Five Belles Too Many (A Sarah Blair Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in the Series
Setting – Alabama
Kensington Cozies (June 28, 2022)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages

Synopsis

When Sarah Blair’s mother participates in a reality show competition for brides in Wheaton, Alabama, things get a little too real as a murderer crashes the wedding party . . .

 

Sometimes Sarah’s mother, Maybelle, can be higher maintenance than her Siamese cat RahRah. Maybelle and her friend, Mr. George Rogers, have been chosen to be one of five couples competing for a small-town “perfect” wedding and dream honeymoon on a Southern Belles reality show—and guess who has to be chaperone. Even more vexing, the producers have decided to put up the crew and participants at the restaurant/bed and breakfast owned by Sarah’s nemesis Jane Clark.

But when someone turns up dead with Jane kneeling by the body with blood on her hands, she goes from being Sarah’s chief rival to the police’s chief suspect. Neither Sarah nor her twin, Chef Emily Johnson, can stand Jane—still, they don’t think she’s a murderer. The producers vow the show must go on, but to protect their mother and the other contestants, Sarah vows to find the true killer before someone else gets eliminated . . .

Includes quick and easy recipes!

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This book releases on 6/28/22, pre-order today!

Guest Post

Helping Jane Against My Better Judgment by Sarah Blair (and Debra H. Goldstein)

I, Sarah Blair, hate kitchens! In fact, the thought of being in a kitchen is more frightening to me than murder. That’s why it’s ironic that I’m co-owner of the Southwind restaurant. It really belongs to my twin sister, Chef Emily, and her boyfriend, Chef Marcus, but they insist I’m an equal partner because I own the building the restaurant is in. Being a law firm receptionist is my real day job, but in the last year, I’ve also ended up solving several murders here in Wheaton, Alabama. Luckily, my boss Harlan Endicott not only puts up with my being distracted when I’m drawn into a murder, but he’s a saint at helping out my friends and family when they get into trouble.

In fact, he’s doing it again, but this time for my worst enemy in the world, Jane Clark. Jane, who I refer to under my breath as Bimbo, broke up my marriage. After my ex-husband’s death (but before they could be married), she tried to steal the only thing I came out of my marriage with, RahRah, my Siamese cat. Jane also repeatedly tried to beat Emily and Marcus in the restaurant business by opening Jane’s Place directly across the street from Southwind. Reinventing herself again, she recently converted Jane’s Place into a bed and breakfast. For the next week, she’s rented rooms to the television show sponsoring a Southern Belles competition for the perfect Southern wedding. My mother, Maybelle, is one of the five finalists. To my dismay, she roped me into being her chaperone.

I understand the television show wanting the other four twenty something finalists to be chaperoned, but my mother is over sixty! The producer explained there would be no exceptions. Because my twin works nights and Mother didn’t want to inconvenience any of her friends, she “enlisted” my help. It’s bad enough that I’m juggling my day job, caring for my furry pets, RahRah and Fluffy, but having to stay at Jane’s bed and breakfast is almost more than I can bear. Mother Maybelle reminded me that I’d be sleeping most of the time. In theory, that sounded good, but she didn’t consider that on the first night of the competition we’d find the producer dead in the entry way of Jane’s Place with Jane crouched over him, her hands covered in blood. Jane begged me to prove she didn’t do it.

Hating Jane ranks right up there with my aversion to kitchens and cooking, but I don’t think she’s a killer. That’s part of the reason I called Harlan to represent her while I look for clues to her innocence. That other reason I’m involved is that while I’m afraid of being scorched if I get too close to a stove, I’m afraid that without my help, my mother and some of the other contestants might be permanently eliminated.

About the Author

Many, Four Cuts Too Many, Three Treats Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, and One Taste Too Many). Her novels and short stories received an IPPY award and have been named Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Silver Falchion finalists. Debra served on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and was president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters.

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