 In this short, cozy mystery, Jake and Emma Rand discovered each other after they both left painful first marriages. Their idyllic life together in the shadow of Casper Mountain is shattered when they stumble across the frozen body of a woman after an early blizzard. When the police investigation stalls, Jake and Emma set out to unravel the puzzle of who she is and how she met her lonely fate. What they uncover will rock this small western town to its core.
Targeted Age Group:: All
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I have always loved to read mysteries so when I retired, I decided to write one! Jake and Emma Rand live in my adopted home town of Casper, Wyoming. I love taking readers on a tour of the state, showing them the beauty of Wyoming’s open spaces and wildlife. I volunteer at the Fort Caspar Museum (yep, different spelling than the town, long story) and when I told them about Too Cute, they thought it would be fun to be in the book so I have set a pivotal scene at the Museum. I kept on writing in the series because I really enjoy crafting a mystery and my favorite comment from readers is that they didn’t guess the murderer until the end!
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
There’s a lot of me in both Jake and Emma Rand. I worked for several years in the juvenile justice system so Jake is an attorney who specializes in juvenile cases. Emma is a therapist who makes room in her schedule for pro-bono work with battered women because right after college I was a volunteer coordinator at a shelter. That is where the resemblance stops, though, because as time goes on Jake and Emma develop their own personalities. I know it sounds crazy to people who don’t write but even when I’m between books, as I am now, Jake and Emma are quite active in my thoughts, going about their business and getting into adventures that may or may not end up in the next story. They’re quite real to me now that I’ve done three books with them.
Book Sample
Emma woke to the sound of Jake singing in the shower. She smiled. It was nice to hear him so lighthearted. She nestled down in the warm bed and tried to go back to sleep.
“Ugh,” she grunted as a cat landed heavily on her stomach. Sparky was not a large cat but she landed like a cannon ball when she wanted attention. She had been sitting on top of the headboard, waiting patiently for Emma to wake up and was not about to let her go back to sleep.
Emma removed the cat and grudgingly got out of bed. She dressed warmly and followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen. Jake didn’t drink coffee but he always made a pot for Emma in the morning.
Emma opened the back door for Casper and Charlie, who were not so patiently waiting. The dogs tumbled over each other into the fenced back yard, running and barking and chasing each other in the snow. Emma closed the door against the cold and started breakfast.
Sunday morning meant waffles and Emma had Jake’s ready on the table when he came from the bedroom. “Good morning, beautiful.” He greeted her with a kiss and sat down at the table. “Did you take the dogs back to the barn already?”
“Just let them out back for now,” answered Emma. “I was hungry. I’ll run them out to the barn after breakfast.”
“They can hang out with us this morning if you want,” said Jake. “It’s going to be a cold one.” Emma agreed and they spent a leisurely morning reading the paper and watching football. By early afternoon Jake decided it was warm enough in the barn to let the dogs go back outside.
They put on their coats and Emma put both dogs on leashes. Charlie was never as happy about going out to the barn as he was going in so it was best not to give him too much leeway. Casper stood by the door waiting. His heavy coat with a warm undercoat was made for Wyoming winters and while he loved being near his humans, Casper liked it best outside.
Emma and Jake didn’t own horses so they had converted the barn and corral into a king-sized doghouse with a quarter acre dog run. An old couch served as Casper’s dog bed. A matching easy chair was for Charlie.
Jake filled their heated water dish from the frost free tap while Emma poured dry dog food in their dishes, topped with a little chopped up antelope meat from Jake’s last hunting trip as a Sunday treat. Cats began to appear in the barn. Some dropped down from beds in the rafters and others pushed through the cat door in the barn wall. Emma chatted happily with each cat as it rubbed against her legs or jumped onto the shelf where she fed them away from the dogs.
“All cats present and accounted for,” She cheerfully reported. Living in the country posed hazards for unwary barn cats so Emma did a daily “cat count” to be sure everyone came home safe. Leaving the animals happily eating in the barn, they latched the door and headed for the house.
“What’s that?” Jake looked where Emma was pointing. Something dark was piled up next to the fence along the county road, partially buried by the snow.
“Looks like a trash bag,” he grumbled. Emma understood his annoyance. Country people got used to strangers dumping trash on their land. That didn’t mean they liked it.
People who were too cheap to pay the landfill fee drove out to the country to dump appliances, furniture and the occasional junk car. The landowner then had to pay to haul away and dispose of that garbage.
Usually, people would dump trash at the edge of their property, away from the house. This lessened the possibility that she might catch them in the act. Now someone had dumped trash practically in her front yard! Emma wondered angrily how these city people would feel if she dumped her trash in their yards.
Lost in these thoughts, Emma trailed after Jake as they walked toward the fence. He stopped suddenly and turned Emma around, pointing her away from the pile and toward the house. “Go back into the house,” he told her. “Call the police.”
“Why?” Emma asked. “What’s the matter?”
“It isn’t trash,” said Jake, his voice low and serious. “It’s a person. A body.”
Author Bio:
Linda grew up in Loveland, Colorado as the sixth of six children. She moved
with her parents to California when she was 16 and spent the next 16 years
of her life in the Bay Area before moving home to Colorado.
Linda devoted 20+ years to nonprofit human services before deciding to
take a new direction in her life. She founded Focus Forward, LLC to do the
things she most enjoys – management consulting for small business owners
and nonprofits and career coaching.
In 2012, Linda realized a life-long dream when she published her first book,
“Life Isn’t Just Luck: Getting from where you are to where you want to be.”
In it, she explores what keeps us from achieving our goals and identifies
strategies to overcome these roadblocks.
In 2013, Linda published her first mystery novel, “Too Cute to Kill.” This was
followed by “Main Street Murder” in 2014 and “Justice for Katie” in 2015.
Linda lives outside Casper, Wyoming with her husband, ten cats and one
incredibly patient dog.
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Links to Purchase Print Books
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