Books by Lee Hollis
Hayley Powell Mysteries
DEATH OF A KITCHEN DIVA
DEATH OF A COUNTRY FRIED REDNECK
DEATH OF A COUPON CLIPPER
DEATH OF A CHOCOHOLIC
DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CATERER
DEATH OF A CUPCAKE QUEEN
DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS
DEATH OF A PUMPKIN CARVER
DEATH OF A LOBSTER LOVER
DEATH OF A COOKBOOK AUTHOR
DEATH OF A WEDDING CAKE BAKER
DEATH OF A BLUEBERRY TART
DEATH OF A WICKED WITCH
Collections
EGGNOG MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross)
YULE LOG MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross)
HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross)
CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Peggy Ehrhart)
Poppy Harmon Mysteries
POPPY HARMON INVESTIGATES
POPPY HARMON AND THE HUNG JURY
POPPY HARMON AND THE PILLOW TALK KILLER
Maya & Sandra Mysteries
MURDER AT THE PTA
MURDER AT THE BAKE SALE
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer
LEE HOLLIS
ww.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2021 by Rick Copp
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945315
ISBN: 978-1-4967-3037-4
ISBN-10: 1-4967-3037-2
First Kensington Hardcover Edition: April 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3039-8 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-4967-3039-9 (ebook)
For George and Alex
Chapter 1
It had been over thirty years since Poppy Harmon had stepped foot on an actual Hollywood film set. Granted, this shoot was set up at a high-end resort hotel in the heart of Palm Springs and not some cavernous soundstage on the Paramount lot where her mid-1980s television series Jack Colt, PI had been filmed, but there was a feeling of warm familiarity, an infusion of happy memories, because back in her heyday when Poppy was an actress with a regular TV role, she had never once taken it for granted. She had always been hyperaware of just how lucky she was to have scored such a cushy, well-paying gig at the time, especially after so many years in her late teens and early twenties struggling, waiting tables, modeling skimpy swimwear at car shows, and answering phones at a call center for a household appliance company.
Poppy watched as the crew busily set up lights by the shimmering pool where the next scene was to be shot as a bright-eyed, eager, enthusiastic PA who had introduced himself as Timothy led her and Matt through the resort.
Matt was like a kid in a candy store, excitedly soaking up everything he saw: a makeup woman powdering the face of a vaguely recognizable actor; a forty-something man in a gray T-shirt and red baseball cap, slumped over in his director’s chair, perusing a script; some kind of set decorator or production designer painstakingly arranging red bougainvillea in the background of the set as the cinematographer stared through the lens of his camera, working on getting his shot just right.
Poppy knew Matt was in his element. This had been his dream for most of his young life. He had wanted so desperately to become a successful actor, the next Ryan Gosling or Chris Hemsworth, or whoever was the hot superstar of the moment. But life never works out exactly as you expect, and now the talented young man found himself playing the role of Matt Flowers, the public face, the de facto head, of the Desert Flowers Detective Agency. He wasn’t on billboards and buses, or in the front row of the Academy Awards, but he was successful and surprisingly good at the part he was playing.
When Poppy, along with her two best pals, Iris and Violet, had first started the Palm Springs–based investigative firm, no one would hire them. Mostly due to people’s ageist preconceptions that three mature women in their sixties were utterly incapable of solving cases or handling potentially dangerous situations. Enter Matt. Young, virile, disarmingly charming. He had risen to the challenge of playing a master detective wholeheartedly, and his performance had put their fledgling business on the map. Now they had more clients than they knew what to do with.
Including Danika Delgado, a rising young actress and social media influencer who had heard about Matt’s daring exploits online and had called the Desert Flowers office, which was located in Iris’s garage, to inquire about hiring them.
Actually, Danika did not call personally. One of her three personal assistants had left the message on voicemail. Poppy, Iris, and Violet were clueless as to who Danika Delgado even was, but Matt had certainly heard of her, which became quite clear when he whooped and hollered about being a
