Guess what? We’ve got a new Charlie-verse mystery novel coming your way, this time starring (alleged) criminal Autumn… Winters?
It’s called THE FIRST CORPSE IS THE DEEPEST.
Am I too proud of that title? Maybe! But you can’t stop me!
Here’s the blurb!
Someone’s buried a dead guy in my garden. How fun. I’ve never tried SOLVING a crime before…
I’m Autumn Winters, former (alleged) thief and con artist — and I’m burnt out. Classic hustle culture. Goodbye life of alleged crime! I’m moving to the quirky mountain town of Welcome to be a crime novelist instead.
But it’s hard to get any writing done when I’ve just found a skeleton buried behind my new house.
Even worse: Jay, the gorgeous, morally upright-ish mark who unwittingly funded this whole-new-life-slash-writing-retreat has somehow tracked me down.
He can’t prove I took his money, but he’s watching my every move, ready to catch me the first time I slip up. I definitely shouldn’t be getting any ideas about investigating…
But wow, how often does an aspiring writer — especially with my particular (alleged) skillset — get this kind of research opportunity dropped in her lap? Surely it doesn’t count as lying, stealing, or breaking and entering if you’re doing it to catch a killer.
I just need to make certain that the murderer’s the one who gets caught — and not me.
I hope you’re excited… 😄
Here’s a little sneak peek!
(The book hasn’t been proofread yet, so there may be typos/small things that will change in the final book.)
And because you know I have to, here’s the song to set the mood.
Sneak peek of The First Corpse (which I guess is just a toe or something):
Jay helped me move the mattresses up the stairs — probably keen to have an excuse to scope out the place, think where to plant bugs — while Bunny kept working on Project Hole.
“It’s really huge,” Jay said, eyeing her progress out the bedroom window.
“I know. She said it was meant to be a pond but it’s looking more like an olympic swimming pool.”
“For a small person she sure is good at manual labour. She probably could have carried these mattresses up here by herself.”
“Probably.” I sniffed and wrinkled my nose at the old building smell in the air. “I need to head into town again.”
“Walk down the hill, you mean?”
He had a point. It wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis.
I nodded. “The musty smell is taking a while to dissipate. The past tenants’ skin cells seemed to have worked their way into every crack and crevice.”
If he found that description horrifying, he didn’t show it.
“Yeah, it’s a bit overwhelming. We wouldn’t want you to suffocate in your sleep.” He paused. “I didn’t mean that to sound as threatening as it did.”
“Sure. Remind me to add a deadbolt to my bedroom door.” I put my hands on hips and turned in a circle, sniffing. I started to feel kind of funky. “I think I’ll leave the windows open and hope there’s a breeze while we’re in town.”
“We?”
“I thought you were following me everywhere.”
“Fine. We.”
“I want to get some scented candles to make the place smell a little fresher. Maybe some kind of decor stuff, I don’t know. And while we’re there, I can clear your reputation with the locals so no one comes after you with a gun.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Like I appreciate you not having me arrested.”
“Not yet, at least.”
I hid my grin. “Good luck with that.”
Eeeeeek, I hope you liked your snippet!
This edit has been one of the most harrowing of my writing career (a very dramatic way to describe sitting at a computer, golly), but I’m very keen to launch Autumn into the world!
I hope you’re excited too. 💛