Off the Beadin’ Path (Glass Bead Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Vetrai Press (March 11, 2017)
230 Pages

Synopsis

Jax O’Connell and her friend Tessa have no idea what challenges await them when they head to the small town of Carthage to take a glass blowing class with Marco De Luca, a famous Italian glass artist. While Jax loves melting glass to make beads, she discovers that standing in front of the glass furnace’s inferno frightens her.

After the first night of class, Tessa sees a dead body through the water-streaked window of the studio. The next morning there’s no sign of Marco—dead or alive—and one of the studio owners is also missing. The local sheriff doesn’t take the disappearance seriously, so Jax and Tessa take matters into their own hands.

Jax must face her fears to find the body, track down the clues, and uncover the killer—and do it all before another life is shattered.

Off the Beadin’ Path is the third book in the Glass Bead Mystery series.

Guest Post

A Day in the Life of Jax O’Connell

The Main Character in Off the Beadin’ Path,
Book Three in the Glass Bead Mystery Series by Janice Peacock

Hi there! My name is Jax O’Connell, and I live in Seattle, the Emerald City—not because of how lush the landscape is, but because of all the green Starbucks signs everywhere you look. I love it here, not just for the coffee, but because Seattle is a mecca for glass art. I make glass beads for a living by melting slender rods of colorful glass that I sculpt using a 2,000 degree torch. I use the beads I make to create handmade jewelry that I sell at local shops.

When I inherited a bungalow from my Great-Aunt Rita in this glass-loving city, I left Miami behind. I can say without a doubt that I don’t miss the hurricanes or the jumbo-sized bugs. Several years ago, my great-aunt split her house down the middle to create a duplex. I live in one side of the house and Val lives in the other. I’ve lived next door to her for nearly three years now, and they have been some of the best in my life. Val is enormous in every way—big red hair, big bones (I say with the utmost tact), and big jewelry—the glitzier, the better. Oh, and she’s a science-fiction fan girl, but that’s too complicated to explain right now.

On most usual days, I’d get up and pull the beads I’d made the day before from the kiln. It’s always fun to see how everything turns out and decide what I want to work on next. Then I’d head down the hall to the kitchen, where my cat Gumdrop would be impatiently pacing back and forth. I’d pull out a green ice cube from the cute pink plastic tray in the freezer and pop it into the cat’s empty food bowl. As soon as Gumdrop saw the frozen cube of catnip, he’d go wild, jumping on the bowl, and skidding across the hardwood floor into the hallway. While Gumdrop enjoyed his treat, I’d usually make a big pot of coffee, and enjoy the first of many cups of the day.

But today is not a usual day. My best friend, Tessa, spent the night, and what a night it was! She and I are taking a glassblowing class at Old Firehouse Studio in the little town of Carthage about a forty-five minute drive from here. I was excited at the prospect of taking a glassblowing class, but once I stood in front of the furnace’s inferno, I knew I would never be able to blow glass with any confidence, if I had the guts to do it at all.

Marco de Luca, our teacher, was hitting on one of the pretty young women in class and he’d had just a little too much to drink by the end of the evening. So, once we finished our lesson, Tessa and I both wanted to get out of town, and fast. While we were driving home, Tessa realized she’d left her cell phone at the studio. Since Tessa can’t live without her phone, I turned back, during a downpour, no less. I waited in the car while Tessa ran to the studio. She tried the door, but it was locked. She peered in the studio window, then turned and ran faster than I’ve ever seen her move.

She jumped in my car and told me the shocking news: She had seen a dead body in the studio through the rain-streaked window! Tessa was certain it was our instructor, and was sure he was dead. Not knowing what else to do, I sped away while Tessa called 911. I parked at the other end of town, and we waited until a sheriff arrived. And, I’ve got to say, the sheriff did not inspire confidence. He sent us home, promising he’d check out what Tessa saw at the studio, though I think it was equally likely he’d do nothing of the sort.

After our long drive home, we ate far too many oatmeal cookies, provided to us by my neighbor Val, who is becoming a better cook day by day.

This morning Tessa and I both felt like we had hangovers, but not from drinking—from those darn oatmeal cookies. I thought oatmeal and raisins were supposed to be healthy. I guess all the sugar that holds them together is what makes my stomach feel so awful. I poured myself a giant cup of coffee and one for Tessa. Once she was up we were going to need to call the studio and find out what happened last night.

Had Tessa really seen a dead body? And who was it?

About the Author

Janice Peacock decided to write her first mystery novel after working in a glass studio full of colorful artists who didn’t always get along. They reminded her of the odd, and often humorous, characters in the murder mystery books she loved to read. Inspired by that experience, she combined her two passions and wrote High Strung: A Glass Bead Mystery, launching a new cozy mystery series featuring glass beadmaker Jax O’Connell.

When Janice isn’t writing about glass artists-turned-amateur-detectives, she makes glass beads using a torch, designs one-of-a-kind jewelry, and makes sculptures using hot glass. An award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Glass Museum of Tacoma, WA, and in private collections worldwide.

Janice lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two cats, and twelve chickens. She has a studio full of beads…lots and lots of beads.

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