August 27, 2021 – mjbreviewers

Railroaded 4 Murder (Sophie Kimball Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kensington (August 24, 2021)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496724577
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496724571
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08P7YRSTN

I’m so excited to be a stop on the blog tour for authors J. C. Eaton and their new book Railroaded 4 Murder. It is the eighth book in their a Sophie Kimball Mystery Series.

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound

Railroaded 4 Murder (Sophie Kimball Mystery)
by J.C. Eaton

The authors have penned a great mystery with plenty of suspects. The antics of Harriet and the Booked 4 Murder Book Club members will have you in stitches as their investigation, Operation Agatha takes off.
~Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

While planning her wedding, Sophie “Phee” Kimball gets sidetracked by the murder of a model train enthusiast . . .

Phee’s marriage to Marshall Gregory promises to be the wedding of the year in Arizona’s Sun City West—that is, if you ask her mother Harriet. But before she can walk down the aisle, it looks like she has to solve one more murder. At a model train exhibit, Phee, Harriet, and their beloved Chiweenie, Streetman, discover the body of Sun City West’s railroad club president, with an incriminating tap shoe near his lifeless corpse.

Wilbur Maines may have loved model trains but apparently he was not a model husband. There are rumors of affairs with hot-to-trot hobbyists the Choo-Choo Chicks. The police suspect his wife—and Harriet’s friend—Roxanne, who dances with the Rhythm Tappers, but Phee’s mom is convinced they’re on the wrong track. Before the poor woman is railroaded into spending the rest of her life behind bars, Phee, Harriet, and the book club ladies will need to do some fancy footwork, infiltrate the dance group, and find the real culprit before the killer leaves the station . . .

As a matter of fact, Nate wasn’t the one stepping in anything unsavory. I was. And it happened early the next morning, before I was fully awake and my coffee had a chance to kick in. It was Saturday morning and Marshall leaned over the bed and gave me a gentle nudge.

Last night went by way too fast,” he said. “At least I don’t have any out-of-town cases this week unless something comes up. I’ll get those steaks on the grill the minute I get home this afternoon. Lucky you, it’s your Saturday off.”

“Yay. And I plan to snooze for another half hour at least. Then I’ll tackle a few home projects I’ve been putting off.”

“Forget the projects. Try to have a fun day. See you later, hon.”

I closed my eyes, but I was too awake to sleep yet not awake enough to function. I threw a sweatshirt on over my nightshirt and walked into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I had barely taken the first few sips when the phone rang.

My mother’s voice made my hair stand on edge, like static electricity. “Phee! You’re up. Good. How soon can you get to the Beardsley Rec Center?”

“Please tell me this is a general reference question and not something else. It’s a quarter to eight.”

“Cecilia thinks she might have discovered a dead body in the train exhibit next to the horseshoe tossing area.”

“Then have her call the posse. And what was Cecilia doing by the horseshoe area at this ungodly hour?”

“She goes for her morning walk around Beardsley’s perimeter every day.”

“Like I said, have her call the Sun City West posse.”

“It’s not as easy as you think. Cecilia has, well . . . a reputation with them, so she called me instead. Streetman and I are going over there right now.”

Terrific. A possible dead body and a neurotic Chiweenie. There’s a recipe for disaster. “What did you mean by a ‘reputation with them’?”

“Long story. Last year, during one of Cecilia’s walks, she was positive she saw a dead body by the small berm between the Ramada picnic area and the main building. She was convinced it was a woman with a large, round face and long, brown hair that was somewhat unkempt.”

“And?”

“It turned out to be a large river rock with one of those palm fronds wrapped around it. Those fronds fall off the trees any time there’s a breeze.”

“Oh brother. Was that it?”

“Not exactly. A few months ago, when she was leaving church in the evening, she glanced into the car parked next to her and was adamant there was a dead woman in the back seat. Even went as far as describing the woman’s deep-set wrinkles and scraggly hair.”

“I take it there was no dead body.”

“Nope. It was someone’s scarecrow they bought earlier in the day at one of the local nurseries.”

“Um, it sounds like this is going to be a wasted trip for you and Streetman. Still, if Cecilia is that concerned, she needs to call the posse.”

“Oh, she’s concerned all right. Says she saw an outstretched arm.”

“An outstretched arm? That could be anything! A large tree branch, a pipe, one of those decorative wooden borders—”

“Maybe the third time’s the charm. Maybe Cecilia really did find a body.”

J.C. Eaton is the wife and husband team of Ann I. Goldfarb and James E. Clapp. Ann spent most of her life in education, first as a classroom teacher and later as a middle school principal and professional staff developer. She has eight published YA time travel mysteries and over a decade of experience writing nonfiction for Jones Publishing and Madavor Media trade magazines. When James retired as the tasting room manager for a large upstate New York winery, he never imagined he’d be co-authoring cozy mysteries with his wife. Nonfiction in the form of informational brochures and workshop materials treating the winery industry were his forte, along with an extensive background and experience in construction that started with his service in the U.S. Navy.

Author Links

Website: www.jceatonauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JCEatonauthor/