Claret And Present Danger by Sarah Fox
It’s Sadie Coleman’s first full summer as a new pub owner in the quaint town of Shady Creek, Vermont. Her literary pub, the Inkwell, sports a cozy setting of books, bar food, and of course, a well-stocked cache of assorted liquor. Sadie’s looking forward to the Trueheart Renaissance Faire and Circus that just arrived in town.
The fair brings a wealth of acrobats, actors, musicians, jugglers and other entertainers. Not only is the fair going to be a fun event, but a great business opportunity. It’s brought Shady Creek a deluge of tourists that eventually overflow into the Inkwell, along with off-duty fair performers.
But when Sadie and her brewery owner beau, Grayson, attend one of the shows, an illusionist keels over on the stage. They soon realize this isn’t part of an illusion or magic trick. The dude is downright dead! Prominently poisoned to be precise!
Everyone in town is shocked and horrified. At first, the locals assume the murder was committed by another performer. But as the police get to really digging in, they find out that there are actually several townsfolk who’ve had run-ins with the victim.
Sadie curiously follows the murder from the sidelines. But when Damien, one of her best employees, is arrested for the murder, Sadie’s no longer on the sidelines — she’s on the playing field! She knows there’s no way Damien, a caring single father of two, could possibly commit such a dastardly crime…and she’s hellbent on proving it!
What Sadie discovers is that there’s a lot of backstage drama at the Renaissance festival. There’s an elusive, sneaky young girl fooling around with the props. There’s jealousy among the victim’s women (the guy was a hot-blooded womanizer) and even went after underage girls! She also discovers another illusionist who was belittled and taunted by the victim.
But in just a few days Sadie’s own suspect list is like the Energizer Bunny – it just keeps going and going and going! There’s a shady fortune-teller, a bitter minstrel who had his woman stolen right out from under him by the deceased, a jilted acrobat and a whole lot of people (in multiple states) sending the victim hate-mail! Discovering a cold-blooded killer isn’t going to be easy. And it gets even harder when Sadie herself, becomes a target!
Claret and Present Danger, the fourth installment in the Literary Pub Mystery series, is another finely-crafted cozy from USA Today Bestselling author, Sarah Fox. Ms. Fox gives us a faire with real flair! The festival is unique and original, the characters are tightly tuned, and the heroine as sharp as a Ginsu knife! Cozy lovers will really enjoy Claret and Present Danger released by Kensington Publishing.
A copy of this book/photo was provided by Kensington Publishing, a paid sponsor of Wonder Women Sixty.