Puzzling Ink

Book excerpt: 1 DOWN: DEATH BY HOMICIDE Quinn Carr wishes her life could be more like a crossword puzzle: neat, orderly, and perfectly arranged. At least her passion for puzzles, flair for words—and mild case of OCD—have landed her a gig creating crosswords for the local paper. But if she ever hopes to move out of her parents’ house, she can’t give up her day job as a waitress. She needs the tips. But when a customer ends up dead at her table—face down in biscuits and gravy—Quinn needs to get a clue to find whodunit . . . 6 LETTERS, STARTS WITH “M” It turns out that solving a murder is a lot harder than a creating a crossword. Quinn has plenty of suspects—up, down, and across. One of them is her boss, the owner of the diner who shares a culinary past with the victim. Two of them are ex-wives, her boss’s and the victim’s. A third complication is the Chief of Police who refuses to allow much investigation, preferring the pretense their town has no crime. To solve this mystery, Quinn has to think outside the boxes—before the killer gets the last word . . . “FRESH, FAST, AND FURIOUSLY FUN . . . Becky Clark writes with wry wit, a keen eye, and no shortage of authority.” —Brad Parks , Shamus Award-winning author (on Fiction Can Be Murder) Includes original crossword puzzles, also downloadable from BeckyClarkBooks.com!