Did you ever think that you’d like to kill the judge who
didn’t give you (your dog, your horse, your child) the victory? Did you ever get a gift from a secret admirer
who might not really admire you? Have
you ever been in a competition that was rigged so you couldn’t win? The seventh book in the popular Roger and
Suzanne mystery series finds Roger and Bruce hired to go undercover
impersonating the owner and handler of a Champion German Shorthaired Pointer
named Juliet to investigate certain irregularities that might be occurring at
dog shows in California. To complicate
this case the bodies of dead judges start popping up and Suzanne picks up a
mysterious stalker sending her most unwelcome gifts. Throw in drug cartels and corrupt cops and it
sounds like a typical job for our detective couple. “The Deadly Dog Show” may be read as a
stand-alone novel, but fans of the series should enjoy reconnecting with
characters they have met in the previous books.
This whodunit novel should appeal to mystery fans, dog lovers, and
anyone who wants to learn more about the world of dog show competition.
How about a brief excerpt from the novel, which is now
available from Amazon?
“Just then
the front doorbell rang. I got there
first and opened the door to greet a teenager delivering a paper-wrapped bundle
of flowers from a florist's truck parked at the curb in front of our house.
A bored
teenager looked up from the papers he was carrying. "Does Suzanne Bowman live here?"
Who'd be
sending Suzanne flowers, I wondered. Did
I miss her birthday or our anniversary?
No, both were months away.
"Yes, she does."
"Sign
here, Mister."
I signed
and was handed the flowers, wrapped in green paper. The delivery guy stood there, clearly
expecting a tip. I gave him one, got a
mumble of thanks, and off he went. I
took the flowers inside and handed the conical-shaped arrangement to Suzanne.
She
was clearly surprised, not expecting a floral bouquet. "What's this for?"
"I
don’t know. Why don't you open them and
see if there's a card?"
Suzanne
carefully unwrapped the package to find a dozen long-stemmed red roses. A card dropped to the floor. She bent over, picked it up, and read it
aloud.
"To my dear Suzanne:
Roses are red and violets are blue,
Because of your beauty I share these with you.
Your loving admirer."
Suzanne
looked directly at me. Her expression
was not a happy one. "Is this your
idea of romantic, Roger?"
Suddenly I
was on the defensive. "No, I have
no idea who sent these. I'm guessing
some kind of whack job. A dozen roses
delivered aren't cheap, so they’re definitely meant as some kind of
message. Have you gotten anyone pissed
off at work lately?"
Suzanne shivered slightly and
looked worried. "No, I
haven't. But do you remember that
feeling I had when we were in New York that someone was watching me? I wonder if it's possible that I picked up a
stalker while we were there? But if the
stalker came from our trip back east, how would they have found my home
address? I assume you only gave the
folks who interviewed you and our hotel your office address to reach you
at."
"Nowadays,
if they know how to use a computer I'm afraid that all of that personal
information is available somewhere."
I picked up
the card and wrapping and found the name and phone number of the florist. It took only a few seconds to dial the
number. It rang three times and a deep
male voice said "Hello."
"Hello. We just got a delivery of a dozen roses at
our house from you for Suzanne Bowman.
Can you tell us who sent them?"
"Just
a sec!” I heard sound of the phone being
dropped on the counter and some noises in the background. About a minute later he was back on the phone. “It was an Internet order paid by cash
through a third party site. I have no
way of knowing the name of who paid or who placed the order. I can’t even tell you whether the order
originated locally."
I thanked
him for his help, hung up, and turned to Suzanne. "Did you get any bad vibes at
Rockefeller University or while we were at the hotel, or was it only while we
were at the restaurant?"
She thought
deeply for a moment before looking up at me.
"Just at the restaurant. And
I think I see where you're going logically.
If we don't believe in random chance and someone we passed on the street
falling in love and somehow getting my name and address, my stalker is most
likely to be one of the gentlemen we had dinner with, right?"
"Right. I'll have Vincent run some background checks
on all of them tomorrow and we'll see if anyone has done anything like this
before and gotten caught at it."
Suzanne
carefully put the roses in a vase of water.
"Anyway, the flowers are pretty, and they’ll look nice on the
dinner table."
She put the
vase of roses on the dining room table, took a long look at it, shivered,
walked over, and hugged me. " As
you know, I can take care of myself very well.
But this really, really creeps me out." On that note she turned around to pick up the
vase and move the flowers onto a table in the front hall, as far away from
where the family tended to hang out as they could be put and still be in the
house.
I hugged
her back and gave her a kiss. "I
don't think you have to worry too much about your personal safety unless this
creep escalates what he's doing. Flowers
or chocolates are pretty impersonal. If
he shifts to underwear or personal stuff I think we'll need to take some
serious precautions. In the meantime,
I'll have Vincent try again via the florist and the Internet site to see if he
can find out where the order originated.
Let's also tell Bruce about this at dinner so he can keep half an eye on
you and Robert at a slightly higher stage of alert than usual."
Enjoy the book, which is available from Amazon Kindle at
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