Virtual Tour & #Giveaway for Off the Beadin' Path by Janice Peacock

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Tour, presented by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, for Off the Beadin' Path by Janice Peacock.  Please leave a comment or question for Janice to let her know you stopped by.  You may enter her tour wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You may follow all of the stops on the tour by clicking on the banner above, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.  Good Luck! 

Off the Beadin’ Path

By Janice Peacock

Glass Bead Mystery Series, Book Three

Publisher: Vetrai Press

Release Date: March 11, 2017

Genre:  Cozy Mystery

ISBN: 978-0990570592

ASIN: B01N6FUCPN

Purchase Links:  Amazon |  B& N | iTunes | Smashwords 

  

About the Book

Glass beadmaker Jax O’Connell and her friend Tessa have no idea what challenges await them when they take a glassblowing class with Marco De Luca, a famous Italian glass artist—and infamous lothario.

After the first night of class, Tessa sees a body through the rain-streaked window of the studio. The next morning there’s no sign of Marco, and one of the studio owners is also missing. The local sheriff isn't taking the disappearances seriously, but Tessa knows what she saw. To complicate matters, Officer Shaw and Detective Grant are both vying for Jax’s attention as she tracks down clues in a small town that's been keeping more than one secret.

Jax and Tessa must face their fears to find the body and uncover the killer before another life is shattered.

Off the Beadin’ Path is the third book in the Glass Bead Mystery Series.

Excerpt  

The red and blue lights of a police car behind us flashed through the van’s windows as we hit Seattle’s city limits. Tessa rolled down her window, while the police officer who pulled us over walked along the driver’s side of her minivan, his boots crunching in the gravel as he approached.

“License and registration,” the officer said, even before he bent to look in the window. His deep voice sent a familiar tingle down my spine.

I rummaged through the messy glove compartment, looking for the van’s registration slip while Tessa rifled through her wallet for her driver’s license. Finding the slip, I silently passed it to her. Tessa glanced up at the officer as she handed him the items he’d requested.

“Tessa, is that you? Jax?” Ryan Shaw asked, leaning down and peering into the van. He was one of Seattle’s newest police officers and had apparently been assigned to the least satisfying job—parking and traffic. When Tessa and I met him in Portland, Oregon, a few months ago at a bead bazaar, he was a lowly security guard hoping to become a cop. While Tessa spent only a short while with Ryan during our time in Portland, I had gotten to know him quite well, but not as well as either of us would have liked. I’d been looking forward to seeing him once he moved to Seattle. But in the couple of phone calls we’d had since he’d relocated, both of which I’d initiated, he explained how busy he was getting settled and starting his new challenging position. I wondered if his feelings for me had cooled, and I was becoming unsure of how I felt about Ryan.

“Ryan! What are you doing here?” I asked. “I mean—you pulled us over, so I know what you’re doing here, but—”

“Tessa was going forty-five in a twenty-five-mile-per-hour zone,” Ryan said. Tessa was a notoriously fast driver, so this news was not surprising.

“Fortunately, you’re such a terrific guy, and you know us, so you’re going to let us off with a warning, right?” I asked.

“I’m serious about enforcing the law. If you commit a crime on my watch, you’re going to have to deal with the consequences. Now, Tessa, I’m sorry, but I’m going to need to give you a ticket. It’s nothing personal.” Tessa covered her face with her hands and took a deep rattling breath. I looked up at Ryan, pleading silently.

“Che casino,” Tessa said with a quiet whimper, switching to her native language, as she often did in times of stress, or when she was drunk. Che casino meant “what a mess” in Italian, and she was right, it was a mess. Tessa and I got into plenty of messes, especially since I’d moved to Seattle three years ago.

“Look what you’ve done to my friend!” I said, putting a comforting hand on Tessa’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” Ryan handed Tessa her license and registration. Maybe she wasn’t going to get a ticket after all. Thank goodness! Of course Ryan wouldn’t ticket my best friend. “You’ll be getting the ticket in the mail,” Ryan said as gently as possible. He came around to my side of the van. I rolled down my window, although I was in no mood to talk with him right now.

“How are you? Can we get together sometime?” he asked, leaning down so that his face was inches from mine. His olive skin and close-cropped dark hair were as perfect as ever.

“Uh, well, Ryan, I…” I looked up into those beautiful, chocolate brown eyes and nearly melted. Could I really say no to those sexy eyes, and the sexy everything else that made Ryan Shaw such a perfect specimen of manhood? “You know what? No! We can’t get together. You gave Tessa a ticket. You haven’t been in touch for months. Sorry,” I said, pushing the button to roll up the window. Ryan unhooked his fingers from the edge of the glass as the window slid shut. I gave him a little wave. “Punch it, Tessa.”

“I’m not going to punch it, but I will get the hell out of here. I don’t want to get two speeding tickets in the space of fifty yards.”

I looked in the van’s side mirror as Tessa drove away. Ryan was standing at the side of the road, scratching his head. I don’t think anyone—any woman, at least—had ever said no to that man. I was the first, and I was proud of myself. But, damn, he sure did have broad shoulders.

 About the Author

Janice Peacock decided to write her first mystery novel after working in a glass studio full of colorful artists who didn’t always get along. They reminded her of the quirky, and often humorous, characters in the murder mystery books she loves to read. Inspired by that experience, she combined her two passions and wrote High Strung: A Glass Bead Mystery, the first book in a new cozy mystery series featuring glass beadmaker Jax O’Connell.

When Janice Peacock isn’t writing about glass artists who are amateur detectives, she makes glass beads using a torch, designs one-of-a-kind jewelry, and makes sculptures using hot glass. An award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of several museums. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two cats, and an undisclosed number of chickens. She has a studio full of beads...lots and lots of beads.

Connect with Janice Peacock

Website: www.JanicePeacock.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/janpeac

Blog: www.blog.janicepeacock.com

Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest: @JanPeac

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