Friday, June 8, 2018

Misty Simon Answers 5 Quick Questions

Today's guest is Misty Simon and she's my first guest to participate in a new feature on my blog called "Quick 5". Answer five quick questions and we'll learn so much more about you. She's also going to tell us about her Tallie Graver mystery GROUNDS FOR REMORSE. Welcome to my blog, Misty!


Quick 5 from Misty Simon - 

- Favorite color? Purple, so much purple!
- Coffee or tea? All the tea!
- Pie or cake? What kind? Bring me cake :) Anything with chocolate and/or peanut butter
- Party life or quiet dinner for two? Quiet dinner for two on most nights but I do like the party sometimes.
- I'm always ready for (fill in the blank). An opportunity to talk with people and make connections. I love hearing other people's stories and especially talking to random strangers.


Blurb for GROUNDS FOR REMORSE:

No more cheating . . .

Best friends Tallie Graver and Gina Laudermilch both seem to spend a lot of time around urns. For Tallie, they’re part and parcel of the family business, Graver’s Funeral Home. Even though she’s traded ashes for dusting with her own cleaning business, she still works part-time for her folks and lives above the funeral parlor. For Gina, they’re the vessels that contain her heavenly brew at her coffee shop, Bean There, Done That. And both women are learning that owning a business can make finding time for romance challenging.

But when Gina’s new beau turns out to have a wife, who barges into the coffee shop to take him home, she can’t contain her bitterness and loudly threatens to poison his cup or boil him in vat of coffee. So when Mr. Wrong turns up dead at the bottom of a staircase inside Gina’s locked home, she finds herself at the top of the police’s suspect list. Tallie needs to sweep in to save her friend. But she’ll need to watch her step, or she may go from being a funeral home employee to becoming their next client . . .

Excerpt: 

After taking out my phone, I texted her to let her know the Lothario was here and she should get her ass downstairs, pronto.

She texted back with one of those overly long strings of emoticons involving all kinds of hearts and little yellow faces blowing kisses, clapping hands and a cupid. God, I hoped this guy was not going to end up being a loser.

I was half tempted to walk over to his table just to block him from any other admiring female eyes when Gina burst through the swinging door at the back, cutting off that thought. She practically floated to the table with a beaming smile on her face. Her black hair was perfectly coiffed, red lipstick shone on her lips and she was dressed in her best outfit.

My hope that this guy was not a jerk, and that my intuition was off, rose exponentially. She was invested, and as her best friend, I was then invested, too.

Scooting his chair back, he stood, taking her in from head to toe in a way that spoke volumes. She was lovely, and he’d better appreciate that, along with her good heart and her generous ways. Or I’d tackle him to the ground myself.

After walking around the table to kiss her on the cheek, he moved her chair out and motioned her into it. Only then did he hand her the roses. Nicely done, in my opinion.

I deliberately let my bad feelings dissipate as I headed back to Mama Shirley and her stellar coffee-pouring skills.

“Think this one’s a keeper?” I grabbed the rag on the end of the counter and pretended to clean a spot that was already shiny. This was Gina’s fourth guy in as many months. The rest had been wrong for her in one way or another. I had my doubts that this one was any better.

He was a smooth talker, though. I was close enough to hear what Gina and Craig cooed at each other. Some of his lines were definitely swoon-worthy, I’d give him that. I wouldn’t have fallen for them, of course, but he did have good delivery and perfect timing. I’d give him that, too.

“I don’t know.” Mama Shirley interrupted my critique of Craig’s game. She scrunched up her face and my stomach clenched.

“Should I have told her to stay upstairs?” I whispered.

“I don’t know that, either. I can’t quite get a bead on this one, and I’m usually pretty good with that kind of thing. Something might be off, or I might just not be ready to lose my baby to a man.”

“Well, it’s early days, right?” I leaned back against the counter so Gina couldn’t see my face. “I’m just not sure, though.”

Mama looked at me out of the corner of her eye and barely moved her mouth when she said, “Time will tell.”

“Fair enough.” I tossed the rag into the sink and reached for the nearest napkin dispenser when the front door crashed open.

“You bitch!”

I spun around to find out who was making such an entrance and who they were directing it at.
A flurry of brown hair and flying elbows came across the polished wood floor as the woman went after Gina, tipping her chair back and going for the eyes. In a flash, I was behind my best friend and saved her from falling over completely and crashing to the floor. But it took precious seconds, and I wasn’t able to stop whoever this was from grabbing Gina by her perfectly coiffed hair.

Mama Shirley was faster than she’d probably ever been. Rolling pin in hand and the hounds of fury in her eyes, she wedged herself between the woman and Gina, practically sitting in Gina’s lap. Mama brandished her rolling pin at the woman and yelled what sounded like a war cry.

My ears hurt and I winced. Gina came by her volume honestly.

“You’d better back off,” I chimed in, trying to get the woman’s hand to loosen in Gina’s hair.

“I will bean you so hard, you’re gonna see stars,” Mama Shirley added.

That was apparently enough to get the woman to let go. She took a few steps back, her double Ds heaving and her nostrils flaring.

Who was this person?


Author bio:


Misty Simon loves a good story and decided one day that she would try her hand at it. Eventually she got it right. There’s nothing better in the world than making someone laugh, and she hopes everyone at least snickers in the right places when reading her books. She lives with her husband, daughter and three insane dogs in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel or three. She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at misty@mistysimon.com

Author Links:

http://www.mistysimon.com

https://www.facebook.com/misty.simon.18


Buy links:

https://www.amazon.com/Grounds-Remorse-Tallie-Graver-Mystery/dp/1496712234

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grounds-for-remorse-misty-simon/1127062580?ean=9781496712233#/


Available wherever books are sold.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for guesting with me, Misty!

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