Blog Tour – Tall Willows by PC Feather

Title: Tall Willows

Author: PC Feather

Genre: Murder Mystery / Romance

For senior Ruth Willows, her last year at Golden Valley High School in Golden Valley, Colorado was to be the best year ever. That is until the drop-dead sexy cowboy love-of-her-life Ken Silver turns out to be the school’s new English teacher. When she sees him at school, she faints from the shock, crashes into a bookcase, and goes to the ER. Ken, realizing his terrible conflict of interest, goes to the ER and tells her he cannot see her anymore.

Ruth returns to school, injured, mortified, and heart broken only to discover the district accountant shot dead in the school darkroom. If that weren’t enough, she accidentally picks up a file that the late administrator left in the school office before his death. The file contains proof that someone was embezzling funds from the school.

Ruth finds herself in the middle of the mystery. Was the administrator killed by the embezzler? Does the embezzler know this file exists? Could the murder be a coincidence?

Tall Willows takes you to beautiful horse farms in the fictional small town of Golden Valley, Colorado, back to high school and first love, and into the mind of a crazed murderer. If you love a good mystery with a steamy side of forbidden romance, you’ll love Tall Willows.

Excerpt:

From Chapter 1

Hector looked at his watch, eight-o-five, now he was late for his meeting. “I have to go. I must speak with Principal Rodriguez.”

From the stairwell, the woman called as she glided up the stairs, “The closet’s just up here, honey. Besides, I don’t see his car in the parking lot yet.”

She was right. The principal’s parking spot in the lot below remained empty.

“If you just hold this door for me, you can be on your way, and I won’t bother you anymore,” She called down from the top of the stairs.

Hector climbed the stairs and joined her outside a door. Black painted letters on it said DARKROOM.

“It’s just storage now,” she chattered. “The box of colored paper is on a shelf in the back. I’ll hold the door open, and you grab it for me.” She stood firm by the door, not moving to go inside.

Hector decided to get the paper so he could get back to the office and on with his meeting. His hand patted the wall for a light switch. He flicked it on. Only a dim red glow emanated from the back of the closet. He flicked the adjacent switch, and a florescent weakly flickered. Hector shuffled through the small cramped closet. He only saw old camera equipment and film developing chemicals.

“Ma’am, I don’t see a box of paper,” he called to her.

“I know it’s in there! Check under the shelf!” she demanded, her voice taking on a distinct edge.

He didn’t have time to protest. The lights went out; the door clicked shut, and the sudden darkness blinded him. He assumed he was alone in the pitch-black closet when the red light flicked on. A bright flash produced an ear-splitting sound. His thigh burned in intense pain. He grabbed his leg; it was warm and wet. What the… His mind raced. Is this… blood? Hector didn’t have time to form another thought before the second bullet penetrated his skull.