Blurb:
Katherine heads to Santa Fe, New Mexico along with a Maine Coon Cat kitten to spend New Year’s Eve with Lars. Her guilty feelings over the organist’s death has her needing an escape. When she reaches Santa Fe, she discovers Lars is missing. She seeks and finds him and steps into another mystery.
Lars’ daughter dislikes Katherine but when the young woman is kidnapped, they are puzzled. The murder of Lars’ daughter and one of his employees makes solving the mysteries necessary. Can she learn before Lars becomes a victim.
Editorial Review
With every book, I think the Katherine Miller Mysteries can't get any better. I'm always wrong, because they always do. ~ Writer Gail Roughton
The evening before my departure, I carried a half dozen tins of dried mint to the bedroom. These were the last items for the suitcase on the antique sleigh bed. As I paused in the doorway, the urge to laugh was almost impossible to contain, but a stern approach was needed.
“Robespierre, an open suitcase is not a bed.” I glared
at the Maine Coon cat who had curled among my neatly folded clothes. “You
aren’t being abandoned. Maria and the baby are excited about your visit.”
The look of disdain on his face brought my laughter
bubbling forth. I dumped the tea on the bed, scratched his head, then lifted
twenty-five pounds of cat from the case. “Be gone.” As he stalked from the
room, his tail twitched to signal his displeasure at being banished.
After tucking my stash among my clothes, I closed the
case. With a supply of teas for every occasion, I felt prepared to face my
flight to an unfamiliar destination. I wheeled the suitcase and carried a
hanging bag to the kitchen where they would be on hand for my early morning
departure. My son had grumbled about the hour, but he’d promised to get me to
the plane on time.
Robespierre now lay on the kitchen floor and stared at
the case containing my belated Christmas present for Lars’ granddaughter. I
plugged in the electric kettle, this year’s gift from one of my neighbors,
selected an assortment of mints and stuffed a tea ball.
Once the tea had steeped, I poured a mug and headed to
the living room where I settled on the window seat. The lights from the
The shrill ring of the phone startled me. I grabbed
the receiver. “Hello.”
“Kate.”
“Lars, is something wrong?” Why was he calling when
he’d see me tomorrow? Had something happened to make it necessary for me to
postpone my visit?
“Jitters. Afraid you’ve changed your mind. You’ve
never come before. And...there is something...” His voice drifted into silence.
Something was bothering him, but extracting a story
long distance is hard. Face to face is better. “My bags are packed and the
tickets are in my purse.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to having you here.” He
paused. “What are you doing with the cat?”
“He’ll be staying with Maria and the baby.” I chuckled.
“At this moment he’s peeved. He tried to use my suitcase as a bed and I chased
him.”
Lars laughed. “Guess he wants to come along. You could
bring him.”
“Are you out of your mind? You want me to bring the
creature who hates cars and being confined? He’ll be fine at the
“He does tend to act like a dictator. Kate, we’ll have
a grand time while you’re here. I’ve so many things planned for us to do.”
I set down the mug. “That’s not why you called. What
is bothering you?”
His deep sigh rumbled in my ear. “The problem is...I’m
not sure what’s going on.”
“So tell me what you can. Are Don and Megan all
right?”
“They’re fine.”
“And...” I hesitated to ask if his daughter had staged
a scene when she learned I’d accepted his invitation. “Is there a problem
because I’m coming?”
“No.”
“Something else?”
“I’m not sure there is a problem.” He paused. “It’s
just...vague...and...You know I plan to retire. I’ve been avoiding all the
paperwork necessary for months. Last week I looked at some of the companies
I’ve seeded. Something odd is going on.”
For years Lars has looked for new and sometimes unique
businesses and provided funds for expansion and promotion. Most of these
ventures have been successful and repayment of the loans with interest has made
him a wealthy man.
“Someone’s stealing.” The words just popped out.
“Maybe, but I hope not. Except just before Ramona’s
accident, she hinted she’d discovered a number of discrepancies. We found
nothing in her records or her computer. I figured whatever she’d learned had
been destroyed when her car burned.”
Eight months ago, Lars’ daughter-in-law had died in a
tragic accident. A chill crawled along my spine. “Do be careful.”
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