I am very excited to be part of the blog tour for Antiques and Alibis by Wendy H Jones. I have an extract to share with you today and if you like the look of that, you can click here to buy the book! All the information about the book and the author is below as well as that awesome extract. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for reviews and other exclusive content and follow Love Books Group on social media for more bookish fun!
Cass Claymore, a red headed, motorbike riding, ex-ballerina inherits a Detective Agency, and accidentally employs an ex-con dwarf and an octogenarian. Hired by a client who should know better, Cass has no leads, no clue and a complete inability to solve a case. Still a girl needs to eat and her highbred client’s offering good money. Join her as, with bungling incompetence, she follows a trail littered with missing antique teddies, hapless crooks, a misplaced Lord of the Realm and dead bodies. Will Cass, and Scotland, survive?
Eagal and I walked to work as usual. A straight
route down the Perth Road, it takes about twenty minutes. However, Eagal has
his own ideas as to the appropriate route to work. It varies according to the
vagaries of his pea-sized brain. This means he walks me there rather than the
other way around. Today he fancied a jaunt down to Riverside. Not too bad as
detours go. I arrived only marginally late. This mattered not one jot as no
queue snaked down the street.
Eagal settled behind the desk. The coffee
machine called me. I returned to the mutt standing by the door. A stealth
attack had been mounted on some poor unsuspecting customer. Or had he? There
didn't appear to be a customer or anything else around. The mutt had reached
new heights of dumbness. Then I saw a small hand waving from under the fur
mountain.
Grief. The dope was
smothering a child.
“Eagal.” I simultaneously
yanked and waved a treat under his nose. This had the desired effect and he
leapt back and skittered over the floor. A large thump shook the room as he
caromed off the wall. He shook himself, causing a tsunami of air. Somewhat
cooling to be truthful.
A man lay on the floor. A rather dapper one,
with a well-trimmed beard and standing about four feet tall. Or he would have
been if not decorating my lavish parquet flooring.
“Sir, I'm so sorry.”
I helped him upright. This proved more difficult
than first envisaged. What a weight for one so small.
He tugged on his multicoloured waistcoat and
straightened his cornflower blue silk tie.
“My dear lady, think nothing of it. Happens
frequently.”
An insouciant twinkle in his eye gave him a
certain roguish look.
I had a gracious dwarf, with an engaging manner,
in my midst.
“Please sit down, how can I help you?” I pulled
a fresh yellow legal pad towards me.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“I thought you were the one with the problem, my
dear.”
“Sorry?”
“I'm here to help you solve your problem.”
“I don't have a problem. I'm an investigator, I
solve problems.” I was beginning to think I'd strayed into an alternative
universe. One strewn with delusional dwarves.
“My dear friend, Ms Alexandra Struan indicated
you had offered me a job.”
My brain froze. The polar ice cap thawed slightly before absorbing this
vital piece of information.
“I take it you’re Quill?”
“Crammond McQuillan at your service. Quill to my
friends.”
Lexi's ex-con. The one she thought would be a
perfect fit for my business. I don't mind admitting I wasn't quite seeing it.
Still, I owed Lexi the honour of at least exploring further. Either that or I
owed her a kick up the bahookie for putting me in this position.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
I might cope with this better if I had a shot of caffeine.
Mainlined, preferably.
“Earl Gray tea, my dear.”
The terms of endearment were beginning to get right up my
bonnie Prussian nose. Our partnership would be short-lived if I didn't put him
straight.
While this riveting exchange occurred,
my useless pet had cosied up to Quill. Head in the man’s lap he gazed adoringly
up at his new friend. I passed over a box of tissues. This love fest would
involve a wet lap if it went on for too long. In an unfortunate place. Either
that or the mutt would be ruining the poor man’s marriage prospects.
How thrilling does that sound?
Meet the Author
Award Winning Author Wendy H. Jones lives in Scotland, and her police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Shona McKenzie, is set in the beautiful city of Dundee, Scotland. Wendy has led a varied and adventurous life. Her love for adventure led to her joining the Royal Navy to undertake nurse training. After six years in the Navy she joined the Army where she served as an Officer for a further 17 years. This took her all over the world including Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Much of her spare time is now spent travelling around the UK, and lands much further afield. As well as nursing Wendy also worked for many years in Academia. This led to publication in academic textbooks and journals. Killer's Countdown is her first novel and the first book in the Shona McKenzie Mystery series. Killer's Crew won the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2107. There are now six books in this series with Killer's Crypt being released in August, 2017. The Dagger's Curse is the first book in The Fergus and Flora Mysteries for Young Adults. This book is currently shortlisted for the Woman Alive Magazine Readers Choice Award Book of the Year. She is also a highly successful marketer and she shares her methods in the book, Power Packed Book Marketing.
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