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Death At Fair Havens
by Maria Mankin & Maren C. Tirabassi
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Death at Fair Havens
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Massachusetts
Brain Mill Press (April 26, 2022)
Paperback : 318 pages
ISBN-10 : 194855965X
ISBN-13 : 978-1948559652
Digital ASIN : B09NCJDRCS
Wanda Duff is an unconventional New England clergywoman, addicted to chicken wings, high-octane ice cream, and saying yes to anyone in need of a prayer, even the folks her town might think don’t deserve one.
When parishioner Niels Pond dies unexpectedly at the Fair Havens assisted living facility, Wanda’s duty to minister to his family is beset by her suspicions about the circumstances of his abrupt passing. Wanda finds an unexpected co-detective in high school vice principal Prudence Rye, who fled town on graduation night a decade ago and returned only recently.
Rye puts her job on the line to investigate the mourning Ponds with the surprisingly edgy Wanda. As they expose difficult family truths and uncover a dangerous conspiracy operating out of Fair Havens, Rye and Wanda discover curiosity has an unanticipated cost.
Comfortably gossipy, with a fresh take on the characters and ethos cozy mystery fans will love, Maria Mankin and Maren C. Tirabassi’s Death at Fair Havens launches a series that celebrates intergenerational women’s friendship and the power of inclusion, curiosity, and love.
“Here’s small town life portrayed with humor and affection, peopled with quirky characters you’ll care about.”
—James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards
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Enjoy this peek inside:
“How many creepy single men can there possibly be in a twenty-five-mile radius?”
Wanda addressed the spiked heel of the cute but cruel shoe whose partner she had kicked to the other side of the room. Partner. There was something she wasn’t going to find anytime soon. As her thick hair grayed and the wrinkles, of which she was quite fond, deepened, much of the charm seemed to be stripped from the men who queued up to take her to dinner.
Age aside, her magnetism for unbalanced singles in her area had increased exponentially with the addition of one word to her dating profile—clergy. Wanda guessed it was a major deterrent to many men who might reach out, to whom the words “Open and Affirming” meant little. Her church, with its oversized justice-seeking heart and passion for combating climate change—even if it might be one compostable roll of toilet paper at a time—was her first love. She couldn’t romantically connect with someone who didn’t get that the path she walked took her on Jericho walks to protest deportation and into prisons to give voice to the angry and forgotten.
“Divorced twice,” of course, made her more approachable but also, it seemed, less lovable. Several particularly unpleasant dates had the audacity to compare her to a used car—most likely sound under the hood, but suspect due to past experiences.
Not this one though. John had been earnest, aged, and eager to share about being “born again.” He’d shown up with photos of twenty grandchildren (or possibly twenty photos of one) and a long list of complaints about the neighbors he was supposed to love. Wanda wasn’t sure which of them had left more disappointed, though she suspected him, what with her foot lodged so well up his righteous…well…
Time for comfort food.
She looked longingly at a leftover container half full of diablo wings and soggy French fries, but at nearly eleven p.m. frozen yogurt would be less likely to invite heartburn as company. Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked or Cherry Garcia? Cherry Garcia, she decided. The container felt fuller.
Wanda took the pint to the bedside table to soften up. She shed her cute skirt and the black sweater that wore well for both bad dates and the office for soft flannel pajamas. Christian Century or the new N. K. Jemisin? The magazine followed her shoes into the corner, and only then did the Jack Russell raise a sleepy eyelid.
“Some watchdog you are, Wink.”
Wink didn’t lift his snout from his paws. He could smell the difference between his fifty-three-year-old Beta and a stealthy, fear-sweating burglar. He was only waiting till she finished throwing things-that-were- not-balls and was ready to climb into bed and warm it up. Only then would he deign to join her.
Wanda’s cell rang. That was bad news this time of night. Sick, dying, traffic accident, house fire, kid missing. “Hello?”
“Reverend Duff?”
Nice voice. “Yes?”
“This is—”
“Luke? Luke Fairchild.” “You’re good.”
“I compensate for crap hearing with careful hearing. Makes folks forget my designer hearing aids. And you’ve got that gorgeous tenor. Unforgettable.” Wanda would love Luke Fairchild to call her late at night and ask her to come over. All six feet of dark Italian good looks in a package that announced, “I work out,” and that smile…
“Well, thank you. Sadly, this isn’t a social call. I have a pickup at the Fair Havens memory loss unit, and I think the family could use some support. The Ponds are on your church rolls?”
Luke was the director of Fairchild Funeral Home, the most entrenched funeral service in the area. His great-grandfather, Francesco Fraticelli, had purchased the home, then reinvented himself as Francis Fairchild and expected his descendants to follow suit in accommodating themselves to fit New England styles and sensibilities of grief.
Luke was respectable by day (and by night when he was on call), but Wanda had stumbled onto his alter ego. Before she had decided online dating screened creeps better than bartenders, she’d tried the music scene for late-night company, driving far enough to avoid encountering parishioners. One night, she’d discovered Luca Fraticelli and his fabulous band. They kept each other’s secrets.
“Niels Pond? I was there Sunday doing my rotation for afternoon devotions, and I remember seeing him jogging around the keyhole drive, picking flowers, and tossing them in the little fountain. He was actually jogging!”
“It seems to have caught people here by surprise, too …
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About the Authors
After teaching and working in early education for a decade, Maria Mankin has published six books with Pilgrim Press and has contributed to several anthologies. She is also a co-author of Circ, a mystery set in Skegness England, published by Pigeon Park Press, and Pitching Our Tents: Poetry of Hospitality. She is a regular contributor to Living Psalms, a collection in which the Psalms are reinterpreted in poetry and art as a reflection of God’s work of justice and compassion. She is currently working on a book of poetry and the third novel in the Rev and Rye Cozy Mysteries.
After trouping the country in the 70s as assistant manager of theatrical tours for choreographer Agnes de Mille, The National Theatre of Great Britain, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Black Broadway production of ‘Guys and Dolls,’ Maren Tirabassi changed careers, to the surprise of everyone, to study at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and later Harvard Divinity School. Ordained in the United Church of Christ, she served as a bi-vocational pastor to seven churches in Massachusetts and New Hampshire while developing her writing career. Maren is the author of twenty-two books, fiction, non-fiction and poetry, the majority published by The Pilgrim Press.
A former Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, NH, and LAMDA Prize nominee for Transgendering Faith, Identity, Sexuality and Spirituality she currently facilitates programs for the NH Humanities Council with New Americans and people with cognitive difference and leads poetry and memoir workshops in prisons, recovery groups, churches and synagogues, hospice and survivor groups. She blogs at giftsinopenhands@wordpress.com.
With frequent writing collaborator, Maria Mankin, she is currently editing Death in the Woods, the sequel to Death at Fair Havens, as well as plotting the third novel.
Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter
Purchase Links
Brian Mill Press – Powell’s – Amazon – Barnes and Noble – Indiebound – Indigo
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