Murder by the Letter (The Lettering Detective Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Lisa Pevey

Author:Lisa Pevey [Pevey, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

10

I WAS SITTING on the train, headed to New Orleans, and staring out into the swamp. I had my pencil case out on the tray, and picked out my favorite lettering tool: a black brush pen that allowed me to do thick and thin lines without having to change.

I mostly had the car to myself. For the moment, I was staring down at the blank page, feeling that familiar artist’s block I always felt before starting to move my pen. There was nothing more terrifying to a letterer than the fear of starting something new. One wrong stroke and the whole piece can crumble before it has taken its first steps. I felt the same way about my new life on the bayou.

“There is no way to continue if you don’t begin,” I wrote, feeling rather lukewarm about it. I turned the page and started anew. Now that I’d gotten the first failure out of the way, things started to flow more freely.

I began to write whatever came to mind. Doodles at first. Things I’d learned in the last few days. I drew a heart and wrote Mary Lou and Alcede in the center of it. Apparently my uncle was a regular Lothario, and Cherie’s mom was a home-wrecker. What did that mean? A thing like that could certainly lead to a man turning up as bayou bones. Between all the lies and half-truths, Ordoyn’s suspicion of me, and the huge change in lifestyle over the past week, I was having a bit of trouble concentrating.

After a few minutes, I looked down at what I’d written. I scratched everything out in frustration. All these details staring me in the face, none of them quite adding up. I was still missing something that made it all fit together.

I started again. As I finally lost myself in the movement of the pen, my brain quieted as it always did. I was able to think just that little bit more clearly as the train roared through the flat expanse of marshland.

There were several people who might have had a reason to do away with old Uncle Alcede. I was fairly convinced that Auntie Roma had nothing to do with it, but she certainly had a cause. The pain of your husband cheating on you after so many years had to be a powerful force. And then to just not look for him? To have him declared dead as quickly as possible? I suppose life was a bit on the rougher side down here, but I still found it hard to imagine. Someone who could cook like that had to have a sensitive soul.

Then there was Officer Ordoyn. He was corrupt, that much was clear. But was it still corruption if you didn’t take a bribe, and you just did it out of the kindness of your heart? I wasn’t so sure I bought his story either. Alcede would have known about Ordoyn’s lapse in his duty. Had my uncle threatened to go above

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