Excerpt: 'In High Cotton' by Kelsey Browning and Nancy Naigle
HEA shares an excerpt from In High Cotton (out this week!), book three in The Granny Series by Kelsey Browning and Nancy Naigle.
First, here's the blurb about the book:
Honey, these are not your momma's grannies…
When a tree topples over onto Miss Lillian's prized 1948 Tucker Torpedo, the grannies are once again scrambling for money and keeping Lil in the dark. Lucky for them, they have their choice of two cases, but which to take—a suspected art forgery or mysteriously disappearing trash from the county landfill?
As usual, things aren't exactly as they first seem, and the grannies soon find themselves going undercover and dumpster diving to track down both bad guys. And now that Lil has scored an unexpected early release from prison, the grannies have more at stake than ever.
Will they find the culprits in time to repair the Tucker before Lil gets home, or will she arrive and unravel their lies?
EXCERPT
Sleuthing for clues at the dump …
When Sera returned a few minutes later, her face wasn't nearly so animated, and something about her expression told Maggie this wasn't the time to butt into her friend's business, so she just said, "Let's get moving, gals. We've got a date with the dump."
It was a little after eleven when they turned onto Lavender Hill Road, and Sera's van jounced over the pitted gravel and dirt track. Abby Ruth pointed out the front window. "Looks like we're not gonna stroll right in."
Sure enough, the front gates were locked. Maggie wanted to pop herself on the forehead. She knew the place wasn't open on Fridays. "I guess we'll have to come back another time."
"Now what's the fun in that?" Abby Ruth asked. "You hauled us all the way out here. We might as well have a look-see."
They got out of the truck and Maggie said, "Remind me what we're looking for."
Because honestly, how would they know if a couple of cardboard boxes and soiled diapers had been taken? Hollis was a much better judge than they'd ever be. Then again, that gave some merit to his claim things were missing. He would know, wouldn't he?
Sera piped up, "The universe has a way of leading us in the direction we need to go."
"Then why the hell are ninety-nine percent of the men in this world lost and won't stop to ask for directions?"
Maggie snickered. Abby Ruth had a point. Her George had been one of those men who'd drive all the way to Timbuktu claiming the whole time he was headed for Tallahassee.
"Fine," Maggie said, even though she felt a tad uneasy snooping around when the place was closed. This probably wasn't what Hollis had had in mind. "But how will we know if we've found something important?"
"I have a feeling it's like a lot of things in the world," Abby Ruth said. "We'll know it when we find it. I say let's start by scouting the perimeter. Ol' Hollis probably sits up in that booth all day long. No way he could get all the way around this fence using his walker."
True. Gopher holes dotted the ground around the eight-foot chain link fence. Hollis would wedge one leg of his walker in a hole and topple over like a bowling pin.
They trooped single file, scanning the hole-pocked and scraggly ground. About two-thirds of the way around, Maggie spotted a pile of items outside the fence line. A rickety yellow footstool, a beat-up ancient stand mixer in an awful shade of green with one beater missing, and a bathmat that appeared to have been feasted on by moths.
Although they could see the stash of trash, it wouldn't be in the line of sight of anyone sitting in the security booth.
"Clues," Sera squealed.
Find out more about the series at www.TheGrannySeries.com and the authors at www.KelseyBrowning.com and www.NancyNaigle.com.