09 December 2020

Burying Daisy Doe | Excerpt + Giveaway

JustRead Publicity Tours

ABOUT THE BOOK


No cold case is more important than the one that destroyed her own family.

Every small town has one unsolved case that haunts its memory, festering for generations below the surface with the truth of humanity’s darkness. Star Cavanaugh is obsessed with the one that tore her family apart.

Over sixty years ago, Daisy Doe was murdered and discarded outside Pineville, Alabama, buried without a name or anyone to mourn her loss. When Star’s father tried to solve the case, he was also killed. Now a cold-case detective with resources of her own, Star is determined to get to the bottom of both crimes. But she’ll have to face an entire town locked in corruption, silence, and fear–and the same danger that took two other lives. The only people in the town she can trust are her grandmother and the charming Mike Luinetti, and both of them trust a God Star isn’t sure she believes in. Can Christians so focused on the good really help her track down this evil?

With an irresistible combination of sharp suspense, faith, humor, and authentic regional flavor, Burying Daisy Doe will draw fans of Terri Blackstock, Margaret Maron, Jaime Jo Wright, and J.T. Ellison.

Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: November 17, 2020


EXCERPT

Mike listened passively, his face calm, then he scanned the dinner-on- the- grounds crowd. A lot of heads looked our way. “Go home, Star. You’ve got the message across for now. Let things ferment for a while.”

“See what bubbles to the top in a few days?”

“Something like that. But keep me posted if you hear anything new.”

I looked across the spread of the cemetery, the families gathering around the tables and a few of the stragglers wandering up toward the newly groomed plots. The kids running in groups, chasing one another among the headstones. “Somehow I don’t think it’s going to take a few days.”

Mike nodded once and strode away, all business, back toward the long tables laden with the offerings of Pineville’s best cooks. A group of children, five or six of them, circled around me, squealing. One boy had a lizard, threatening to throw it on the girls, who screeched with glee. A girl scooted behind me to hide.

I laughed and looked around at her, grinning. “You’re not afraid of a little lizard, are you?”

She gazed up at me, brown eyes gleaming. “You’re Star, aren’t you?”

My eyes widened. “I am. Do I know you?”

She shook her head, dark pigtails bouncing. “Nope. But I’m supposed to give you this.” She pressed something into my hand, then scampered back to her friends.

“Thank you,” I whispered, but I didn’t look at it until I got back to Belle, started the engine and the air conditioning, and locked the doors. It was a folded offering envelope, obviously lifted from one of the special holders on the back of each pew. Three short lines were scrawled across the back:


MEET PANERA
THE SUMMIT
2:30, MONDAY


The Summit was a shopping complex in Birmingham. A busy area, but relatively easy to access from the interstate bypass. At two thirty, Panera wouldn’t be crowded, but it was tucked away from the main drag. A good choice overall. I tucked the card over the sun visor and drove back into Pineville, wondering how hard it would be to find Dean Sowers’s “disappearing” spot, the one Miss Doris had mentioned.

I circled the square, noting how deserted everything was. Decoration Sunday drew everyone out to the churches, even the ones who normally spent Sunday reading the paper. I pulled up beside the Airstream and put Belle in park. I got out, unlocked the door to the trailer, and pulled it open.

Dean Sowers sat in my recliner waiting, a .38 revolver held in his lap. He nodded at me. “Come in and close the door.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ramona Richards is the award-winning author of 12 books, including 9 novels. She has also worked as an editor in Christian publishing for forty years, and is now the associate publisher for Iron Stream Media. She lives in the Birmingham, Alabama, area.


GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a $20 Visa card and a signed copy of Burying Daisy Doe and Murder in the Family!


Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway will begin at midnight December 8, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on December 15, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

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TOUR SCHEDULE

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