Apr
Today I’m excited to share the cover for ‘You Can’t Get
Blood Out of Shag Carpet’ by Juliette Harper! This is the first book in A
Study Club Mystery series. It’s set to release in June 2015. Check out the
excerpt and then the fabulous giveaway at the end!
About the Book:
exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory
carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove
the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself
the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study
Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara
Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her
administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley;
Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider,
Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s
name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.
Excerpt:
appraised the height of Clara Wyler’s black bouffant. “You want me to go a little
higher, honey?” she asked, punctuating the question with a well-developed
smoker’s cough. “If I rat it up real good, I can get you another 2 or 3 inches
on top.”
good, Sugar,” she said. “What with Wanda Jean finding Hilton dead in the living
room, I don’t want to look insincere at Study Club.”
throw anybody out of the Study Club, but my Lord, what in the world are we
gonna do if she really did kill him?”
in Sugar’s Style and Spray were safely tucked under the dryers. “Well, she
called me herself to assure me that she didn’t do it,” Clara said. “She owned
up to wanting to, but she didn’t do it.”
killing our husbands. That’s just part of being married. But nobody’s ever
walked in my house and found Slim laying there with an Old Hickory carving
knife sticking out of his chest. What did Wanda Jean say about finding him?”
hard it was gonna be to get the blood out of that new shag carpet they put in
last month,” Clara said. “You know they went with the deep pile.”
the ad in the paper, but my vacuum cleaner just won’t suck up dirt good enough
for that. Is it a light carpet?”
plastic cape around her neck and handing it to Sugar. “Anyway, she said she
just stood there thinking about how you can’t get blood out of shag carpet.
Then it dawned on her maybe she ought to check him for a pulse.”
rearranging cans of Aqua Net on the counter. “Those boys from the ambulance
service never think to wipe their feet before they go in to get a body. You
should have seen the mess they made when Blake Trinkle died. They just ruined
Maybelline’s carpet. She spent as much getting it cleaned as she did on the
funeral.”
don’t think. Now you’re not gonna be late this afternoon, are you?”
me on the third Thursday at three. Study Club day is
sacred.”
“Good Lord, Sugar,” she said. “You look like you swallowed one of your Camels.”
croaked. “Look.”
Lester Harper helping a handcuffed Wanda Jean Milton out of the backseat of his
car. “What is that man thinking!” she exclaimed. “Parading her in front of God
and everybody on the courthouse square!”
About the Author:
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team
of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. Like the characters of their debut
series, The Lockwood Legacy, Juliette is a merging of their creative energies.
Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an
accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan from
a long line of hardheaded Scots, knows the world of the Lockwoods like the back
of her hand.
“We decided to write under a pen name because neither one
of us by ourselves could have created Kate, Jenny, Mandy, and their world,”
says Pauletti. “Juliette is a little bit of us both. We want to be her when we
grow up.”
“Patti teases me that I just don’t want to own up to
writing a book with romance in it,” Williamson adds, “but that’s not true. I
like the Lockwood women and the way they tackle everything life throws at them.
And before we’re done, they’ll be ducking a lot. I imagine coming into the office
every day and saying, ‘Okay Juliette, what’s going to happen now?’ She tells
us, and we get it down on paper.”
For more information about Juliette Harper please visit the website and Twitter.
Giveaway:
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Maureen is a mom, wife, nurse, and Ravenclaw living in the Netherlands. She spends her days juggling mom-life, reading, blogging, planning date nights with her husband and working as a nurse. Maureen also is a big Anglophile, loves cooking, Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.. Always! Facebook | Instagram
Thank you so much for sharing!
You're welcome 😀
Sounds like a fun read. The book cover is lovely totally vintage. Thanks for the opportunity!
It really does sound like a great read! And I love the author! Thanks for stopping by 😉