First off, I need to be clear that this is not a typical day in my life.

My days do not usually start with me wearing a Victorian mourning dress. But today I’m decked out in an ensemble worthy of a late-nineteenth-century society widow—a fingertip veil of ebony silk, multi-hooped crinolines, and a matte black dress that weighs as much as a wet quilt. I look like a jump scare from a haunted cemetery tour.

It’s a replica, of course, since no conservator in their right mind would allow my twenty-first-century body anywhere near the real thing. I often deal with replica clothing—I run a sutler shop part-time, my main clients being Civil War reenactors of both the Blue and the Gray—but I hardly ever wear such myself. And after spending four hours in this get-up, I’m editing that “hardly ever” to “never again.”

Here’s how a day in my life typically looks when I’m not playing dress up for a good cause (in this case, a fundraiser for the Atlanta History Museum):

• Study for my upcoming PI qualification exam (the next step to moving from apprentice PI to card-carrying licensed PI)
• Fill client orders at the shop (mostly boring, but reasonably profitable, especially the hand-sewn circa-1865 underwear my cousin makes)
• Stalk insurance recipients in an effort to prove they’re actually grifters (even more boring and even less profitable, but it’s what apprentice private investigators do—I blame Magnum PI for making me think I’d be chasing bad guys around in a Ferrari. I do drive a Ferrari on occasion, but it belongs to my boyfriend, and he won’t let me take it above the speed limit, which is a waste of a Ferrari, let me tell you).

Said boyfriend’s name is Trey Seaver, and he’s my partner in all things, from romance to sleuthing. He is easier to deal with in the former category than the latter—as an ex-SWAT cop who currently works in corporate security, Trey disapproves of my particular style of sleuthing. He likes investigating by the book. I prefer to play by my own rules, which are less upstanding than Trey’s.

Except he currently doesn’t seem to be following his own rules. I’m not sure what’s going on with him, only that he’s behaving much less rule-y than normal. Downright flexible, which is definitely a trap of some kind. He’s still Trey, of course, just as devastatingly handsome, just as professionally competent, just as concerned about doing the right thing, the good thing, the decent thing.

But there’s something else going on, something secret. Something tricky.

It will have to wait, however. The second I shuck this dress, I’ve got to deal with an even trickier situation back in Savannah, my hometown, a place haunted by ghosts of all kinds. This situation involves bullets, bodies, and attempted murder, and at the heart of it is somebody who’s even more complicated than Savannah.

But first, I gotta get out of this dress.

Crooked Ways, A Tai Randolph & Trey Seaver Mystery Book 7
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: November 2024
Format: Digital, Print 
Purchase Link

Tai Randolph doesn’t like tailing adulterers. Or photographing cracked sidewalks. Or staking out insurance scammers.

But being an apprentice PI means doing what she’s told, filling out paperwork, and following the rules, all the rules. It’s a bit chafing for someone whose amateur sleuthing playbook included dodging, lying, and occasional light blackmail.

But then her past comes knocking. Literally.

After a decade in the wind, Tai’s Aunt Rowena reappears, and she’s convinced someone is trying to kill Beauregard Boone, the complicated ex-felon at the heart of Tai’s twisted family tree. It’s an intriguing case, even if it means returning to the coastal islands of Savannah, Georgia, a city that keeps breaking Tai’s heart over and over again.

Not that life in Atlanta is uncomplicated. Trey Seaver—her partner in both romance and crime solving—is keeping a secret. Her new job comes with a moral rectitude clause, so she has to be on her best behavior at all times. And unless she scrapes together some extra bucks, the electric bill is going to be paid late. Again.

But in Savannah, all she has to worry about is vehicular homicide, flying bullets, and an enemy who has been laying low for a long long time. Tai’s got a choice to make. Safety and security where the only risk is boredom? Or risk and reward where the consequences could be deadly?

About the author
Tina Whittle is a mystery writer living and working in the Georgia Lowcountry. A two-time nominee for Georgia Author of the Year and a Derringer finalist, Tina enjoys watching birds, eating sushi, and reading tarot cards. She is a proud member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, where she has served as a chapter officer and national board member.

To learn more, visit her website at tinawhittle.com.