Monday, March 3, 2008

LaTisha Blogs

LaTisha Barnhart here, resting my bunions as I type out this message of greeting to you. Hardy, my husband, is hovering nearby, in a stew because he kept procrastinating returning some library books and now they're overdue. I told him, I said, "Hardy Barnhart, there's no sense in paying a fee for overdue library books when you only live a couple of blocks away from the place. You best get over there and pay up." Did he listen to me? No. He went and curled his hide up in a ball on the sofa. Sound asleep. That man. But you get me in the kitchen whipping up one of my Caramel-Pecan cakes and Hardy suddenly listens real good. Listens for the sound of the mixer mixing up the caramel frosting! Then, sure enough, he's right there at my elbow, big brown eyes pleading to lick the beaters. I always have to double the recipe in order to have enough. Of course, having raised seven hungry children, I'm used to doubling recipes, sometimes tripling them if they were favorites.

Now that's it's just Hardy and me, I try not to cook so much. Sure is tough though. Know what's even tougher? Seeing my babies leave the nest. Funny how it didn't strike me quite so hard until Lela--she's our youngest--left for college this past fall. Now the house seems too quiet and too big. And when Hardy plays his piano, I miss the sound of our babies singing along. It's a good thing I've got my college work to keep my mind busy.

Which reminds me, I need to hustle over to the library and return those books. Maybe I'll drop by Out of Time, the little antique store here in Maple Gap. I used to work there, but Marion and I didn't see eye to eye too often. I hear she's having a going-out-of-business sale, so it might be worth checking out, that is if I can get Hardy on his feet. I can hear him snoring all the way in here.

When LaTisha Barnhart sets foot into the Out of Time antique store, her bunions tell her something's afoot. Upon discovering the body of her former employer Marion Peters, LaTisha decides to put her Police Science degree to good use and do a little investigating of her own. But when her husband Hardy opens his trap and implicates her, the ante is upped, and she is determined to clear her name and find the real culprit.

She's burping Mark Hamm's bad cooking to investigate his beef with Marion. . .gettin' her hair styled at a high falutin' beauty parlor to see what has Regina Rogane in a snarl. . .and thinking Payton O'Mahney's music store lease might be the reason he's singing out of tune when discussion of Marion's murder arises. LaTisha's thinking she just might use the reward money to have her bunions surgically removed, but she's got to catch the crook first!


Murder on the Ol' Bunions, March 2008
by S. Dionne Moore
http://www.sdionnemoore.com/
Check out my Most Beautiful Bunion Contest. Stop laughing, I'm serious!

8 comments:

Scrambled Dregs said...

Hmmm. And I thought a fine was the worst thing that could happen with a trip to the library.

batgirl said...

Hardy and I should both join Library book horders anonymous or something. It's a horrible flaw. And now I'm craving cake at 8:00 a.m. Thanks a lot, LaTisha.
Nice pic, Sandra. Bless you. Janet

Susan said...

I've been known to move out of state in order to regain library privileges without having to take out a second mortgage on the home to pay my overdue fines. (I did return the books to the night-depository under cover of darkness before I left town, though.)

I've had fun getting acquainted with LaTisha. And you are a joy to work with, too, Sandra!

Editor Downs

Darlene Franklin said...

The library insisted I had not returned an audio book. I insisted I had. Well, it turns out they were right. I discovered lurking at the bottom of a bag months after I'd paid the ridiculously high cost of replacing the the book.

They told me to keep it since I had already paid for it. I begged them to take it back. It wasn't that good!

LaTisha sounds like a lot of fun! I look forward to reading the book.

Darlene Franklin said...

The library insisted I had not returned an audio book. I insisted I had. Well, it turns out they were right. I discovered lurking at the bottom of a bag months after I'd paid the ridiculously high cost of replacing the the book.

They told me to keep it since I had already paid for it. I begged them to take it back. It wasn't that good!

LaTisha sounds like a lot of fun! I look forward to reading the book.

Mary Connealy said...

This reminds me I've got a book right now that needs to go back to the library. I got it through the interlibrary loan program, too, it's the only kind of book they aren't good sports about at my local library.
Of course I donate hundreds of dollars worth of books to them every year, you'd think they'd be good sports.

Lisa Jordan said...

I returned books to the library last week, only to find out the books I checked out hadn't been scanned, so if I wasn't honest, the books could've been mine. To make matters worse, I dropped one of the books in the tub while soaking. Sigh. I dried it out and put a heavy book on it, but the book looks withered and buckled. The library hasn't given me a replacement cost though. Good thing it was a paperback.

Great blog, LaTisha. Now I'm craving caramel frosting.

Unknown said...

Congratulations! I'm really thrilled your story found a publisher. I knew it would.
Jeanette Morris...almost editor :)