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Genre - Mystery / Female Sleuth / Humourous
Rating - PG13
More details about the book
So, I went to
the original print version and found the page, then hopped over to the current
ebook and copied from that--the best of both page 99 worlds. It worked out just
fine, because it plops you right into a typical--if comparatively tame--bit of
Kickapoo craziness.
A little
background first. Hot Enough to Kill
was originally published in September 1999, and had a nice review in Redbook in October. Yes, it was quite a
surprise! The book was also featured in a lot of high-profile publications and
was even selected to be included in the University of Texas Press' Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas
Crime Fiction just a few years ago. The second book in the series, Dead Man Falls, won a literary award.
Jolene has been good to me!
I love these
characters. They're like close friends. They're more real to me than most sane
people would admit. Since I’m not, I'll also admit that just before my mom
passed, I'd gone back to Texas for a visit and we were sitting in the Dairy
Queen, and I caught myself watching the door, wondering when my characters were
going to walk in. I laughed when I realized what I was doing, but sometimes they
are that real to me.
So, here's the
setup for the book:
Jolene's back
in her old hometown because her mother's boyfriend--the still-married
mayor--has been murdered, and Mother Dearest is in jail because of it. Turns
out the mayor hadn't been quite as divorced as he'd led Lucille to believe, and
that's only the tip of the iceberg on his lies and antics. There's no shortage
of people who had reason to want the mayor dead, but bullets are still flying,
and a lot of them are hitting way too close to home.
Of course,
there's the fun part of Jolene reconnecting with her old high school
sweetheart, Sheriff Jerry Don Parker, and the not so fun part that his gorgeous
ex-wife still seems to be in love with him, only she also has another love
interest too. And then there's that pesky problem with Bible-wielding Bony
Butt, a problem with the ATF and an ill-advised shopping trip to Bud's Bait and
Beer.
In the scene
on page 99, Jolene and her mother have been in protective custody and confined
to Lucille's house to attempt to keep them out of the line of fire. However,
they've managed to talk the deputy into taking them on an unauthorized trip to
the Dairy Queen to get chicken baskets and iced tea. Deputy Leroy Harper has
wound up taking over as acting sheriff. Not because he was the best man for the
job, but because his uncle is a county commissioner. Leroy's still holding a
grudge over Jolene rejecting him in high school and things are a little
strained between them. Actually, in this little snippet, they seem almost
civil.
* * * * *
"Something's up," I said to Mother.
"Leroy's back."
We watched as Leroy talked and pointed, and the deputy
took notes, shook his head, nodded and made more notes.
"He's looking right in here at us and
pointing," Mother said. "I don't like it."
I didn't like it either. But I liked the idea of going
outside with a bull's-eye on my forehead to get the scoop a whole lot less.
"Let's just stay put and see what happens."
"You think there's been another shooting?"
Mother asked, echoing my own thoughts.
Before I could give a vague non-answer, Leroy marched
back inside the DQ, his big arms waving and his face flushed. "Relax,
people. Looks like this thing is all but over. We got us a suspect in
custody."
"That was fast," I muttered, glancing at
Lucille.
The DQ turned into a buzzing beehive of chatter. Sighs
of relief mixed with various versions of "I wonder who it is" and
"It must be so and so."
I wondered too, of course, but I also wondered why the
big-shot acting sheriff wasn't still on the scene, making a nuisance of
himself. Since he was headed our way, I'd be asking. "So, Leroy, how did
all this go down? Psychic revelation, random house-to-house search, what? And
why aren't you still on the scene running the show?"
Leroy frowned then puffed out his chest. "Don't you
be worrying about how I knew what, or where I went. I told you I give the
orders around here."
Yes, that much was nauseatingly clear. "So, I'm
guessing you found the murder weapon."
"Yes, ma'am, Miss Hotshot Know-it-all, we sure did.
We found a shotgun in the closet, and that was just the beginning." Leroy
puffed up even more. "They'll be working this for days. Yep, this thing is
big—really big."
"Minor detail here, Leroy, but there's probably a
shotgun in the closet of every male in this county, maybe even the state. Don't
you think you're jumping the gun a little? No pun intended."
He looked down his nose at me. "We're not worried
about quail and dove hunters, Jolene," he said, as if talking to an
imbecile. "We had good reason to search the house, and it just broke wide
open from there. I'd known all along what was going on out there, and this just
proves it. It's big, just like I said."
"Big. Really
big. Got it."
* * * * *
And that's a
quick peek into life in the little spot on a Texas highway called Kickapoo. Did
I mention that a really big catfish also has a starring role?
* * * * *
Paula Boyd is
a five-time award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. To read samples
from her Jolene Jackson Mystery Series, visit http://paulaboyd.com.
She also writes as Paula Renaye, and her new book, Living the Life You Love: The No-Nonsense Guide to Total Transformation,
is in neighborhood and online bookstores. http://paularenaye.com
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