Meet Rachel Brenner

Thanks to Evelyn David, for not only letting me guest blog today, but for creating me in the first place. My name is Rachel Brenner. I do hair, makeup, and a few more substantial restorations for the clients of O’Herlihy Funeral Home. I believe it’s never too late to look your best.

I’m single. Wow, that sounds strange after 18 years of marriage. My ex has moved on to younger pastures – actually he moved on long before the marriage ended. I just pretended not to notice until my pride finally said no more.

My son Sam is a freshman in college. I see him every couple of months – more often if he’s between girlfriends or needs money. I love it when Sam comes home. He and his friends bring my old house to life. I don’t even mind the piles of dirty laundry and empty glasses and tomato-stained pizza cartons scattered around.

In between visits from Sam, I spend my time worrying about how to pay for his education, the maintenance on the old house my great aunt left me here in Washington D.C., and cat food. I have one four-footed dependent, Snickers. She’s happiest when it’s just her and me in the house.

Last fall, I’d just been settling into a new job and my single, empty nest, life when someone broke into my house, stole half of a ham, and had me hiding in a closet until I located my backbone and a hockey stick.

The purloined pork was only the beginning chapter in a “bigger than my life” tale of murder, mystery, Irish wolfhounds, and one very interesting private detective, Mac Sullivan. Tell me the truth; don’t you think a detective should own his own car? I mean, who does stakeouts in a hearse with a giant dog riding shotgun?

Mac may just be the man I’ve always wanted. Or he might be the one my grandmother always warned me about. Either way, I’m ready for a change.

You can stop in and find out more by picking up a copy of Murder Off the Books!

Murder Off the Books is available in trade paperback and Kindle editions at Amazon. Also the trade paperback is on the shelves at The Digital Bookshop. Other e-book formats can be found at the Apple iPad store and The Digital Bookshop.

If you already know how my story started, you can catch up on my latest adventures in the sequel, Murder Takes the Cake. ebook versions are available now at Amazon, Apple iPad store, and The Digital Bookshop. A second edition trade paperback will be available this fall. (Note: I have issues with turkeys not pigs in that book.)

All my best,

Oh, wait, don’t go yet. I meant to leave you with a tip – Ladies, if you are going to carry a cell phone, keep it close and charged, especially at night. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to resort to just throwing the darn things in self-defense. Would have been so much easier to just punch in 911 on the keypad. For instance, if I’d had a working cell phone I wouldn’t have had to steal that garden gnome … uh wait.

Can I take that back? I meant to say that I don’t know anything about my neighbor’s missing garden gnome. Nothing. I know noth…ing.

Rachel