Tuesday Trash and Trouble: Friday Night Mystery Club Series by Joanna Campbell Slan
About Tuesday Trash and Trouble
3rd in Series
Setting - Illinois
Spot On Publishing (October 10, 2022)
Paperback : 332 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8357296788
Digital ASIN : B0B9T64ZNY
Set in 1986, Joanna Campbell Slan’s latest cozy mystery — Tuesday Trash and Trouble — features a down-on-her-luck divorcée whose passion for solving crimes lands her in the arms of a secretive cowboy — and the cross-hairs of a vengeful killer.
The year is 1986, the place is… pitiful. It’s Decatur, Illinois, known for high unemployment, striking unions, the pervasive stink of soybean processing, and seven railroad crossings at one intersection.
A wrong turn along life’s marital highway has left Catherine “Cragan” Collins stuck in Decatur. With a mountain of post-divorce bills to pay, Cragan takes a job selling high-priced newspaper advertising. If she’s lucky, her commissions will cover the cost of her grandmother’s stay in a nearby retirement home.After the divorce, Cragan swears off men, but she’s a sucker for a guy in a nice suit. She falls hard for a man who publicly snubs her. On the rebound, she accepts an invitation from Ross Gentry, a quiet hunk who favors pearl snaps and cowboy boots. Cragan reasons that her heart is safe, because she and Ross come from two different worlds. But one night in his arms might be enough to prove her wrong.
Without warning, everything blows up in Cragan’s face. Her boss threatens to take away her accounts, a friend’s little sister is kidnapped, and an overnight guest is shot. Cragan’s best friend, Pru, is accused of attempted murder. After all, Pru’s gun was used in the crime.
Cragan calls an emergency meeting of the Friday Night Mystery Club. These mystery-loving career women are a group of smart cookies. Can their combined talents prove that Pru is innocent? And will they find an answer in time to save Cragan from the wrath of a vengeful shooter?
It takes a club to solve a mystery!
About the Character Guest Post
By Cragan Collins
For Rent:One bedroom apt./quiet neighborhood/off-street parking/utilities not included. Call 555-1212
Shielding the piece of paper, I held the classified ad copy in one hand and dialed the phone with the other. I’d plucked this ad order out of the inbox, grabbing it before the typesetters could. If anyone caught me, I’d be in deep doo-doo, because newspaper employees were not supposed to avail themselves of ads before they ran in The Gazette.
But I was desperate. My divorce from Tim Collins would be final on Monday. He’d given me two weeks to move out. Or else, he’d said. Which probably meant he’d toss my meager belongings into the trash pit and set them on fire. I’d be stuck living in my car, my precious Mazda RX-7. Yes, it would be Tim’s style to make a grand gesture like dousing my clothes with lighter fluid and setting them ablaze. He was furious that I’d seen a lawyer and started the proceedings before telling him what I’d planned.
“Nobody dumps Tim Collins!” he’d roared. “Nobody! You’ll never get another man, Cragan. You’re going to be single for the rest of your life.”
Funny, my mother had said almost the same thing. “You’re a fool, Cragan. An idiot. Tim doesn’t beat you. So he’s bad with money. Big deal. Nobody’s perfect. Patch it up with him. Otherwise you’re going to spend the rest of your days by your lonesome.”
Okay, fine. I’d rather be alone and miserable than married to Tim and miserable. He was a Class-A Jerk, and I’d had enough. I could do better on my own, even if that meant I’d start over, saddled with half of his credit card debts. At least, I’d have some control over my finances. Right now, I could do nothing but watch Tim spend, spend, spend on himself — and whomever. I knew Tim was cheating. I could smell cologne and smoke on his clothes when he wandered in as the sun came up. He denied it, of course, but Tim was a practiced liar.
“Hello? Freemont Rentals. May I help you?” The woman on the other end of the phone sounded businesslike.
I responded, “Hi, I’m calling about the apartment you have for rent?”
I kept my fingers crossed through the whole conversation. By the end of the call, I had an address and an appointment to see the place. My own little apartment.
Things were looking up!
About Joanna Campbell Slan
Joanna is a New York Times Bestselling, USA Today Bestselling, and Amazon Bestselling author as well as a woman prone to frequent bursts of crafting frenzy, leaving her with burns from her hot glue gun and paint on her clothes. And the mess? Let’s not even go there.
Otherwise, Joanna’s a productive author with more than 80 written projects to her credit. Her non-fiction work includes how to books, a college textbook for public speakers, and books of personal essays (think Chicken Soup for the Soul).
Currently, she writes six fiction series: The Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series (Agatha Award Finalist, contemporary, St. Louis setting, crafting), the Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery Series (contemporary, Florida setting, DIY, and recycling), the Jane Eyre Chronicles (Daphne du Maurier Award Winner, 1830s England, based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic), the Sherlock Holmes Fantasy Thrillers (late 1800s, based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s books), the Tai Chi Mystery Series (featuring a mature female amateur sleuth!) and the Friday Night Mystery Series (set in Decatur, IL in 1986 with a spunky female heroine.)
A former TV talk show host, college teacher, and public relations specialist, Joanna was one of the early Chicken Soup for the Soul contributors. She won a Silver Anvil for her work on the original FarmAid concert to benefit farmers.
In her ongoing quest never to see snow again, Joanna lives with her husband and their Havanese puppy, Jax, on an island off the coast of Florida. You can email her at jcslan@joannaslan.com or visit her website at https://linktr.ee/jcslan
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