Excerpt of You've Got Murder by Karin Tabke, Edie Ramer

To: [email protected]
From: Hope Shoemaker
Subject: Welcome, Shelby!
Sent: May 13 10:09 AM

Hey Shelby!

Congratulations again and welcome to Shady Ladyz, aka Women Who Murder. Murder by computer, of course. Though I can't speak for Ari. No one can speak for Ari. Especially her agent. And Megan's pointy–toed boots can be lethal, as well as her tongue. Kate's good with a knife, but usually in the autopsy room. And Ronnie knows all about drugs. No, she's not a pharmacist, though she's collected her own arsenal of drugs. All legal, of course.

I'm the tame one. The married grandma, and the only time I'm lethal is when I'm eviscerating a chicken. We're all pubbed except Megan. Ari and Kate's name are on the bestseller list as I type. Ari's three times! No wonder the Friends of the North Arlington Library listed the rest of us as "3 other writers." (And, no, I'm not bitter. Much. But you're lucky you didn't hear what Megan had to say about that. LOL)

About me. I write paranormal romances with a bit of suspense/mystery. I'm a solid midlister. That used to be a good thing, but now midlisters are on the endangered authors' list in the world of publishing. So I've gotten the rights back to my backlist and I'm self–publishing them.

I'm doing this with a lot of help from Ronnie. She's one of the first indie writers. She combines murder with hot sex scenes and makes twice as much as I do. As for Megan, she's a fantastic writer. I know she'll find a smart publisher to snatch her up. Or she'll give in to Ronnie's nagging and self–publish.

Anyway, so glad you won the contest to be in our critique partner for a year. The North Arlington Library raised enough money to keep them operating for another year. The head librarian said her readers were very enthusiastic about your first 25 pages, and it scored the highest out of 3413 entries! You must feel very proud.

Ari and I will crit your subs, no more than 3 chapters or 50 pages at a time – unless you ask if it's okay ahead of time. We'll send you ours, too. We both have thick skins, so don't hold back. We'd rather have brutal honestly than an empty pat on the back. Though if your pages are great, I'll be putting smilies all over your pages. So, bring 'em on!

Hope


To: [email protected]
From: Megan Maguire
Subject: Re: Welcome, Shelby!
Sent: May 13 10:20 AM

Welcome to the group, Shelby!

My sharp tongue's on hiatus today. I have to take Gran in for her check–up this afternoon. She tells me the doc likes looking at her boobs.

Meg


To: [email protected]
From: Veronica VornHagen
Subject: Re: Welcome, Shelby!
Sent: May 13 11:03 AM

Hey, Shelby,

To: [email protected]
From: Kate Murdock
Subject: Re: Welcome, Shelby!
Sent: May 13 12:01 PM

Hi, Shelby,

My husband calls me Krazy Kate, but when he wants something it's Special K. Men! I'm so happy to welcome you, and very excited for you too! I've been MIA recently and don't post as much as I should, but with four kids (the quads) and a husband who is more underfoot than a throw rug, I get sidetracked, so don't think I'm ignoring, you. That goes for you too, Mistress of the Night!

Bye for now,
Krazy Kate


To: [email protected]
From: Shelby Renfraw
Subject: Re: Welcome, Shelby!
Sent: May 13 12:31 PM

Oh my gosh!!!!! I can't believe I won over all those other entries. I'm just so glad the library restricted the entries to Illinois residents. And thank God and baby Jesus that Nelson and I moved here ten months ago. It's like the universe was guiding me to this. If you'd known how much I was dying to get in something like this.

Ari, I'm your biggest fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kate, I'm your fan, too, and so is Nelson. He loves those CSI–type books. Who's the Mistress of the Night?

Ronnie, Cameron sounds so cute! I love little ones. Are they all boys? How old are they?

Hope, I love cozies and don't know how I missed yours. I just loaded yours onto my Kindle. Ronnie, yours, too. They look pretty hot, but I'm not sure how much hotter they can get than Ari's. I have a sex scene in mine, but it's behind closed doors. Maybe I should open that door.

It makes me hot just to think about it. I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

I don't mind telling you that I was going through a real bad patch, but now I think it's turning around. All thanks to your contest.

Bless you! Bless all of you! You don't know how much this means to me.

Shelby


To: Kate Murdock; Megan McGuire; Veronica VornHagen; Hope Shoemaker
From: Aristar Faggione
Subject: Please explain
Sent: May 13 1:29 PM

Why on earth did we agree to open up our scared place to an air for brains fan girl? I told you all I'd just write the library a check.

A

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