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

“Have you decided?” Nelly asked as she returned.


Wylie quickly scanned the menu, glad it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, and settled on coq au vin. Garry told her he wanted the prime rib, rare, and she left.


“Have you met any of our neighbors?” Garry asked.


“Oh, boy, have I.” Wylie went on to tell him about Betty and her family, and Frank Ingram. “He seems like a nice guy.”


“He is, if you can get him off the subject of tools.” Garry shook his head. “He knows what you need for any and all jobs and doesn’t mind telling you, in detail.”


“He didn’t, last night, but then I don’t think I mentioned I was doing anything to the house, at least as far as repairs. He was more interested in letting me know that Earlston was virtually crime-free, thanks to the sheriff, so I shouldn’t plan on setting up as a private detective.”


“Frank’s one of Kingman’s volunteer deputies, and a big fan of the man.”


“From your tone of voice, you aren’t.”


Chapter 14