Roxy’s spending her summer with burros and jam, but there’s a murderer in the mountains.
Today, Wild Women Authors focus on Meg Benjamin and The Tomato Jam Murder, the latest in the Luscious Delights cozy mystery series published by the Wild Rose Press.
About the Book: It’s burro racing season in the Rockies, and Roxy Constantine is all for it. Now if she can come up with a good recipe for tomato jam, her summer will be complete. But when Roxy finds a body on the burro racecourse, she’s suddenly plunged into a murder investigation.
And when her
innocent friend is accused of killing her ex, Roxy must challenge a corrupt
police chief who wants to shut her up. Now she needs to find the real killer
and save a neighboring town from a plot to ruin its mountain magic.
Here’s an Excerpt:
The burro
pushed his golden nose against my hand, and I rubbed a little harder. Whatever
had upset him didn’t include me. “That’s a good boy,” I said softly.
He looked
familiar in a way I couldn’t quite define, and I didn’t know why. He obviously
wasn’t one of Laurel’s burros, and they were the only ones I’d spent any time
with. Still, his coloring was distinctive, and I was sure I’d seen him before.
“Let’s see if
we can find your human.” I picked up the burro’s lead rope and started down the
trail slowly. He seemed happy to follow along, his hooves clicking on the rocks
as we descended.
I studied the
brush and trees on either side of the road for signs of a struggle. I was
guessing whoever had brought the burro up on the mountain hadn’t let go without
a limited fight. I was also searching for any other people on the trail who
could help me, but we had everything to ourselves at the moment.
Below the next
switchback, the burro came to a sudden halt, shaking his head again. “What’s
the problem, boy?” I peered around his shoulder trying to see into the dense
stand of evergreens on the uphill side of the trail. A flash of color caught my
eye under one of the trees. “Hello?” I called. “Anyone there?”
The burro
jerked against its lead rope as I spoke. “It’s okay.” I reached out to rub his
nose again, but he pulled away from me. I looked around for someplace I could
tie the lead rope so that he wouldn’t wander off while I checked out whatever
was underneath the pine tree. The brush wasn’t that sturdy, and putting the
rope under a rock would probably lead to a missing burro.
“Hello?” I
called again.
“Hello
yourself,” a male voice called. I put a hand to my hammering heart then stepped
back and peered up the trail. Silas and his burro were on the switchback above
us. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“I don’t know.
I found this little guy wandering around, and I’m trying to find his handler. I
think there might be somebody in this clump of trees.” I watched Silas climb
down the trail above us. Oliver, his burro, wasn’t all that excited about
slowing down his descent.
“Okay,” Silas
said when he was level with me. “Give me the lead rope. I’ll hold onto him
while you see if his owner is around.”’
I handed over
the rope gratefully enough and stepped into the evergreen grove. The dense
thatch of branches blotted out a lot of the light, but the trees were a little
farther apart as I walked away from the trail.
A man was lying
face down in the center of the grove. On the trail, I’d seen the bright red of
the bandanna he had knotted around his neck. “Um…hi?” I said, tentatively. When
he didn’t move, or give any sign that he’d heard me, I stepped closer. “Mister?
Are you okay?”
Something about
the stillness of that body made my throat tighten. I’d seen a few dead bodies
in my time, but most of them had been clearly and thoroughly dead. This guy was
just lying there. Very quiet.
You’ve got to check. You know that. I did know it,
but I didn’t like it. I leaned forward and put my hand on his shoulder. I felt
the cool dead flesh through his thin cotton shirt. Yanking my hand away, I
stumbled to the trail where Silas waited.
“Call 911,” I
gasped. “There’s a dead guy in there.”
About Today’s Focus Author: Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance and cozy mysteries. Meg’s cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Her Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing and from Meg’s indie line). Along with romance and cozies, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Meg’s indie line. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, the Carly Crown Jewel of Books from the Mid-America Romance Authors, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.
To Learn More about Meg Benjamin, go to:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1/ (personal)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063609878239 (author)
Instagram:
@meg_benjamin
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@meg_benjamin
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/meg-benjamin.bsky.social
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2869971.Meg_Benjamin
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/meg-benjamin
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/megbenjamin/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@megbenjamin1396
Website: http://www.MegBenjamin.com/
To Purchase The
Tomato Jam Murder, go to: https://amzn.to/4oj93e5
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