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Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery
by Marc Jedel
Pride and Principal: A Silicon Valley Mystery
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – California
BGM Press (April 23, 2024)
Number of Pages: 230
Digital ASIN – Amazon Links – GoodReads Links – Coming Soon
The school secretary has a sharp tongue but is she a killer? Can Marty do the math or will he get schooled by a criminal mastermind?
Marty Golden is frazzled. Struggling to juggle nieces, a rambunctious dog, a demanding job, and a serious relationship, the software engineer is never quite sure whether he’s coming or going. But when his nemesis begs for help after she’s accused of offing the school principal, the amateur sleuth agrees to hunt down the real culprit.
Confounded to discover the cantankerous woman stood to take the dead man’s position, he strives to find anyone who could benefit from discrediting the grump. And when his brilliant deductions and personal life implode, not even Marty’s groan-worthy dad-jokes can save him from an explosive threat.
Does this bumbling amateur sleuth have what it takes to capture the real killer?
Pride and Principal is the rollicking sixth book in the Silicon Valley cozy mystery series. If you like heroes in over their head, family hijinks, and plenty of wit and charm, then you’ll love Marc Jedel’s wild ride.
Try Pride and Principal to put two and two together today!
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Enjoy this peek inside:
A group of officers hustled toward us while others fanned out across the campus, clearly as a precaution in case there was additional unknown danger in the area. The SJPD had my admiration for their careful approach to preserving public safety. I was proud to be one of them—well, sort of.
Mrs. Quarles unlocked the door and stepped back out of the way, her face sharp and unyielding, the only sign of her previous distress was the slight smearing of mascara around her right eye. Without speaking to the officers, she pointed at the principal’s office door.
Like a synchronized swim team, the cops executed their movements silently with precision. Two of the officers hung back to guard us and the door while the other four swept through the office, quickly confirming no one was in the conference room and Principal Blakely was indeed dead.
Seemingly before I could blink, the officers had separated me from Mrs. Quarles. Two officers took Mrs. Quarles toward a door along the side wall of the waiting area. The door and its handle were painted the same innocuous shade of gray as the office walls and blended in seamlessly, explaining why I hadn’t noticed it previously. The “Teachers’ Lounge” sign over the door was above a normal adult’s line of sight and the printing was faded anyway.
When one officer opened the door, a multi-colored glow emanated from the room beyond. I craned my head, trying to peer inside the kind of room that had always captured my imagination—the more so because I’d never been allowed inside a teachers’ lounge before.
I’d always had an almost Pavlovian desire to see what was behind doors that were off limits to normal visitors. It had always felt to me like the extra-special goodies must have been secreted into these forbidden spaces. A teachers’ lounge might have been the first room I could remember to spark this reaction but certainly hadn’t been the last. On vacation, in museums and vintage homes opened for visitors, I was that kid—and yes, that adult—who snuck away from the tour group and made my way inside these places. Of course, more often than not, those doors were locked or I was redirected before breaking through. I took these restrictions as proof the best stuff was locked away from the general public.
Unfortunately two officers and Mrs. Quarles blocked my view, leaving only a few tantalizing hints of the wonders that surely must lay within this teachers’ lounge briefly visible before the door shut behind them.
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About Marc Jedel
Marc Jedel writes humorous murder mysteries. He credits his years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley for honing his writing skills and sense of humor. While his high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, these were just called emails, ads, and marketing collateral.
For most of Marc’s life, he’s been inventing stories. It’s a skill that’s served him well as both an author and marketer. The publication of Marc’s first novel, Uncle and Ants, gave him permission to claim “author” as his job. This leads to much more interesting conversations with people than answering, “marketing.”
Like his character, Marty from the Silicon Valley Mystery series, Marc now lives in Silicon Valley, works in high-tech, and enjoys bad puns. Like his characters Jonas and Elizabeth from the Ozarks Lake Mystery series, he grew up in the South and spent plenty of time in and around Arkansas. Like his character, Andy, from the Redwoods Country Mystery series, Marc continues to grow older and would prefer not to run a bed-and-breakfast inn when he retires. Like all his protagonists, Marc too has a dog, although his is neurotic, sweet, and small, with little appreciation for Marc’s humor.
Visit his website, marcjedel.com, for free chapters of novels, special offers, and more.
Author Links: Website / Amazon / Facebook / BookBub / Goodreads / LinkedIn
Purchase Links – Amazon
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
May 6 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 7 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
May 8 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 9 – Reading Is My SuperPower – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 10 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 11 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 12 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 13 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT
May 14 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 15 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 17 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
May 18 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 19 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
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