It was an idyllic May. Temperatures in the low-seventies, skies were clear, and business was booming.
Except I didn’t want to do any of it. I needed a day off from photographing romantic trysts, searching for missing teenage runaways, and foiling insurance fraud. So I did what all trusty and industrious private detectives do in their downtime; I searched for new grill recipes online and practiced drawing my gun from the holster, Wild West style.
Fortunately for me, and also for the client, I was sitting at my desk when the stairs creaked. Someone knocked softly on the door and entered.
A blonde. She wore a white blouse with an exaggerated collar and one of those skirts already too short and then had a professional slit running halfway up the side. Red heels. No hose.
She was perhaps the prettiest person I’d ever seen in real life.
“Hello, Ronnie,” I said.
“Hello Mackenzie. I am in need of a professional private detective,” said Veronica Summers. “Are you accepting clients?”
“I’m your man.”
The gravid statement hovered and the air became hot and electric. She inspected me. I watched her inspecting me. Both of us flushed a little. I almost flinched each time our eyes connected.
She said, “Mackenzie. I’m serious. This is a professional call.”
“Then you should put on an overcoat.”
“But how would you look at my legs?”
“I have a degree in criminal investigation. I’ll find a way,” I said. “Close the door behind you.”
She did.
My heart, the sissy, flip-flopped.
Mackenzie August, wading into trouble again.
Dear reader,
I hope you enjoyed The Desecration of All Saints (You did). It was an important stand-alone novel for personal reasons, and it may interest you to know that a portion of the proceeds from this book will go to G.R.A.C.E., a non-profit group helping victims of sexual abuse.
Mackenzie August is the main character of a mystery series I write. If you’d like to read more (you do), find book one of the series by going to Amazon. At the moment, that’s the only store where the series is available. Mackenzie is hired by the sheriff to take a job teaching English at a city school in order to take down a villainous criminal within.
Though Desecration of All Saints doesn’t fit perfectly into that universe, it takes place approximately between books one and two. A portion of book one is included below.
I live in Virginia with my wife and three children. You can find me in coffee shops or libraries or my office (blah) working on the next novel. I plan on being your favorite mystery writer for the next twenty years.