When Susan goes into the forest to pick mushrooms for a café in her
Scottish village, she gets lost, is threatened by a “monster man,” and
finds a dead woman.
The Fog Busters Detective Agency, friends who
prove that age is a number, not a malady, spring into action to solve
the mystery. Alec is nearly blind, John and Peg are essentially deaf,
Morag is on a crutch, and Rory and Susan—at sixty—are the youngest
members of the group. Determining the “whodunit” seems impossible when
Rory vanishes.
Further complicating the investigation for the amateur
detectives, unexpected suitors materialize to pursue Susan and Rory,
farm animals get mixed into the melee, and an attempt is made to purloin
Rory’s want-to-be girlfriend out a window while she’s sleeping in
Susan’s bedroom. Worse yet, Susan feels responsible for two more young
women who are murdered.
Visits to Scottish castles add intrigue and
history. During a trek back into the “enchanted forest” to face a
killer, Susan is forced to make a decision: eat a poisonous mushroom or
watch her rescued puppy die. Will Susan survive to see her friends
again—and to discover whether her romantic feelings for Rory are real?
About Stephanie Parker McKean
Stephanie Parker McKean Biography
I've survived mauling by an African lion.
I've survived being bitten by a water moccasin snake.
I've emerged victorious from having been sexually abused as a child.
Fleeing that abuse, I lived under a bridge. Now instead of living under a
bridge, I use them as titles for my Texas Miz Mike "Bridge" series,
humorous mystery-romance-suspense novels.
I've learned that what doesn't make you bitter makes you better. You really can't make lemonade without lemons.
And thank God, I've made the transition from atheist to Christian. My
two favorite Bible verses are: in everything give thanks; and all things
work together to good for those who love the LORD.
I used to think
that the worst day in my life was the day I lost my job; my mother died
and I couldn't attend her funeral because my husband was sent home from
the hospital to die; our sheepdog died, and my truck caught on fire in
downtown San Antonio. Several years later, I learned what a really bad
day is. My son, USMC Major Luke Parker died in a plane crash on November
17, 2013. It doesn't get worse than that. "Bridge Beyond Betrayal" is
dedicated to Luke.
I'm now married to wonderful Alan McKean, author
of historic time travel books. He retired as a Church of Scotland
minister after 35 years in the pulpit and we moved to Dunoon, Scotland.
But I bet you want to hear more about the lion.
First, I was born in
Texas, which was at that time the biggest state in the U.S. I learned
at an early age that everything in Texas is bigger and better. When
Alaska became a state, I cried. But what about the lion?
Along with
an innate pride for Texas, I was born with a love for animals. When I
was five, my first pet was a grasshopper that I carried around on a
silver spoon. When I accidentally dropped spoon and grasshopper down the
radiator in an upstairs apartment building, I sobbed. My mother sobbed
too. The spoon had been a wedding gift.
History repeated itself when
my five-year-old son's pet grasshopper was consumed by a small spider.
Luke sobbed inconsolably. That experience inspired me to write what is
my newest book at the moment, "I'm the Grasshopper." But back to the
lion.
My love for animals led to the snake bite. Because I was an
unpopular child, I made pets out of snakes. Other girls were afraid of
them. Riding a bicycle with a snake around my neck made boys notice me.
(They thought I was crazy.) The day after I appeared on a local
television show explaining how to tell a poisonous snake from a harmless
snake, I was bitten by a cotton mouth. Now, finally--the lion!
Ebenezer arrived in the back of a station wagon to join our family's
roadside zoo, a collection of animals that included opossums, raccoons,
assorted harmless snakes, a fox, a large boa constrictor, monkeys, a
skunk, and a jaguarundi. The 200-pound pet fit right in with our family,
until he reached 400 pounds and became a lion.
Sadly, when I became
mature enough to quit riding bicycles with snakes in my quixotic
attempt to impress boys, I remained immature enough to use a gimmick
like an African lion. I invited a fellow college student home to see Eb.
Not realizing that Eb had transformed from pet to lion, I walked up to
him. Eb grabbed me by the stomach, threw me to the ground, and mauled
me. My terrified college friend jerked me out of the cage--which made Eb
bite even harder because he was about to lose his toy. "I hope I did
that right," Ed panted. "I've never had to rescue anyone from a lion
before!" I never saw Ed again.
And now you know about the lion. And
when you read the Texas Miz Mike Christian mystery-romance-suspense
novels set in Three Prongs, Texas, where the misfits fit, you'll know
more about Texas.
And hopefully, you'll learn how to make lemonade
out of lemons. Because what doesn't make you bitter makes you better.
With God's help, all you need to add is a little prayer, a little
praise...a little sugar.
Links
Twitter: @StephaniePMcKea
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