Well, hello there and how are we doing? Tallie Graver reporting in after an slightly longer than expected absence. I’ve been fine, strolling along on my daily dives into finding other people’s dirty socks, making use of my trusty vacuum cleaner, and leaving my customers super happy with a clean house and a smile on their faces. Or I send my best girl Letty out to do it. Delegation, am I right?

Things have been relatively quiet lately and that has made me both happy and a little nervous, but I’ll take it. With my family reunion coming up and then my brother’s wedding to my best friend Gina, we are definitely due some down time before the festivities start.

And then Dru Ann Love asked me how I’d been doing lately and I should have known something was on the horizon…

Fast forward to the family reunion and oops I think I spoke too soon. Because of course that’s not exactly what happened at the privately owned amusement park we’d rented or the reunion. Look, that’s what you have to do when you have a family as big as mine, rent an entire amusement park. Seriously. At least since I’m with Max now I don’t have to worry about how close on the family tree someone is if they’re trying to hit on me. Just saying.

But I digress. So, no, instead of a blissful day of riding the old wooden roller coasters and chatting with relatives I haven’t seen in ages, I instead had to witness a fall from grace over sub-par potato salad and then handle being completely trounced at miniature golf by the same Max I just crowed about dating. Maybe I need to rethink that. He didn’t even try to let me win. But he was very supportive when we found my cousin stretched out on the green and called the ambulance. And he did handle her husband and Burton, our police chief, when that ambulance came so I think I’ll keep him.

Finally, we made our excuses to my family and ducked out early. And because Max was the one who did the talking, my mom didn’t even shoot me the side eye, though that could still happen tomorrow. We were almost out to the car and ready to head home for some of our own rest and relaxation when I saw my tires were cut and then found a dead body under the car next to mine.

Typical Tallie day? I hate to call it that but after six murder investigations in such a short time I should almost just expect this kind of thing to happen when I’m around. At least that’s what Burton told me. And he also told me to stay out of this one but we both know that’s not going to happen…

Par for the Hearse, A Tallie Graver Mystery Book #6
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: June 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

It’s time for the Graver Family Reunion and if the potato salad doesn’t kill you, the miniature golf course might…

This is Tallie’s first family reunion in years, and while she’s braced for just about anything to happen, including Aunt Marg running her down to snatch the last deviled egg from the spread on the picnic table, all she wants to do is enjoy the rides, eat all the food, and stay out of the way of some of her more chaotic relations. But after a day filled with fun and shenanigans, it turns upside down when she finds a dead body near her car and her tires slashed. Was someone out for revenge and included her just for the heck of it?

She’s willing to let the police handle it until she realizes the perpetrator was stabbed with her brother’s knife.

It’s another round of whodunnit and why as Tallie tries to work through the clues and keep everyone in line before anyone else gets hurt. But she might be in for the ride of her life this time.

About the author
Misty Simon always wanted to be a storyteller…preferably behind a Muppet. Animal was number one, followed closely by Sherlock Hemlock… Since that dream didn’t come true, she began writing stories to share her world with readers, one laugh at a time. Touching people’s hearts and funny bones are two of her favorite things, and she hopes everyone at least snickers in the right places when reading her books. She lives with her husband in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel or three. She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at misty-at-mistysimon-dot-com.

All comments are welcomed.