Don’t Go Home by Carolyn Hart  

By Carolyn Hart

I penned A Farewell to Death on Demand this spring, but a funny thing happened on the way to Life Without Annie and Max. A knock on my door. There stood Annie, a glint in her steady gray eyes, a determined tilt to her chin.

“What are you thinking?”

Max was right behind her, his usual easy-going smile absent. “No more island sunshine? No alligators basking on a bank? No more laughter?”

Annie and Max looked me in the eye and said, “We’re here to stay.”

Do I want to see the displays at Death on Demand, catch up on the new mysteries, talk about old favorites? Or drop into Confidential Commissions and have a slice of Barb’s lemon pie?

Oh, yes. The scent of the ocean, the rattle of magnolia leaves, the grace and elegance of Spanish moss, hot heavy summer days, windy walks on a chilly winter beach, all await on the small sea island of Broward’s Rock.

I’ll see everyone again, ebullient Annie, charming Max, curmudgeonly author Emma Clyde, mystery maven Henny Brawley, ditzy mother-in-law Laurel Darling Roethke, intense reporter Marian Kenyon, stalwart police chief Billy Cameron, observant officer Hyla Harrison . . .

I realized I’d miss them too much. So I changed my mind and hope to write their twenty-sixth adventure as soon as Bailey Ruth persuades a lovelorn  ghost to climb the shining stairs to Heaven.

But first, about  Annie and Max’s twenty-fifth (and continuing) adventure, DON’T GO HOME.

Annie is hosting a party to celebrate a successful Southern literary icon and island native and his bestselling novel, Don’t Go Home. The local newspaper announces that the author intends to reveal the real-life island inspirations behind his characters and the dark secrets in their lives.

Reporter Marian Kenyon, Annie and Max’s good friend, quarrels bitterly with the author. When his body is found, Annie knows her friend will be a suspect.

Despite an array of people who feared the author’s revelations and Annie’s promise to Max that she will steer clear of sleuthing, Annie is drawn into the hunt because the police may close the book on Marian unless Annie finds the truth.

*****

Carolyn Hart is the author of 56 mysteries. She was named an MWA Grand Master in 2014. Don’t Go Home is the 25th in the Death on Demand series and the will be the final book in the series.

To learn more about Carolyn, please visit her website.