About A Texas Christmas Mystery
by Anne Green
A
lady Coastguardsman searches for a killer. An oil rig troubleshooter accused of
murder races to clear his name. The murderer strives to silence them both.
As
Amber seeks to arrest Derrick, sparks fly.
Amber
Meredith needs to solve her first case. But the handsome Cajun suspect makes
her heart race and her toes tingle.
Derrick
Darbonne worked all his life for his high-paying, adventurous job. When his
past threatens his future, will he endanger the woman he loves?
Excerpt
Galveston, Texas
Only one thing scared Derrick Darbonne. He had no fear of
fire, hurricane, sabotage, high seas, drunken roughnecks, reckless roustabouts,
brawls, or hard work. But losing the job he’d slaved all his life to obtain
terrified him.
He’d
worked himself up from oaks draped with Spanish moss, murky alligator-filled
water, and a tiny cabin on the banks of the bayou with no running water or
electricity. He’d finally gotten to where he wanted to be. And now someone was
trying to pin a murder on him. Some Christmas present.
Derrick
crushed the schematics he’d been scanning and jammed them into his pocket. He
braced his legs wide on the steel floor of the oil rig and raised the powerful
navigational binoculars. A Coast Guard cutter slashed a white wedge through the
sparkling Gulf waters straight toward his oil platform.
His jaw
tightened, his spine stiffened, and he swallowed.
Standing
beside him, Joe Bridges, the MIC, Man in Charge, swore.
If Derrick
had been a swearing man, he would have joined Joe. Instead, he gripped the navigational
binoculars tighter. “Third time this week. If I had anything to hide, I’d jump
ship.” He smacked his hard hat so thoroughly his ears rang. “Thought so! That
guardsman is a female.” Here was a Coastie bearing down on him with the authority
to shut down the operation. The men would be out of work just in time for
Christmas. What pretense to investigate the murder was the Coast Guard using
this time?
Derrick
lowered the binoculars and frowned. “She looks familiar.”
“Ever
since you arrived for the routine inspection, Cajun, the Coast Guard’s been on
our backs.” Scowling, Joe thrust out a hand for the glasses. “Then there was
the murder. That’s the reason the big boss’s keeping you out here again, so
long.”
“Don’t I
know it! I’m looking for a saboteur as well. Probably the same guy.” Derrick
slapped the binoculars into Joe’s hand and tried to lighten his foreboding with
a jabbing tease. “Now I’ve got to get the Coast Guard environmental crew out of
your hair.”
“Rib me, will ya?” Joe repositioned his yellow hard hat
over his bald head and shook a work-hardened finger. “I’ll bet you I can get
that Coastie to go for me and my shiny head before she goes for you and that
Cajun accent of yours. Loser pays a hundred bucks.”
“You want us to distract her with our masculine charm so
she won’t sniff out any violations that could shut us down?” Derrick surveyed
the rig’s two-hundred-foot deck looking for any OSHA or EPA trouble the Coast
Guard might use to give a citation. Sunlight slanted off the metal plates
causing enough glare to hurt his eyes. He didn’t like Joe’s plan.
“You got it.” Joe grinned.
Derrick gave a tight smile. He slid his gaze to the
roughneck inside the glass-enclosed room, jiggling the joy sticks and pushing
the buttons that worked the rig’s floor. The big man hooking a new drill in
place beneath the five-hundred-foot drilling tower wore his safety equipment.
No problem there.
Derrick
flicked his gaze over the new hire, the eighteen year old from Galveston. The
kid’s long blond hair straggled from beneath his yellow hard hat. He was bent
over washing sludge and mineral oil through sand to clean out the last drop of
hydrocarbon before reusing the sand. Kid was a hard worker, already adept at
his job. No laws broken. No environmental procedures shortcut.
The rest
of the roughnecks and roustabouts worked steadily. None violated safety
measures. No oil spills or pipe breaks had occurred. The hole drilled through
the sea bottom was clean and not yet exceptionally deep. They should hit oil
soon. Joe Bridges had a salty vocabulary, but the boss man ran a tight rig. So
why suddenly all the anonymous phone calls about regulation problems? Had to be
the murder.
Derrick needed to come up with answers.
“Alamo Oil pays you a hefty salary to make sure things run
smooth on all two hundred of its rigs.” Joe’s voice sounded more than a little
jealous.
“Don’t I know it.” Derrick ran a hand over the stubble
already growing after his close morning shave.
“Alamo doesn’t want to fork out any stiff fines or lose any
drill time because of environmental pollution, safety violations,
mismanagement, or accidents. So make sure that Coastie’s distracted.” Joe
winked. “And don’t mention the murder. We’ve trampled that ground too many
times with the Coast Guard already.”
“Right.” Derrick rubbed the back of his neck. An uneasy
feeling kept nagging him about the murder. Nothing he could put a handle to,
but—too many clues led directly to him. Once the Coast Guard put the puzzle
together, they’d come looking for him. He grunted. How had his personal helmet wound up grasped in the dead kid’s hand?
Joe swore
loud enough that the crew cleaning sand looked up. He lowered his voice. “That
Coastie’s gonna cause trouble. I feel it in my bones.” His eyes, shadowed under
his hard hat, looked wary. “We gotta keep her thinking about us, not her job.”
He handed the binoculars back.
Derrick
frowned. “I think you’re just hard up for a date. You want a girl friend to
share Christmas with.”
“Whatever!”
As the
Coast Guard cutter pulled alongside their offshore rig, Derrick focused the
binoculars on the trim figure in her blue uniform. He’d not seen many women in
the Guard, and none that looked so curvy…wow, hotter than a Louisiana
Dread inside his gut heightened. Sweat beaded his forehead.
He got tongue-tied around women. “This can’t be good!”
“Yeah. The
broad’s probably a—”
“It’s
Amber Meredith!” Derrick fumbled the expensive binoculars, made a grab for them,
and caught them just before they hit the deck.
About the Author
My home is in the quaint antiquing town
of McKinney, Texas, just a few miles north of Dallas. My dear husband is a
retired Colonel, Army Special Forces. My little brown and white Shih Tzu, Lily
Valentine, shares my writing space, curled at my feet. I have four beautiful,
talented children, and eight grandchildren who keep me running.
I’ve traveled in every location of each
book I’ve written, and each book is a book of my heart. Besides my first love,
writing, I enjoy travel, art, sports, reading, sailing, snorkeling, movies, and
way too many other things to mention. Life is good. Jesus said, “I am come that
you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.” Whether
writing contemporary or historical, my books celebrate the abundant life Jesus gives.
About Candle for a Corpse
by Marilyn Leach
Candle
for a Corpse: A Berdie Elliott Advent Mystery by Marilyn Leach is a Christmas
whodunit with plot twists, shifty suspects, and loving villagers. All of it’s sprinkled with English grace and
humor. Who would believe an advent
wreath could solve a murder? It can when
Berdie Elliott’s at hand, a vicar’s wife and sleuth extraordinaire. Fresh brewed tea, and high adventure with a
spoonful of romance make the season bright.
Endorsement
Are
you an Agatha Christie fan? Does the thought of an English village make
you long to grab your passport and head across the pond? Are cozy
mysteries your cup of tea? If you answered “yes” to any of those
questions, you won’t want to miss Marilyn Leach’s, Candle for a Corpse.
--Amanda Cabot, CBA best-selling,
award winning author
About the Author
At the age of nine, Marilyn wrote her first play with a
childhood neighbor, “The Ghost and Mr. Giltwallet”. It was a mystery. And she’s been writing in one form or
another, hobby or livelihood, since. As
well as teaching art, she’s had the opportunity to co-author several plays that
have been performed on both church and secular stages, as well as two screenplays. Marilyn has had the good fortune of
“discovering her roots” while visiting England where she developed lasting
relationships with wonderful people there.
It has greatly impacted her writing.
A great fan of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and David Cook’s Hetty
Wainthropp series, Marilyn was inspired to write her series: Berdie Elliott
Mysteries. She lives lakeside on the
Colorado front range. 
Thanks for hosting me today, Delia. There's something about a hot cup of tea and a sizzling mystery that makes the season bright. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story. Cheers
ReplyDeleteYou are so very welcome! I love having you, and I completely agree about that hot cup of tea and a good mystery. 😄
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