Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Songbird and I’m sharing an extract from the book. My post is shared with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to the author for my copy of the extract.

Blurb:

It’s all fun and games, until someone gets killed.

Meet Jax Diamond, a sharp, sophisticated, skilled, no-nonsense private detective. Or is he? Glued to his side is his canine partner, Ace, a fierce and unrelenting German Shepherd whose mere presence terrorizes criminals into submission. Well, maybe not.

But the two of them are a whole lot smarter than they look. And they have their hands full when a playwright’s death is declared natural causes, and his new manuscript worth a million bucks is missing.

Laura Graystone, a beautiful rising Broadway star, is dragged into the heart of their investigation, and she’s none too happy about it. Especially when danger first strikes, and she needs to rely on her own ingenuity to save their hides.

Join Jax, Laura and Ace on a fun yet deadly ride during the Roaring Twenties that takes twists and turns, and a race against time to find the real murderer before he/she/they stop them permanently.

Extract:

The housemaid at the Sanders’ apartment asked Jax to wait in the vestibule while she informed her mistress of his visit.  He watched the elderly woman walk down the hallway into the living area and knock on the double doors to an adjoining room.  After she announced his presence, the widow leaned forward slightly to get a look at him.  Then, she quickly glanced behind her before whispering to the maid and closing the doors again.  

Within a few minutes, Patricia Sanders stepped out of the room, dressed appropriately in a slender black mourning gown with her blonde hair tied back in a tight bun.  “I wasn’t expecting you today, Detective Diamond.  It would have been far less tacky if you had waited until after the funeral to collect your payment.”  

“My apologies, Missus Sanders,” Jax replied, following her into the room.  “I guess I need to brush up on my courtesy skills.”

She sat down on the rose-colored sofa, opened the top drawer of the end table beside her, and pulled out an envelope.  “Don’t be flippant.  Here.”  She tossed the envelope to him.  “It’s the amount we agreed upon for your services, even though you came up empty-handed.  I trust that also covers the cost of your confidentiality?”

Jax studied her closely without replying, noting her brusque responses matched the lack of remorse on her face exactly.  There were no remnants of tears having been shed.  No tissues close by in case they came without warning.  No cherished photographs balancing on the fireplace mantel or anywhere in the room.  And not one photo album in sight that she had pulled out of storage so she could immerse herself in treasured memories, which seemed customary for most couples when they lost their spouse.  

The woman was obviously angry with him for showing up here unannounced, that much was clear.  Even more apparent was the fact that someone else had been in this room with her when he arrived.  Someone she didn’t want him to know about since that person was hiding on the other side of a second door into the room.  He could see the shadow of someone’s shoes moving along the bottom.   

***

Songbird is available from Amazon.

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