Reporter and bridge player Wendy Winchester once again plays ace detective when a country club member is murdered in a hot tub . . .
Now an investigative reporter for the Daily Citizen in the Mississippi River port of Rosalie, Wendy still likes to unwind over a game of cards. Following the demise of the Rosalie Bridge Club, she's started her own group at the Rosalie Country Club. During the first meeting of the Country Club Bridge Players, the dummy has barely been laid down when another dummy gets in a scuffle at the bar across the room. Bridge player Carly Ogle's husband Brent is at it again.
After the club's new female golf pro breaks up the fight, Brent storms off to soak in a hot tub. But the bartender soon finds the bullying Brent dead in the water, clubbed over the head with the pestle the barkeep uses to crush leaves for mint juleps.
Racist, sexist, homophobic, and an all-around lout, Brent made enough enemies to fill a bridge tournament. So Wendy has to play her cards right to get the story—and stay out of hot water long enough to put the squeeze on the killer . . .
Guest Post
What is it about the game of bridge that keeps getting newspaper reporter, Wendy Winchester, in the crime game? That’s the premise of R. J. Lee’s new cozy mystery series—A BRIDGE TO DEATH MYSTERIES. The first one—GRAND SLAM MURDERS—debuted this time last year and is now in its second printing, having been enthusiastically reviewed by KIRKUS, BOOKLIST, PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWS, MYSTERY SCENE MAGAZINE and SUSPENSE MAGAZINE.
On January 28th of this year, the second cozy was released nationally—PLAYING THE DEVIL. In this latest installment, Wendy continues to pursue her interest in the game of bridge in the Deep South river port of Rosalie, Mississippi, while holding down a job as an investigative reporter for the local paper. Meanwhile, things are looking up for the women of Rosalie. The paper has just hired its first female editor, the Rosalie Country Club has just employed its first female director, and she has turned around and hired the club’s first female golf pro.
How does all this sit with the RCC’s major contributor, Brent Ogle? He’s furious, to say the least. When Wendy and the new RCC director, Deedah Hornesby, form their own bridge club because the established one was wiped out when all its members were poisoned in GRAND SLAM MURDERS, a case which Wendy solved, Brent thinks his formerly ‘for jocks only’ club is being turned into a ladies’ tea party. Brent has managed to make enemies of practically everyone since his college quarterbacking days. Now a ‘personal injury/billboard ‘lawyer, he’s turned into a veritable sexist, bully, xenophobe and homophobe.
So it’s especially galling to Wendy and Deedah when Brent rolls into the Great Room of the RCC where they are conducting their first bridge game across the way. Already irked by the fact that his two golfing partners have beaten him on the front nine for the first time ever, he proceeds to get drunk and provoke a fist fight near the bar, one which the female golf pro has to break up. After threatening everyone in the room, Brent proceeds to the outside hot tub to soak and drink some more.
Fate intervenes when a monstrous weather cell hovers over Rosalie, and the power goes out in the RCC for a period of thirty minutes. Before power is restored, Brent’s long-suffering wife, Carly—also one of the four at the bridge table—decides to check on her husband, but finds him dead, clubbed over the head with the pestle the Cuban bartender uses to make his famous mint juleps. But the bartender is not the only suspect—there are seven others who were in the building during the blackout period.
Wendy’s Chief of Police father and detective boyfriend begin the official investigation, but Wendy’s female editor insists that she begin one of her own for the paper. As it quickly becomes evident, everyone in the building except Wendy was taunted, bullied and mistreated by Brent Ogle, not only that afternoon but over the long haul. They all had motive and opportunity during the blackout to get to Brent in the hot tub and take him out.
Leave it to Wendy, though, to ask just the right questions of the right people to find out what really happened at the RCC and who was and was not involved in Brent Ogle’s death. Twist after twist leads to a final surprise, but not before Wendy has put herself in harm’s way in her dedication to solving the crime.
R.J. Lee
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