A Shot of Murder

 

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In 1948, Charley Hall resents giving up her job as city reporter for the Kingston Tribune to a returning soldier. But her demotion to the women’s pages is the least of her worries since Gran is organizing a surprise birthday party for Charley’s older brother, Freddie. Trouble is, Freddie hasn’t come back from his latest bender. When Charley goes looking for him, she discovers the dead body of a woman, last seen with her brother. Beside the murdered woman is a torn newspaper article about local politician Dan Cannon, who also happens to be Charley’s best friend. To make matters worse, a police detective from Toronto shows up and begins nosing around. Charley is not about to stand by and let her brother nor her friend take a fall for a murder based on circumstantial evidence. Not by a long shot.

My Review...

Really enjoyed this 1^st book in a series titled “A Charley Hall Mystery”. A story about Charley who is a reporter and is demoted basically because she’s a woman. Moved to the woman’s section of the paper to boot. Charley has what one might call an eccentric family she lives with. A brother Freddy, on a bender most of the time, and a grandmother who really has no idea when Freddy is or isn’t home.

This was a quick read. Lots of humor. I think one of the things I enjoyed was that not only did the characters have distinct personalities, there were not so many. Made the story very clear and as I said, enjoyable. The series has three books to date. Hope we hear from Charley again.

read an excerpt...

The other man, the one who had lured her here, leapt to his feet and stumbled off.

 “Aren’t you going to follow him?” Charley asked.

 “What’s the point?” Spadina countered, dusting the dirt off his knees as he rose to his feet. “He’s just some low-life trying to make a buck.”

 “He said he’s got Freddie. And he’s got my money.”

 Spadina reached out a finger and pushed down the muzzle of the revolver. She hadn’t realized she still had it trained on him. “First off, you know he doesn’t have Freddie. If he did, he wouldn’t have tried to kill you once you gave him what he was asking for. It really wasn’t the smartest idea to be waving around all that moolah last night and promising more. There are—”

 “Second!” She wasn’t in the mood for a lecture.

 “Second what?”

 “You said first, so I’m assuming there’s another point you want to make.”

 Even in the darkness, his teeth glowed white with his grin. It irritated her even more.

 “And second, I have your money. I pulled it out of his hand before I hit him.” He reached into the pocket of his coat and took out a handful of banknotes. “But I think I should keep it as payment for saving your life.”

 “I thought you were a cop,” she said, grabbing the money from him. “Saving lives is your job.” She stuffed the money back into the pocket of her coat.

 “Aren’t you going to count it?” He snickered.

 “Do I need to?”

 Spadina threw back his head, his laughter echoing off the wooden gazebo. “You are the most stubborn, most infuriating, most intriguing woman I have ever met.”

 “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

 “You should.”

  

about Brenda Gayle...

 Life is messy and I try to reflect that in my stories while still leaving readers with a feeling of hope. I want them to see themselves and people they know in my characters.

 You could say writing is in my genes. My paternal grandmother was a formidable diarist; my father was a journalist and poet; my sister and cousin are both published authors; even my son has shown a talent for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to tell awesome stories. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when I returned to my love of fiction after more than 20 years in the world of corporate communications–although some might argue there was plenty of opportunity for fiction-writing there, too.

 A fan of many genres, I find it hard to stay within the publishing industry’s prescribed boxes. Whether it’s mystery, romantic suspense or women’s fiction—my greatest joy is creating deeply emotional books with memorable characters and compelling stories.

I love hearing from readers. You can connect with me via my website at BrendaGayle.com https://brendagayle.com/

 

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