Not a Mermaid (Jake & Boo, Book 2) by Madeline Kirby

 Release date: February 8, 2018

Subgenre: Cozy mystery, paranormal mystery

About Not a Mermaid:

It’s July in Houston, and when heat waves and storm warnings finally give way to flooding rains, Jake Hillebrand’s strange dreams take a sinister turn. When the flood waters recede, the body of a young woman is found on the banks of Buffalo Bayou - a young woman whose life overlaps with that of Detective Victoria Perez.

With Perez on the sidelines, maybe she and Jake can finally come to an understanding. Or not.

Petreski's working with a new partner, Jake's declared a major, Jennifer Katz is moving on with her life, and Don has no idea that the new cat hanging around his apartment is not what she appears.

Contains even more carbs than "Not a Werewolf", plus all you can eat shrimp!

Excerpt:

 

My phone rang, and Don took the plates to the kitchen to start cleaning up.

“Ooh! It’s Petreski!”

“Keep it clean while I’m here!” Don called from the kitchen.

“I’m not allowed to talk dirty because Don’s here,” I said as I accepted the call.

“Um, good, because I’m at a crime scene.”

“Why would you call me from a crime scene?” I asked, although I had a pretty good idea why.

“I’m sorry, Jake, but I need you to come down here right away. Allen Parkway at Waugh.”

“What is it?”

“When the water went down in Buffalo Bayou this morning, someone found a body.”

***

I parked as close as I could get to where Petreski told us to meet him, and we walked towards the scene, stopping when we reached the line of yellow tape. I texted Petreski to let him know we were there, and then we waited, trying not to look like rubbernecking ghouls. The smell of bat guano was strong in the heat and I already felt queasy, even without looking at a body. I felt Don’s elbow dig into my ribs and jumped.

“What?”

He nodded towards the scene and I turned to see what had caught his attention.

Detective Perez was heading straight for us, her curls bouncing like angry little snakes and her Dr. Martens squeaking on the wet grass. Her scowl was even fiercer than usual, and I wondered what I had done now. But whatever had her in full-on Valkyrie mode, it wasn’t me, because she stormed right by us without a glance. We watched her climb into an unmarked car, and I winced when the door slammed.

“Wow,” I said. “At least it wasn’t me this time.”

“She looked really upset,” Don said.

“She always looks like that.”

“No.” Don shook his head. “This was different.”

We both started when the tires of Perez’s car screamed as she sped off.

“Yeah. I think you’re right.”

I turned back towards the activity below, and saw Petreski climbing the hill, his face grim.

“What’s with Perez?” I asked him, when he was close enough.

“Later,” he answered, barely moving his lips.

“So, is it… did you want me here because it’s…”     

“Maybe. It could be an accident, a drowning. We don’t know yet, but until we do we have to treat it as a suspicious death. And between us, based on what you told me, I’m inclined to label it a homicide.”

 

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About Madeline Kirby:

Madeline Kirby has been writing stories since she was 12 years old. The earliest one she can recall involved a mermaid and was written in a spiral-bound notebook with pink paper. The pink paper was the most memorable thing about it. A love of reading led her to a degree in English, and an eye for detail made her a successful editor and proofreader for medical and technical manuscripts.

While in college she discovered comic books, filling boxes with copies of Hellblazer, Sandman, Swamp Thing, and countless indies like The Tick, ElfQuest, and Love & Rockets. Comic books led to manga. Manga narrowed to yaoi, and soon she was proofreading and editing for yaoi scanlation sites and looking for more M/M stories.

Before she knew it, her stories started involving fewer women, more men, and those men were clamoring to get out and see the world - and here we are.

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