Rosa was having a hard time keeping up with Gloria’s wide-awake exuberance. “No, I wasn’t aware.”
“Oh, it’s a lot of fun, with rides and clowns and cotton candy.”
None of those things sounded fun to Rosa.
“I don’t know—”
Gloria grabbed Rosa’s hand and tugged playfully. “Oh, come on. You can’t sit around here all day, and I’m bored. Please, come to the boardwalk with me.”
A grin tugged on the edges of Rosa’s lips. Gloria’s energy and zest for life were hard to resist. And her cousin was right. She couldn’t very well spend the rest of her holiday sitting around the Forrester mansion. Besides, what could go wrong at the boardwalk?
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Eager to read the next book in the Rosa Reed Mystery series?
Don’t miss MURDER ON THE BOARDWALK.
Murder's such a shock!
When Rosa Reed—aka WPC Reed of the Metropolitan Police—and her cousin Gloria decide to spend a fun-filled afternoon in 1956 at the fair on the boardwalk in Santa Bonita, California, they're in for a shocking surprise. After a ride assistant's death by electrocution is determined to be murder, Rosa finds herself entangled once again with her high school sweetheart, Detective Miguel Belmonte. Should she catch the next flight to London before she becomes the next victim?
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Did you read the PREQUEL?
Rosa & Miguel’s Wartime Romance is a BONUS short story exclusively for Lee’s newsletter subscribers.
How it All Began. . .
Like many British children during World War Two, Rosa Reed’s parents, Ginger and Basil Reed, made the heart-wrenching decision to send their child to a foreign land and out of harm’s way. Fortunately, Ginger’s half-sister Louisa and her family, now settled in the quaint coastal town of Santa Bonita, California, were pleased to take her in.
By the spring of 1945, Rosa Reed had almost made it through American High School unscathed, until the American army decided to station a base there. Until she met the handsome Private Miguel Belmonte and fell in love. . .
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Afterword
Invented “science” is a common ploy in all kinds of fictitious works including books, film and television.
In Murder at High Tide, the drug Dihydroboldenone is an actual substance while Onvocyn is a creation of the authors’ imaginations.
Rosa & Miguel’s Wartime Romance
PREQUEL - excerpt
Rosa Reed first laid eyes on Miguel Belmonte on the fourteenth day of February in 1945. She was a senior attending a high school dance, and he a soldier who played in the band.
She’d been dancing with her date, Tom Hawkins, a short, stalky boy with pink skin and an outbreak of acne, but her gaze continued to latch onto the bronze-skinned singer, with dark crew-cut hair, looking very dapper in a black suit.
In a life-changing moment, their eyes locked. Despite the fact that she stared at the singer over the shoulder of her date, she couldn’t help the bolt of electricity that shot through her, and when the singer smiled—and those dimples appeared—heavens, her knees almost gave out!
“Rosa?”
Tom’s worried voice brought her back to reality. “Are you okay? You went a little limp there. Do you feel faint? It is mighty hot in here.” Tom released Rosa’s hand to tug at his tie. “Do you want to get some air?”
Rosa felt a surge of alarm. Invitations to step outside the gymnasium were often euphemisms to get fresh.
In desperation she searched for her best friend Nancy Davidson—her best American friend, that was. Vivien Eveleigh claimed the position of best friend back in London, and Rosa missed her. Nancy made for a sufficient substitute. A pretty girl with honey-blond hair, Nancy, fortunately, was no longer dancing, and was sitting alone.
“I think I’ll visit the ladies, Tom, if you don’t mind.”
He looked momentarily put out, then shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He joined a group of lads—boys—at the punch table, and joined in with their raucous laughter. Rosa didn’t want to know what they were joking about, or at whose expense.
Nancy understood Rosa’s plight as she wasn’t entirely pleased with her fellow either. “If only you and I could dance with each other.”
“One can’t very well go to a dance without a date, though,” Rosa said.
Nancy laughed. “One can’t.”
Rosa rolled her eyes. Even after four years of living in America, her Englishness still manifested when she was distracted.
And tonight’s distraction was the attractive lead singer in the band, and shockingly, he seemed to have sought her face out too.
Nancy had seen the exchange and gave Rosa a firm nudge. “No way, José. I know he’s cute, but he’s from the wrong side of the tracks. Your aunt would have a conniption.”
Nancy wasn’t wrong about that. Aunt Louisa had very high standards, as one who was lady of Forrester mansion, might.
“I’m only looking!”
Nancy harrumphed. “As long as it stays that way.”
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Murder on the Boardwalk Sneak Peek
Chapter One
Sunshine soothed the soul.
Lines of gently swaying palm trees and stucco Spanish mansions set against a cloudless sky would never get old. Miss Rosa Reed, known in rainy London England as WPC Reed of the Metropolitan Police, strolled away from the Forrester mansion in Santa Bonita, California, with her cousin Gloria on her arm.
“We need to find you a fuller crinoline.” Gloria playfully nudged Rosa with an elbow as they neared one of the Forrester vehicles, a two-tone yellow Chevrolet Bel Air parked in the driveway.
Not once in her life had Rosa been criticized for her wardrobe while in London. With a mother who owned one of London’s highbrow Regent Street dress shops, Rosa had grown up under the influence of stylish
