Title: MUD RUN MURDER
Author: Leslie Langtry
Genre: Cozy Comedy
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing
Book Blurb:
Ex-CIA Agent turned small town Girl Scout leader, Merry Wrath, thinks she has her hands full getting her troop ready for the Mud Run out at scout camp. But a trip to the movies, where she sees her whole career played out on the big screen, turns her focus from little girls to great big lies. Turns out her former handler, Riley, is hiding something and the Agency is on the warpath, thinking Merry has leaked classified intel.
From a bizarre organization called Coats for Cats to redecorating her guest room with bullet holes, her life is turning into a Merry-go-round of misdirection, miscreants and misdemeanors. Can she clear her name, or will the Mud Run turn into a run for her life?
Excerpt:
CHAPTER ONE
If you ever are given a choice between defending yourself against two hit men in a back alley in Qatar, armed only with a wire coat hanger (don’t ask), and giving a pill to a cat, I’d suggest you go with the former. And I’m speaking from experience. In both situations.
Philby, my Hitler-doppelganger cat, could keep her mouth closed as tightly as two steel rods fused together and doused with water in Antarctica. It turned out that she didn’t like pills. Unfortunately for her, the slipped disc in her back wouldn’t stop shooting pain up her spine until she took them.
Maybe I should have tried Kevlar oven mitts? The cat hadn’t bitten me yet, but she was struggling like a pissed-off feline on speed.
“I’m doing this for your own good,” I insisted through gritted teeth.
The vet had suggested (while suppressing hysterical laughter) wrapping her tightly in a towel with only her face exposed. I’d done that, but all I got was an angry cat burrito whose lips refused to budge. I tried to figure out a way to hold the beast and pry her lips open. Once you got past the lips, there was a whole new litany of problems, including having to deal with the tiny, interlocking teeth, inserting the pill, and getting her to swallow the damn thing. This venture made the planning of D-day look like a walk in the park. A literal walk in the park.
“Philby! You won’t get better if you don’t take this! The vet said this stuff will relax your muscles, allowing the disc to slip back into place!”
Have you ever tried reasoning with a cat? In my career in the CIA, I’d had to reason with a Belgian nudist wielding a meat cleaver, a paranoid Mexican drug lord who’d had way too much LSD and believed he was a sloth, and a very hostile nun in Chile brandishing knitting needles. None of them were this stubborn. Well, that’s not entirely true. The nun was behaving like a toddler throwing a tantrum. But that wasn’t the point.
I tucked Philby, still wrapped in a towel, under my left arm. Bracing against the counter for the illusion of some semblance of support, I held the upper jaw in my left hand and the lower jaw in my right and squeezed. The lips parted with a juicy smack, but the teeth wouldn’t give.
An idea popped into my head. While still struggling with the cat in the towel, I said the one word that would open her mouth. A name that usually sent her into a vicious hissing spree and, most of the time, ended with her on her side, helpless and spent.
“Bobb,” I said directly to her. I even went the extra mile and pronounced the second b. She didn’t like the name because a guy named Bobb once tried to kill her. I couldn’t blame the cat.
Philby hissed, and I wedged my fingers between her teeth. Using my left index finger, I shoved the pill into her mouth and then slammed it shut and held it closed.
“What are you doing?” Rex appeared behind me. He must’ve used his key to get in.
“Great timing,” I said as my cat squirmed, hissing in my arms. “A few moments earlier, and you could’ve helped.”
“Why is Philby foaming at the mouth?” he asked.
Philby was foaming at the mouth. Really foaming. She looked like a rabid feline dictator who’d just swallowed saliva-activated bubble bath.
“Oh crap,” I said as I leaned forward and blew into her face.
The cat’s eyes grew wide, but she swallowed. I don’t know why that worked. The vet had suggested it. I can tell you that if anyone held my face shut and blew on it, swallowing wouldn’t be the first thing to pop into my head.
“It’s tramadol,” I explained as I unwrapped my furious cat. “If he holds it in his mouth and doesn’t swallow it foams up.” I ran the towel over her mouth. “Which is kind of a bizarre side effect, if you ask me.”
Philby gave me a death stare that in her mind probably paralyzed me with fear, but in reality made me wonder what Rex was doing over here. The hunky detective (who was also my boyfriend) lived directly across the street from me.
“Why are you here?” I tossed the towel on the counter and scooped up Martini—Philby’s kitten who looked a lot like Elvis. She still loved me. Hmm…I’d have to sleep with one eye open tonight. Philby was probably plotting something.
“We have a date.” Rex kissed me on the forehead.
“Oh wow! I totally forgot.” And I had, but I was going to blame my evil, non-pill-swallowing cat for that.
“Pizza’s on its way,” Rex said over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
“I’ll be there in a few!” I shouted, but the door had already closed behind him.
Why had I forgotten about our date? It was Friday, and on Friday nights we always had pizza and rented a movie. Sometimes I took the cats, and my awesome boyfriend even had a litter box and food for them.
Martini suddenly decided I was evil. She hissed at me as she jumped down to the floor and, with her head held high, trotted off down the hallway to find her injured mother. So I was guessing the felines wouldn’t be joining us tonight.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pDB3fi
Nook: http://bit.ly/2pZLpqU
iBooks: http://apple.co/2pXKxoY
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2qj6Yph
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2poBIR5
Author Biography:
Leslie Langtry is the USA TODAY Bestselling author of the Merry Wrath Mysteries, the Greatest Hits Series, the Aloha Lagoon Ukulele Mysteries and Sex, Lies & Family vacations.
She is not, nor ever has been a former CIA agent or an assassin (a question that surprisingly comes up more than you’d think). She has been a Girl Scout Volunteer for 15 years and was a troop leader for 10 years – which gave her a wealth of material that she uses in her books.
Leslie lives in the Midwest with her family and assorted animals and has an unnatural obsession with cake. You can find out more about her and her books at http://www.leslielangtry.com .
Social Media Links:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LeslieLangtry
Twitter – https://twitter.com/LeslieLangtry
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