When Zeffie Got a Clue

Informationen zum Autor Peggy Darty is the award-winning author of twenty-seven books, including two other cozy mysteries set in Summer Breeze, Florida: When the Sandpiper Calls and When Bobbie Sang the Blues. She has worked in film, researched for CBS, and led writing workshops around the country. Darty and her husband call Alabama home but spend a great deal of time in Colorado, Montana, and on Florida's Emerald Coast. Klappentext It's an ordinary afternoon in Summer Breeze, Florida, when a young, wide-eyed girl steps into I Saw It First, the trash-to-treasure shop Christy Castleman and her Aunt Bobbie have opened. Clutching a jewelry box, Zeffie Adams tells Christy she needs money to pay her grandmother's medical bills, prompting Christy to offer this curious visitor more than the jewelry box is worth-or so she thinks. But complicated questions form when Christy rips out the box's lining and uncovers a clue to a cold case murder mystery from eight years ago. Despite warnings from her family and handsome boyfriend Dan Brockman, Christy decides to do a little detective work of her own. After all, the infamous murder happened close to her grandmother's farm. How risky could it be to take the jewelry box back to the Strickland plantation and ask around about it? Soon Christy finds there is more to the small box than someone wants her to know. A jewelry theft. A mansion murder. Dangerous family secrets buried in history. Can Christy convince others to let go of the past before it's too late? Zusammenfassung It's an ordinary afternoon in Summer Breeze! Florida! when a young! wide-eyed girl steps into I Saw It First! the trash-to-treasure shop Christy Castleman and her Aunt Bobbie have opened. Clutching a jewelry box! Zeffie Adams tells Christy she needs money to pay her grandmother's medical bills! prompting Christy to offer this curious visitor more than the jewelry box is worthor so she thinks. But complicated questions form when Christy rips out the box's lining and uncovers a clue to a cold case murder mystery from eight years ago. Despite warnings from her family and handsome boyfriend Dan Brockman! Christy decides to do a little detective work of her own. After all! the infamous murder happened close to her grandmother's farm. How risky could it be to take the jewelry box back to the Strickland plantation and ask around about it? Soon Christy finds there is more to the small box than someone wants her to know. A jewelry theft. A mansion murder. Dangerous family secrets buried in history. Can Christy convince others to let go of the past before it's too late? ...

Autorentext

Peggy Darty is the award-winning author of twenty-seven books, including two other cozy mysteries set in Summer Breeze, Florida: When the Sandpiper Calls and When Bobbie Sang the Blues. She has worked in film, researched for CBS, and led writing workshops around the country. Darty and her husband call Alabama home but spend a great deal of time in Colorado, Montana, and on Florida’s Emerald Coast.

Klappentext

It's an ordinary afternoon in Summer Breeze, Florida, when a young, wide-eyed girl steps into I Saw It First, the trash-to-treasure shop Christy Castleman and her Aunt Bobbie have opened. Clutching a jewelry box, Zeffie Adams tells Christy she needs money to pay her grandmother's medical bills, prompting Christy to offer this curious visitor more than the jewelry box is worth-or so she thinks.

But complicated questions form when Christy rips out the box's lining and uncovers a clue to a cold case murder mystery from eight years ago. Despite warnings from her family and handsome boyfriend Dan Brockman, Christy decides to do a little detective work of her own. After all, the infamous murder happened close to her grandmother's farm. How risky could it be to take the jewelry box back to the Strickland plantation and ask around about it?

Soon Christy finds there is more to the small box than someone wants her to know. A jewelry theft. A mansion murder. Dangerous family secrets buried in history. Can Christy convince others to let go of the past before it's too late?

Leseprobe
Chapter One

“Do you want to buy a jewelry box?”

A little girl stood in the open door of I Saw It First, the shop that Christy Castleman and her aunt Bobbie Bodine had recently opened. Sunlight bounced off the girl’s long blond hair, forming a gauzy halo that lit her face and exaggerated the wisdom and sorrow in her green eyes. She wore jeans too short, shoes too scuffed, and a sweatshirt too big for her, the living definition of the word *waif.

*Gripping a small brown chest with slim hands, she glanced back at the sign in the calico-framed window that read “We buy, We sell, We trade.”

“Come in,” Christy called. A breeze rolled in from the Gulf to ruffle the vintage parasols decorating a cast-iron hall tree beside the door.

The little girl stepped in, then hesitated. Christy could imagine a budding beauty, but today she read only sadness and fear in the girl’s small, delicate features. Her face looked too pale for a child who should be out riding a bike or playing at the beach.

“My name’s Christy Castleman.” She crossed the polished wood floor to close the door. “What’s your name?”

“Zeffie Adams,” the girl answered in a clear, firm voice despite the indecision on her face.
“I’m glad to meet you, Zeffie.”

Christy looked at the scarred mahogany jewelry box Zeffie hugged. It appeared similar to others she had seen at discount stores, though less valuable because of a tiny dark stain on its lid. “Does the jewelry box belong to you?” Christy asked.

“Yes ma’am. I need to sell it.” She lifted the lid. “It plays music.”

Christy recognized an old, melancholy love song and bent to examine the box. The top compartment was made of three small sections for earrings or broaches. The red suede lining smelled musty and old, and in one corner the fabric had been Scotch-taped together. Two narrow drawers completed the box.

“Nice,” Christy said, looking more closely at the little girl. She thought she had seen her with a thin, gray-haired woman at the market, but she didn’t recognize the name Adams. “May I see it?”

Zeffie studied Christy’s blue eyes, then slowly extended the box. Christy smiled, took the box, and headed toward the counter. “Come on over,” she called, glancing back. Zeffie looked her up and down.

Christy’s small frame would not be intimidating, but ever since she’d begun her association with her long-lost aunt, she wore more jewelry, dressed with flair, and arranged shell or antique combs in her long brown hair. Zeffie’s eyes followed the swish of Christy’s skirt, a frothy autumn print, matched with a gold camisole and a crimson cardigan. “I’d rather be wearing my jeans and sweatshirt,” she said, winking at Zeffie.

“But your clothes are so pretty,” Zeffie blurted, dropping her guard. Her gaze swept the shop again. “I like pretty things.”

“So do I. What we like to do here is rework something that’s lost its purpose and make it pretty again. Most of the things you see here are castoffs, things other people no longer wanted or tossed aside as broken. My aunt repainted and repaired them. See that cupboard?”

She pointed to the red, crackled-paint cupboard, its door open to display a collection of mismatched plates and saucers. “She found it at a garage sale. It was an ugly brown, all scratched up, but she turned it into this.”

She swiveled and pointed at another object. “And this teacart was once a baby carriage that had lost its wheels. My aunt replaced the wheels …