MURDER DOUBLE OR NOTHING
Murder Double or Nothing
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Level Best Books (July 22, 2019)
Print Length: 285 pages
Digital ASIN: B07VMB2DSN
Corrie Locke, newbie lawyer and daughter of a late, great PI, is learning the ropes at the Hollywood movie studio where she works—and where things are never what they seem. Life imitates art when a fictional murder attempt turns real—right before her very eyes. With more than a little help from friends and a crazy movie legend, Corrie trips down a trail littered with wisecracks, mysterious messages, and marginally legal maneuvers to track down the killer. Meanwhile, clues keep disappearing and Corrie makes an enemy whose deadly tactics keep escalating. Will her impromptu sleuthing skills be enough to catch the mysterious assailant before he takes her down?
Excerpt Murder Double or Nothing: A Southern California Mystery by Lida Sideris
He pedaled the bicycle hard and fast down the narrow, deserted alley,
stealing glances behind him. It was a late, warm Friday afternoon somewhere on
the eastside of Los Angeles where police protection was scarce and hoodlums
plentiful. Two and three story buildings huddled together on both sides of the
rider. Graffiti stained the walls.
Hunched
over the handlebars, the cyclist whizzed past a dented metal dumpster,
unsettling newspapers and milk cartons pressed against a doorway. The collar of
a gingham dress shirt stuck up beneath his red pullover and a backpack flopped
behind him. Chuck Taylors clinched his nerdiness, as did the argyle socks. He
looked fresh out of a computer lab, on his way to the library. There was
nothing unusual about him, if you didn’t count the bulging eyes, gritted teeth
and heavy panting. His expression belonged on a trapped animal.
A black
sedan barreled around the corner, tires grinding and coughing up pieces of
asphalt. Leaning his torso out of the passenger window, a muscular guy in a
white T-shirt clutched a revolver. He aimed at the cyclist, fired three times
and missed.
The
rider angled around a corner and skidded to a stop. Dropping the bicycle on its
side, he stumbled over the upturned wheel moments before the car crushed the
bike beneath its fat tires, spitting out a tangle of metal and chrome. The car
parked, and two thugs spilled out. They
raced after the cyclist, guns drawn. The nerd
careened toward the side of a brick building and jumped up, arms outstretched
above his head. The silver cuff around his wrist glinted as he grabbed the
bottom rung of a fire escape ladder, legs flailing wildly. The ladder creaked
and swayed. He’d barely started the climb when the hoodlums fired. And missed
again.
“Oh,
brother,” I whispered.
The nerd
scrambled onto a landing and dove through an open window.
“Cut,” a
gruff voice rang out.
“No
one’s going to believe this,” I muttered.
“No
one’s going to believe this,” I muttered.
“Do you
mind?”
I stood
apart from the assorted movie crew and onlookers, but one lanky guy hovered
behind my shoulder, his arms crossed against his chest. His sun baked face
turned a shade of red that complemented the brick building behind me. The guy
lowered his shades along the bridge of his nose to get a better look at me.
“Do you
have any idea what ‘quiet on the set’ means?” His words tumbled out
through clenched teeth.
“I spoke
after you yelled, ‘cut’. And I was talking to myself.” It didn’t add to
my credibility, but it was the truth.
“You
were mumbling the whole time.”
“Well, I
couldn’t help it. The scene wasn’t realistic,” I told him.
“We’re
not shooting a documentary here,” he said.
“But
there’ll be people like me watching who’ll know. You just can’t squeeze out
bullets like a squirt gun.” I was new to my lawyer gig at the movie studio, but
not so new to PI work and guns. Thanks to my father. “It’s hard to miss at such
close range.”
“How
would you know?” He glared my way. “Did I hire you? Do you even work here?” He
gave me a slow once over and squinted at the badge on my chest.
My
tailored, sea green sheath dress and three-inch pumps had to give me some
status. Even my usual tangle of hair had cooperated into a French twist. That
was a first. I was a female force to be recognized.
“Carrie
what?” His squint still pinned to my badge.
“Corrie.
Corrie Locke. I work on the business side of the studio.”
“Is that
so?” His lips turned inward. “Well, mind your own business. You should not be
judging the fake shooting ability of my actors. This wasn’t even the final
take.” He lifted his manicured chin and his voice. “I want her removed from the
set.” His finger pointed to my head.
“Is this
a comedy?” I asked. “Because that scene might work if it is.”
“It’s
dead serious. As in police drama serious. Viewers are going to flock to this
film. Know why? Because it’s going to be a highly watchable murder mystery.”
“Maybe
the cyclist could be wounded. Even a surface wound would do.”
He
looked around and yelled, “Why is she still here?”
I was
now working on the main lot of Ameripictures Studios in Culver City, a town
steeped in Southern California movie-making history. I’d been relocated nearly
a month ago from a production arm in Newport Beach. A trouble free month, I
might add. Unlike the stint in Newport, I’d avoided private investigation work
completely on the main lot. My trouble free streak was going strong. Until now.
A tall
guy in a loose shirt and baggy shorts hustled in my direction. I turned on my
heel and was about to vacate the fictional city street when a long scream froze
me in place. All eyes aimed for the brick building. White shades covered every
window, except one. The fire escape had led the nerd to the only open window. A
woman with inky black hair poked her head out of it. “Help, help!” she said.
“He’s been stabbed.”
About the Author
Lida Sideris is an author, lawyer, and all-around book enthusiast. She writes soft-boiled mysteries and was a recipient of the Helen McCloy Mystery Writers of America scholarship award.
Murder: Double or Nothing is #3 in her Southern California Mystery series, published by Level Best Books.
Lida is also the author of The Cookie Eating Fire Dog, a picture book for ages 4-8.
She lives in the northern tip of SoCal with her family, rescue dogs and a flock of uppity chickens.
To learn more, please visit: www.LidaSideris.com
BLOG: http://www.lidasideris.com/blog/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/lidasideris
TWITTER: @lidasideris
GoodReads:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26139837-murder-and-other-unnatural-disasters?from_search=true&search_version=service
Purchase Links AMAZON
Thank you very much, Laura, for putting the spotlight on my latest book! Much appreciated! :)
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