New Release — Deadly as the Driven Snow (A Calendar Clan Mystery Book 2) by Agnes Alexander

When a mortally wounded man turns up on the back porch of newlyweds June and Jason Striker, they know the honeymoon is definitely over. As Sheriff of Edison County, Jason can’t let a killer snowstorm stop him from trying to find the perpetrator of this crime—and June, a novice private investigator, is determined to help.

But the mystery deepens when other murdered victims are tossed out around the small North Carolina town, and a man tries to break in to the Striker household. What do these dead men have in common—or is some kind of message being sent? 

It all becomes dangerously personal when June and Jason’s home is attacked, and they must go into hiding to survive. Can they beat the clock to discover the killer’s motive before he strikes again? Or will their marriage end quickly, as DEADLY AS THE DRIVEN SNOW…

EXCERPT

     I turned from the window and let my mind come back to the present on this icy February day. I also let out a sigh of relief because the subject of Honduras had been dropped, at least for the time being. I busied myself putting the dirty breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. As I bent over to fill the slot on the door with liquid soap, Dingo came sauntering into the room. He stretched and twisted around my leg. I closed the dishwasher, then reached down and rubbed his long gray hair. He purred, and I knew he was asking for something to eat. The shower turned off, so I started the dishwasher and turned to the cat.

     “Come on, boy,” I said and headed for the laundry room which is connected to the mud room where our back door is located. Though we mostly come into the house from the side which leads into the garage, when Jason has muddy boots he comes in the back door, so he can deposit them there. This door leads to a glassed-in porch with another door and four steps down to the yard. I crossed this small room to get to the laundry room where I keep food for Dingo and Buzzy, Jason’s cat. After our marriage, we tried for a few weeks to make Buzzy an indoor cat, but he would have nothing to do with it. Jason ended up building him a fleece-lined house and we put a cat door in the garage, so he could come and go as he pleased. I’ve noticed that he’s staying in the garage more and more since the weather has turned cold.

     Dingo jumped in front of me and slid his body through his cat door into the laundry room. I had to wait until he wiggled his fat behind through the opening before I could open the big door and go inside. “I’ll get you fed then I’ll go feed Buzz,” I said. Though I know he ignores me, I talk to him anyway.

     Just as I took the can of food from the cabinet beside the washer, I heard a loud knock on the door leading outside. I left the laundry room door open and went to glance out the glass panels on the top half of the outside door. The blinds were closed, and I couldn’t see anything. I set the cat food down and moved to open the blinds, wondering who could be at our door so early on such a bad day.

I screamed and jumped back in horror as I looked at a man’s bloody face plastered against the glass. I think the man was trying to tell me something, but I wasn’t about to open the door.