principal and professional staff developer. Writing as J. C. Eaton, along with her husband, James Clapp, they have authored the Sophie Kimball Mysteries (Kensington), The Wine Trail Mysteries (Kensington Lyrical Underground and Beyond the Page Publishing), and the Marcie Rayner Mysteries (Camel). In addition, Ann has nine published YA time travel mysteries under her own name. Visit their website at jceatonmysteries.com and jceatonauthor.com, on Facebook and at timetravelmysteries.com.

When James E. Clapp retired as the tasting room manager for a large upstate New York winery, he never imagined he’d be co-authoring cozy mysteries with his wife, Ann I. Goldfarb. Non-fiction in the form of informational brochures and workshop materials treating the winery industry were his forte along with an extensive background and experience in construction that started with his service in the U.S. Navy and included vocational school classroom teaching.

All comments are welcomed.