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A Perilous Premiere (Stone & Steele Mysteries)
by Gail Meath
A Perilous Premiere (Stone & Steele Mysteries)
Historical Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – California
Publisher : Cranberry Pond Publishing (November 15, 2024)
Paperback : 182 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8227660671
Digital ASIN : B0CZS3J93M
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Solving their own murders is the least of their problems…and the beginning of Stone & Steele, a reluctant yet surprisingly skilled investigative team.
The Golden Age of Hollywood, 1938.
Vivian Steele moved to California to start a new life. She opened a fashion boutique in Beverly Hills, befriended Carole Lombard, the actress, and married a successful banker. But when her husband is murdered, Vivian discovers she isn’t the only one hiding a few secrets.
An anonymous phone call lures Vivian to a plush hotel room where she stumbles upon the dead body of a beautiful young actress – her husband’s mistress. To add fuel to the fire, she’s not alone.
Preston Stone, her adversary and Hollywood’s notorious playboy, is standing beside her. Suspiciously, they part ways only to find themselves alone again at a movie premiere two days later, and the message becomes brutally clear. They’re both the next targets of a cold-blooded killer.
Together, Vivian and Preston are thrown into a deadly race to find a missing collection of valuable coins and stop a vicious killer before they become the next murder victims. But first, they need to stop pointing their fingers at each other.
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Finally, the elevator doors opened. Two people got off, and Vivian stepped inside. She pushed the fourth-floor button. It was a good minute before the doors began closing, but just before they touched, a large hand slid in between, stopping them.
The doors slowly opened again, and Preston Stone stood there with an annoying twinkle in his dark eyes and his lips curled into a pompous grin.
“Hello, Vivian. You’re looking well.”
She nodded her head in return and moved to one side of the elevator.
He got on and deliberately stood in the center. “How is business at your fashion boutique?”
She glared at him. “I don’t see any reason for us to make small talk.”
He tipped his head sideways, pretending to look hurt. “I was hoping after all this time we could bury the hatchet. It’s been close to a year now, hasn’t it? I admit I behaved badly.”
Vivian thanked the powers above that the doors finally closed, and the elevator started moving. “If that’s an apology, I’m not the one you should be talking to.”
His grin widened. “Does Patricia still work at your shop?”
“No, after you broke my sister’s heart, she moved to the east coast.”
“Aw, poor kid. Well, in my defense, I told her straight up that I wasn’t the type to settle down.”
Ooh, he really got under her skin. “Don’t worry your swelled head about it, Preston. You didn’t scar her for life. She’s already engaged to a wealthy stockbroker.”
“Good for her! See? Sounds like she let bygones be bygones. I think you should, too, Vivian. After all, I didn’t break your heart…did I?”
If she were a man, he’d be lying on the floor right now with a black eye.
Luckily, the elevator slowed to a stop on the fourth floor. The bell rang once, and Vivian impatiently waited for the doors to open just far enough for her to slip through them. Once done, she saw the small sign hanging on the wall that gave the direction of the room numbers, and she quickly headed down the hall to her left.
Yet, she heard someone walking behind her and glanced around. Preston had gotten off the elevator, too, and he was trailing her. She picked up her pace. “Don’t you have anything better to do than follow me?”
He chuckled. “As much as I enjoy sparring with you, it just so happens that I’m meeting someone who is staying on this floor.”
Vivian reached room Forty-Four and waited for Preston to pass by her before she knocked on the door. Instead, he ended up standing beside her. She let out an exasperated groan. “What are you doing, Preston?”
“Okay, now I have to agree with you that this is a little awkward. The person I’m meeting is staying in room Forty-Four.”
Vivian flashed her eyes at him. “You’re kidding me?”
“I wish I was,” he said. “I’ll let you have the honor of knocking on the door.”
She had half a mind to walk away and forget about all this, but she was even more curious than before. She lifted her hand and knocked.
The door fell open.
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A Perilous Premiere is the first book in this exciting new 1930s Stone & Steele mystery series starring a great cast of characters ranging from the rich and famous to Bella, a Boston Terrier, her new friend, Boris, a Saint Bernard, and a few other endearing folks. (A pretty clean read)
About Gail Meath
Gail Meath is the author of the multi-award-winning Jax Diamond Mysteries, the fun series about of a wise-cracking PI, his sweet German Shepherd partner, Ace, and his Broadway singing heartthrob, Laura, as they solve crazy crimes during the Roaring Twenties. She’s currently working on the first book in her exciting new 1930s mystery series, Stone & Steele Mysteries, takes place during the glamorous Golden Age of Hollywood. As always, she blends the most loveable characters with a good, solid mystery.
Gail also has a growing list of other award-winning historical romances, mysteries, westerns, and fictional biographies of true heroines. She lives in a small village in Upstate New York with her husband and their sweet, little Boston Terrier, and she spends loads of time with her grandchildren.
Author Links: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Goodreads / BookBub
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org
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