When Wylie Lewis sells his half of the detective agency he owned to move into the house his grandfather willed him in the small town of Earlston, he expects he'll have work to do refurbishing and redecorating it. He doesn't expect that Garry Parish, the handsome restaurant owner who lives two doors down, would offer his assistance, as well as put him in contact with Carl, a handyman who could do most of the manual labor.<br><br>Wylie also doesn't expect to be the sheriff's prime suspect when Nelly, a young woman who works for Garry, disappears a week after Wylie arrives in town. As if that isn't bad enough, a second woman, Emma, vanishes a few days later.<br><br>Wylie, Garry, and Carl team up to try to locate them before the sheriff decides to arrest Wylie, but things take a deadly turn when they find Nelly's body. Will they be able to discover who the killer is in time to save Emma, while Wylie and Garry deal with their growing attraction to each other? Or will Wylie become the killer's next target, with deadly results?

New Man in Town

Feeling guilty at that point, because he’d totally spaced out letting John know he’d arrived safely, he called him. After listening to his ex-partner admonish him for being so thoughtless, in a joking manner, they spent the next few minutes playing catch-up.


John sounded in a much better mood, telling Wylie that Mary had jumped in to deal with the background checks. “I also put out the word I was looking for one or two employees. Damn, Wylie, I think every guy or gal who just graduated with a degree in criminal justice is looking for work.”


“Yep. Two men, provisionally. I need to be certain they know what they’re doing. Fingers crossed at least one of them does because I’ve picked up a couple of new clients. That’s mainly Mary’s doing. She decided to man the front office while she’s running the checks. My lady could charm the skin off a snake.”


“Isn’t that supposed to be ‘charm the pants off a guy’?”


Chapter 10