by: Elizabeth Roderick
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Cozy Mystery
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Publisher: Cinnabar Moth Publishing
Amazon | Paperback | Goodreads
Grace Morgan has been on the music scene long enough to know the life of sex, drugs & rock & roll is just a dream. But after a messy divorce, Grace wants to give her dream of being a music journalist one last shot.
She moves to LA with her 21-year-old foster son, Zeus. They live in a motel on cup noodles and hope, until Grace finally gets a break: a story about Inez Carter, hot-mess frontwoman of the popular band Karma Korn.
The story delivers more sex, drugs and rock & roll than Grace bargained for. Karma Korn’s drummer, Nelson, has Grace rethinking her post-divorce vow of celibacy. And after they’re invited to an elite Hollywood rave, where they mistakenly drink the electric Kool-Aid, Zeus is scouted to be the lead guitarist for another star band.
However, the story soon goes sideways, and things aren’t adding up. Someone is spreading rumors about Grace, trying to sabotage her career and reputation. Then someone tries to kill her. Grace is left frantically trying to connect the dots in the dwindling hope she’ll be able to salvage the story, her relationship with Nelson, and her life.
Zeus scrabbled around on the floorboards of the car, tossing aside empty iced tea bottles and crumpled napkins. Grace tried to keep her eyes on the road, wishing she’d ignored his tantrum and left him back at the motel. “Zeus, do you have to do this now?”
“Just a minute. I know I left one of my brain toys down here somewhere.” He burrowed deeper under the dashboard, and his foot kicked out, catching her shoulder.
Grace’s hand jerked on the wheel, and the car swerved over the yellow line, directly into the path of a truck hauling a load of port-a-potties. She yanked the wheel, her life flashing before her eyes as the honking truck barely missed her. Being flattened by a shit-mobile would have been a consistent end to it.
“Dammit, Zeus!” she barked as she straightened the wheel. “Sit in your seat like a big boy.”
She risked a glance. He’d somehow gotten one of his legs all the way under the passenger seat. “Zeus-”
He twitched and writhed, and the underside of the dash made a horrible cracking noise. “I’m super, super serial, Gracie. Help me, Gracie.”
She tried to smooth her short, golden curls back into place.
“Godammit! I’m gonna be late.”
“But I’m trapped! Help! This isn’t a cool situation!”
She sighed and pulled off into the parking lot of a strip mall. As she got out and tried to tug him free, she asked herself, as she did fifty times a day, how her life had come to this.
“Just a minute. I know I left one of my brain toys down here somewhere.” He burrowed deeper under the dashboard, and his foot kicked out, catching her shoulder.
Grace’s hand jerked on the wheel, and the car swerved over the yellow line, directly into the path of a truck hauling a load of port-a-potties. She yanked the wheel, her life flashing before her eyes as the honking truck barely missed her. Being flattened by a shit-mobile would have been a consistent end to it.
“Dammit, Zeus!” she barked as she straightened the wheel. “Sit in your seat like a big boy.”
She risked a glance. He’d somehow gotten one of his legs all the way under the passenger seat. “Zeus-”
He twitched and writhed, and the underside of the dash made a horrible cracking noise. “I’m super, super serial, Gracie. Help me, Gracie.”
She tried to smooth her short, golden curls back into place.
“Godammit! I’m gonna be late.”
“But I’m trapped! Help! This isn’t a cool situation!”
She sighed and pulled off into the parking lot of a strip mall. As she got out and tried to tug him free, she asked herself, as she did fifty times a day, how her life had come to this.
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She and her daughter help run a small, diversified farm in Eastern Washington. She is a musician and songwriter, and has played in many bands—mostly guitar, bass and keyboards.
Elizabeth’s stories are about love, death, gang warfare, and madness, with characters of the type that society generally shuns: addicts, convicts, and the neurodivergent. She is a neurodivergent person and a disability rights activist.
Elizabeth believes if people get to know those who live on the fringes of society, both in stories and in real life, they’ll find them more likeable than they originally thought.
Places to find Elizabeth Roderick:
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DeleteNew author for me, sounds good!
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