Nearly Departed

                                                                                                             

Nearly Departed (An Eve Appel Mystery)
by Lesley A. Diehl

About Nearly Departed 

Nearly Departed (An Eve Appel Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher: Epicenter Press (January 14, 2020)
Print Length: 180 pages
Digital ASIN: B083G9GDJY

Tired of sitting surveillance on insurance fraud, apprentice PI Eve Apple Egret gets her first big case, one where the outcome is important and personal. Eve’s best friend Madeleine has few relatives, so her Uncle Shamus is special, but someone is determined to kill him and has tried several times. Eve is certain she can identify who is after him, but this time she may have taken on more than even our self-confident Eve can handle. Coping with a growing toddler and a teenager, devoting time to the consignment shop and finding someone who can go undercover in a sexual harassment case all vie for Eve’s attention. Eve knows she cannot fail Madeleine. This is more than her favorite uncle’s life. His death would mean devastating loss for Madeleine and call into question Eve’s commitment as a friend and her ability as a PI.

Character Post for Nearly Departed by Lesley A. Diehl

The Journeys I’ve Taken

By Eve Appel Egret

I’ve had an exciting life. I grew up in Connecticut and married a wealthy man, a marriage that went very quickly wrong. My friends and family told me not to marry Jerry, but I wouldn’t listen. I’ve always been a head strong woman. Just ask my grandmother who raised me. She’ll tell you I always went my own way, but as much as she shakes her head at my behavior, I think I got a lot of my renegade nature from her.
I knew Jerry was cheating on me, but as long as he didn’t throw it in my face, I ignored his philandering ways, but when he brought his current lover to my birthday party, I’d had it. I took up my best friend’s offer and moved south to go into business with her. We opened a consignment shop in rural Florida. So far that sounds like a pretty tame life, right? But that’s when things began to pop. The day of our grand opening, I found a woman stabbed to death on a changing room floor. I couldn’t help myself. I had to know who she was and why someone would kill her in our shop. I’m one nosy gal, so along with my friend Madeleine, my grandmother who we call Grandy, a dreamy private eye and a mafia don, I began my career snooping into local murders. I was pretty successful, too, although my cadre of friends and family will tell you I sometimes got myself into tricky situations which required intervention from them at times. Grandy loved accompanying me when I tracked down the bad guys. She liked dressing in her velvet warm-up suits for our sleuthing missions.
I’ve taken on the Russian mafia, the owner of a hunting ranch illegally offering expeditions for exotic game as well as pursued those who would pollute the environment. Some of the crimes came closer to home and involved the murder of one of my husband’s relatives, and in my most recent adventure, the attempted murder of Madeleine’s favorite uncle. Life in the Florida swamps has been exciting for me.
Jerry and I divorced, and I married a man who is Miccosukee. Sammy is truly the love of my life, tall, handsome, dark and oh so yummy. He and I adopted his three nephews who lost their parents, and we also have a girl of our own. It looks as if she’s taking after me. She has plenty of sass, is smart beyond her years and is as nosey as I am. Madeleine says my daughter is pay back for all the trouble I caused my grandmother when growing up as well as the anxious moments I put my friends through with all my sleuthing.
As if my life isn’t thrilling enough, I also am apprenticing to a private eye in town. My friends and family have encouraged me to do this. They believe that PI work might channel my curiosity in more professional ways, believing some investigative skills might make life safer for me when I go sleuthing and less anxiety-provoking for them. I’m even learning to fire a gun although my mentor in the PI business, Crusty McNabb, says my aim would be better if I opened my eyes when I fire. He’s probably right, but so far my go to weaponry is still my stiletto heels.
I’m sometimes joined in these capers by someone I met here in Florida by accident. Everyone has always assumed he’s a mafia don, and he doesn’t discourage this image, but he’s never really admitted to “family” connections. He seems to have many unusual sources of information which come in handy investigating cases. How he managed gaining all his insider knowledge, I can’t say, and I’ve never asked, but he’s come through for me and for the local police many times. With my curious nature and his measured approach to criminal matters, we make a powerful team. Grandy would add that she also has been instrumental in solving these crimes. And I must give some credit to my police detective friend, Frida Martinez. And I wouldn’t have been able to take on these ventures without the support of Madeleine and of my husband and his family. We’re a swamp posse here to make certain folks bent on doing bad don’t get away with their crimes. So if you venture into the swamps of southern Florida you can count on sassy Eve and her buddies to keep you safe. Please join us in my most recent adventure in Nearly Departed.

About the Author

Cows, Lesley learned as a child growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she went to the field to herd them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t her career path, she took a job as a stripper, book cover stripper for a publishing company, that is. Now after many years as a college professor and university administrator, she has returned to the world of books and uses her country roots and her training to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. “A good chuckle,” says Lesley,” keeps us emotionally well-oiled long into our old age.”

Author Links
Website – www.lesleyadiehl.com
Blog – www.lesleyadiehl.com/blog
Facebook – www.facebook.com/lesley.diehl.1
facebook Author Page – www.facebook.com/Lesley-A-Diehl522270901254754
GoodReads – www.goodreads.com/3414925.Lesley_A_Diehl

Purchase LinksAmazon – B&N – INDIEBOUND


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