The murder of an arrogant young professor puts an amateur detective to the test.
Wild Women Authors focus is on The End of Promise, book 2 in the Bethany Jarviss Mysteries series, written by Rita A. Popp, published by the Wild Rose Press.
About the book: Paul Kiefer enjoys a promising career at New Mexico University—until a murderer cancels his plans to fast track to full professor. Shocked at the sight of her colleague’s dead body, department head Eleanor Jarviss turns for comfort and aid to her daughter Bethany. When, as the Jarviss Family Foundation’s grants manager, Bethany goes to campus to award a student scholarship, she gets drawn into the murder investigation. With her mother’s help, and the support of her cowboy boyfriend, Nathan, she compiles a list of suspects stunned but not saddened by the scheming doc’s demise.
It’s academic that one of them is the killer.
“Do you think Lenny should tell the police?” Alma
asked.
“No way,” Lenny protested. “Alma, you said I just had
to talk to Ms. Jarviss and that she’d look into it without getting me
involved.” His dark eyes conveyed alarm.
Bethany shook her head at Alma. “You promised him that
without talking to me first? Alma, you shouldn’t have. You had no right.”
Annoyed, Alma said, “You asked me to get in touch if I
thought of even the littlest detail about Dr. Kiefer.”
At that, Lenny looked even more troubled. “Ms.
Jarviss, Alma told me you came to her asking questions because Dr. Jarviss is
your mother. She’s a good professor. I had her in class. I considered talking
to her about what Dr. Kiefer said about my topic. That day, I met with him, and
he still dissed it. Now, I don’t want to bother her. She must be crazy with
worry about Dr. Kiefer’s murder.”
“You should meet with her anyway,” Bethany said.
“Obviously, you need another thesis adviser, one who’s on your wavelength.”
“What if Dr. Jarviss thinks I killed Dr. Kiefer?
Offing somebody to solve a problem is what you expect from gangbangers. I used
to be one of those guys, but I never saw anybody get killed. And I’d never hurt
a soul.”
“My mom will appreciate that,” Bethany said. “Go see
her.”
“Okay, but I don’t want to talk to any cops.”
Alma spoke up. “Somebody should find out what Dr.
Lamont meant when she called Dr. Kiefer evil.”
“Yeah. That’s a heavy word,” Lenny said.
They fell silent as the waitress brought two
green-chile enchilada dinners and made the usual comments about the plates
being hot. Nathan dug into his meal. Bethany ate a bite and set down her fork
as Lenny said, “Alma told me about you, Ms. Jarviss. That you’re some sort of
amateur detective.”
Bethany swallowed hard. “I didn’t tell you that,
Alma.”
“No, but you acted like one when you talked to Roxanne
and me. I looked you up on the internet. You found out who was to blame for a
girl’s death in Albuquerque. And you helped solve—what do they call it? A cold
case. Yes, a cold case that involved your sister.”
Three sets of eyes focused on Bethany. She was the
first to blink. “I’ve been lucky to piece together information that helped
bring two killers to justice.”
Nathan nudged her. “Lucky? Maybe. Smart for sure.”
Lenny gazed to the back of the restaurant at his fellow mariachis. “My break’s over. Ms. Jarviss, please don’t go to the cops about what I said. You look into it yourself, okay? I don’t want to get Dr. Lamont in trouble if she didn’t do anything bad.”
A Bit About Our Focus Author:
Rita A. Popp writes light and twisty mysteries and
other entertaining fiction. Her debut novel, The First Fiancée: A Bethany
Jarviss Mystery, was released in 2022, followed by the second in the
series, The End of Promise, in 2024. Both are published by The Wild Rose
Press as well as her novelette, Passing on the Farm.
Her mystery short stories have appeared in online
magazines and two Sisters in Crime Guppy anthologies. In 2022, she won the
Six-Word Mystery Contest sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America Rocky
Mountain Chapter. Her entries in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine’s
Mysterious Photograph Contest have earned several honorable mentions.
Rita and her husband divide their time between their
home in Colorado and cabin in the New Mexico mountains.
More information about Rita and the stories she writes can be found at:
https://ritapopp.com.
https://www.facebook.com/rita.popp
https://www.instagram.com/ritapopp72/?hl=en
The End of Promise: A Bethany Jarviss Mystery can be found at:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/End-Promise-Bethany-Jarviss-Mystery/dp/1509255435/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DTJISw4N9IaXY1jSBSHNbg.HOhF3QnIpFK2P0AR5OS61QnSfyLII2_u3mP8sn8sQ4o&qid=1761582452&sr=8-1
https://www.walmart.com/ip/A-Bethany-Jarviss-Mystery-The-End-of-Promise-Book-2-Paperback-9781509255436/6288118525?classType=REGULAR&from=/search
https://www.target.com/p/the-end-of-promise-a-bethany-jarviss-mystery-by-rita-a-popp-paperback/-/A-1005883578#lnk=sametab
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509255436
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-end-of-promise-rita-a-popp/a0f431324318a07a?ean=9781509255436&next=t&next=t&source=IndieBound&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwildrosepress.com%2F
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-end-of-promise-rita-a-popp/1145549886?ean=9781509255436
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-end-of-promise?sId=94c31a61-30d8-41a5-b7f6-c44a85ee3f9c&ssId=1A_7sx-6Ye1S738R9MoP6
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rita_A_Popp_The_End_of_Promise?id=JyEUEQAAQBAJ
iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-end-of-promise/id6502705865
https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-end-of-promise/
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