Checking the Traps by Joan Livingston - Book Tour
Checking
the Traps
Isabel
Long is a bit banged up from her last case with a broken collarbone and her arm
in a sling. But that doesn’t stop her from pouring beer at the Rooster Bar or
taking her third case with Gary Beaumont, a local drug dealer who once
terrorized her. Gary is convinced his brother didn’t jump off a bridge known
for suicides. Somebody pushed him.
Gary’s
brother was a boozer who drove for a highway crew. But what interests Isabel
and her ‘Watson’ — her 93-year-old mother who lives with her — is that the man wrote
poetry.
The
chief suspects are one of Gary’s business associates and a famous poet who
plagiarized his brother’s poetry for an award-winning book. Yes, he was that
good.
As
a journalist, Isabel did regular meetups with her sources for stories. She called
it checking the traps. She does the same as a private investigator, and this
time, she’ll make sure she doesn’t get caught in one.
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Excerpt
For her third case, Isabel Long,
amateur P.I., takes on a case from a surprising client: Gary Beaumont, a drug
dealer who terrorized her a bit during her last. Gary is desperate to know how
his brother, Cary, died. Did he jump from a bridge known for suicides or was he
pushed? In this scene, Isabel and her mother (her ‘Watson’) meet with Cary’s
widow, Cherie, who runs a hair salon in her home. To get her foot in the door, Isabel
booked an appointment for her mother.
For
the next several minutes, I leave Cherie and Ma alone. There’s a leatherette
couch to the side, where I choose to sit. I don’t want to make Cherie
uncomfortable hovering behind her. Besides, it’s a good spot to watch her talk
with my mother about how short she wants her hair, not too much, and would she
like to change her style, no. Then, they’re at the sink.
“This
water’s not too hot, is it?”
“No,
no, it’s just right,” my mother answers.
All
I can say is I’m in deep trouble if I find out Cherie killed her husband. Ma
would never believe it. She answers all of Cherie’s questions with a cheery
note to her voice as she gets her hair shampooed and conditioned. They’re the
usual questions you ask a stranger like where you live, who you live with,
etc., you get the picture. I’m not surprised at Ma’s reaction. Cherie’s Beauty
Shop reminds her of the salon in her hometown where she went for years until
she moved in with me. This is nothing like the fancy-shmancy place, Ma’s words,
not mine, that I’ve taken her to in the city.
Ma
looks up from the sink.
“This
is a very nice place,” she says. “Do you and your little girl live here alone?”
Ma’s
voice is so friendly, I am certain Cherie couldn’t take offense. That question
makes me so happy I feel like hugging her, but instead I wait for Cherie’s
answer.
“It’s
just me and Helen.” She reaches for a towel. “I like it that way.”
Cherie
wraps a towel around Ma’s head and guides her to the chair. She glances over
her shoulder.
“You
wanted to ask me about my Cary?” she asks.
I
smile when she says “my Cary.” She was his golden girl and a lot of other sweet
things in that first book of poems.
“First,
how do you feel about my investigating your husband’s death?”
Cherie
concentrates on combing my mother’s hair into sections.
“I
heard Gary’s message about you, but I didn’t pick up.” She holds a strand of
hair upward as she cuts the ends with a neat snip. “He’s been thinking all
along that my Cary didn’t kill himself, that somebody else was responsible.”
“Today,
I only want to ask you a few questions about Cary’s poetry.”
Through
the mirror, I see her smile back at me.
“You’re
interested in his poetry?”
“Gary
brought over the box containing your husband’s notebooks and papers for me to
borrow. I’ve only gone through the first one, but it got me thinking about why
he wrote poetry. There aren’t many men around here who do it.”
“Cary
was a good student in school. He said he might’ve wanted to go to college, but
that wasn’t gonna happen with his folks.” She raises the scissors. “He was the
first in his family to graduate from high school. Do you believe that?”
Yes,
I do.
“When
did Cary start writing?”
She
combs and cuts my mother’s hair as she talks.
“When
we were going out, he’d write me mushy things on cards and notes. I have those
somewhere,” she says. “I think he got ideas for poems when he was drivin’ truck
for the town, especially when he was plowin’ in the winter. He’d keep his eyes
on the road, but his mind would wander. He started keepin’ a notebook in the
cab of his truck, and on his breaks, he scribbled stuff down.” She laughs. “The
other guys on the crew kidded him about it, but he didn’t care.”
“When
did he write?”
“At
night usually, on the weekends some. He did it at the kitchen table. He wrote
on paper. He didn’t use a typewriter or computer. When he was finished with a
poem, he’d write it down in one of his notebooks.”
“Did
he show you his poems?”
“All
the time. He read them out loud, too. They changed over the years. You’ll see.
They get more serious.”
“One
of the notebooks looks like it caught on fire.”
“I
came home one day and saw Cary throwing it into the woodstove. I grabbed the
book and put out the fire. I think he was going to burn ’em all. He wouldn’t
tell me why, but he was upset about somethin’.”
“How
long was that before he died?”
She
holds the scissors above a strand of hair as she thinks. She turns, blinking
toward me.
“It
was a few weeks before. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Author
Bio
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for
adult and young readers. Checking the
Traps, published by Crooked Cat Books, is the third in the mystery series
featuring Isabel Long, a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. The
first two are Chasing the Case and Redneck’s Revenge.
An award-winning journalist, she started as a
reporter covering the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. She was an editor,
columnist, and the managing editor of The
Taos News, which won numerous state and national awards during her tenure.
After eleven years in Northern New Mexico,
she returned to rural Western Massachusetts, which is the setting of much of
her adult fiction, including the Isabel Long mystery series.
Social
Media Links –
Website: www.joanlivingston.net.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoanLivingstonAuthor/
Twitter: @joanlivingston
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/JoanLivingston_Author
Goodreads: www.Goodreads.com/Joan_Livingston
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