Malicious Mischief (Mischief
and Mayhem, #1)
by Marianne Harden
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Excerpt
~When
the chips are down, the buffalo is empty~
Am I a flake? Sort of. But I’m trying to change. My
grandfather has property tax issues, and what troubles Granddad, troubles me.
Good thing I’ve held down a steady job for months. A major big deal. Not the
getting a job part—I’ve had lots—but the held down aspect. Somehow, I always
end up unemployed, but not today.
Today, I am Rylie Tabitha Keyes,
chauffeur to the seniors at Fountain of Youth Retirement Home (FoY.)
It was dawn Sunday as I eased my
employer’s van from one freeway onto another. After that, I concentrated on the
wet asphalt up ahead. I didn’t want to think about my job history or our
financial woes. Instead I focused on the summery sunrise over the Cascade
Mountains due east. I stared at it a moment, charmed by its contrast to the
more typical Bellevue, Washington gloom brooding overhead.
I should’ve been asleep, but I needed to
toss trash from a fundraiser rolling around in the back of the van. Leland
Rosenberg, my boss at Fountain of Youth Retirement Home, had asked me to dump
the bags at his second business, Rosenberg Laboratory, as FoY’s Dumpsters were
full from a recent bathroom remodel. His mood had been edgy, kind of insistent
I dispose of them last night. I confess, before I could carry out this task, a
minor traffic accident and an all-important overnight obligation had waylaid
me. I didn’t bother to sigh over how blunders always seemed to pepper my work
performance. Some things were fated to be. After all, I slogged at my job for
money not joy. It isn't that I don't like working at FoY, it just isn’t my
dream gig. You see, I yearned to be a private detective, a Veronica Mars 2.0.
Problem is, my grandfather is against the idea. Dead set against it.
So with the stench from the trash bags
mounting, I steered FoY’s van onto the off-ramp and headed toward Rosenberg Laboratory
just off the freeway exit. My mind was filled with thoughts of a steamy shower,
maybe a few hours of shut-eye before punching the clock at nine. I stared
forward, squinted. And iced over. Up ahead. Wrong-way traveling. A panel truck
advanced, peeling rubber.
Faster.
Closer.
Zeroed in to hit me.
I whipped the van off the road, the red,
white, and blue panel truck whizzing past. I slammed on the brakes, fighting to
control the wheel. I wrestled with it, panicked, my mind flashing on one
fortunate thing: no seniors were in the van.
Tons of hazards burst before my eyes. I
struggled to absorb them. A mangled guardrail zigzagged up ahead; its many gaps
from other out-of-control vehicles big as life. Worse was the wall of giant
Douglas-firs growing beyond, lower trunks scarred, limbs low and swaying.
I was going to careen through the
railing.
I was going to hit the trees.
I was going to die.
Book Summary
Career
chameleon, Rylie Keyes, must keep her current job. If not, the tax assessor
will evict her ailing grandfather and auction off their ancestral home. When a
senior she shuttles for a Bellevue, Washington retirement home winds up dead in
her minibus, sticky with a half-eaten s'more, head clad in a cellophane bag,
and a pocketed complaint letter accusing her of driving by Braille, her goal to
keep her job hits a road bump.
The
deceased was thought to be a penniless Nazi concentration camp survivor with a
silly grudge against Rylie. However, the victim has enemies who will stop at
nothing to keep their part in the murder a secret.
Forced to
dust off the PI training she's kept hidden from her ex-detective grandfather,
Rylie must align with a circus-bike-wheeling Samoan to solve the murder, all
while juggling the attentions of two very hot police officers.
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About Marianne Harden
Marianne Harden loves a good laugh. So much so, she cannot stop
humor from spilling into her books. Over the years she has backpacked through
the wilds of Australia, explored the exotics of Asia, soaked up the sun in the
Caribbean, and delighted in the historic riches of Europe. Her goals in life
are simple: do more good than harm and someday master the do-not-mess-with-me
look. She divides her time between Switzerland and Washington State where she
lives with her husband and two children.
Find Marianne Harden
Website: www.marianneharden.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarianneHarden
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6572367.Marianne_Harden
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