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MURDER AT PEACOCK MANSION
a Blue Plate Cafe Mystery
by
Judy Alter
Title: MURDER AT PEACOCK MANSION
Author: Judy Alter
Genre: Cozy Mystery
# of pages: 258
Arson, a bad beating, and a recluse who claims someone is trying to kill her all collide in this third Blue Plate Café Mystery with Kate Chambers. Torn between trying to save David Clinkscales, her old boss and new lover, and curiosity about Edith Aldridge’s story of an attempt on her life, Kate has to remind herself she has a café to run. She nurses a morose David, whose spirit has been hurt as badly as his body, and tries to placate Mrs. Aldridge, who was once accused of murdering her husband but acquitted. One by one, Mrs. Aldridge’s stepchildren enter the picture. Is it coincidence that David is Edith Aldridge’s lawyer? Or that she seems to rely heavily on the private investigator David hires? First the peacocks die…and then the people. Everyone is in danger, and no one knows who to suspect.
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Praise for the author
“Kate Chambers continues to impress. This third book in the Blue Plate Café mysteries opens with two intriguing story lines that intermingle flawlessly and will keep you captivated until the final page.” Terrie Farley Moran, Agatha Award-Winning author of the Read ’Em and Eat cozy mysteries.
“With Murder at Peacock Mansion, the showy feathers of a rich woman's birds aren't enough to save either them or relatives of the recluse who thinks someone's out to get her. Judy Alter, in her third Blue Plate Special mystery, serves up more than chicken-fried chicken as cafe proprietor Kate Chambers fights to save the ones she loves and figure out who the killer is, while keeping herself and her business alive, too.” Edith Maxwell, Agatha-nominated and national bestselling author of the Local Foods Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries, and the Quaker Midwife Mysteries
“How did you meet Mr. Aldridge?”
“I was a cocktail waitress at the old Baker Hotel in Dallas. You might say I was Eliza to his Henry Higgins. He taught me to dress, speak, eat properly, even dance—he made a lady out of me, and I was always grateful. But once I was “finished”—his term, not mine—he found other Pygmalion-like subjects. In other words, he cheated on me, including financially, railed that I couldn’t run the house on the reduced budget he gave me.
“I used to lie in bed and listen to him roaming about downstairs, sometimes throwing things—I always hoped it wasn’t the Limoges he’d given his first wife, Alicia—and several times I thought I heard him fall. His best friend at night was a bottle of bourbon.
“One night I woke and realized he hadn’t come upstairs. By then I kept a derringer for self-protection, and this night I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. I found him at the foot of the stairs—he fallen apparently. What I didn’t realize until after I called the police was that he’d been shot too.
This tale was getting more bizarre. I itched to check it out on the Web, but for now I was a captive audience and, I admit, mesmerized by the calm recital of this woman’s life story. “What makes you think his children are trying to kill you now?” After all she’d lived this way for thirty years.
Judy Alter retired from Texas Christian University Press after thirty years, twenty of them as director. At the same time she developed her own writing career, focusing primarily on women of the American West. Now she writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages. She lives in Fort Worth.
Kate Chambers runs the Blue Plate Cafe and it keeps her pretty busy. It is a cute little cafe that serves delicious food and has great service. But trouble walks in her cafe and its name is David Clinkscales. They team up to help Mrs. Edith Aldridge . She once was accused of killing her husband. Even though she was acquitted , people still whisper behind her back. I guess once you get accused of something, people will always have doubts of your innocence. I loved her character. She is a feisty woman determined to not give in to her step children's greed. After an attempt on her life, Kate and David must move quickly to solve the case before it is to late. Between running a cafe, starting a relationship with David and trying to solve a mystery, Kate has her hands full. Who wants Edith dead? Are Kate and David's lives in danger ? Is it a coincidence thst Dsvid just happens to be Edith's lawyer? Unexplained things start to happen that take this mystery on a great adventure . I loved the writing that was engaging and held my attention. Get ready for a twist that will surprise you as Edith's stepchildren suddenly surface with an agenda. Seems there is some bad blood between dear old stepmom and stepchildren. Why do bodies and dead peacocks start turning up?
This is a great book that I couldn't put down and it has all the elements of intrigue and action that are sure to satisfy any mystery buff.
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