Praise for the Giulia Driscoll Mystery Series
Books in the Giulia Driscoll Mystery Series
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Copyright
Dedication
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
About the Author
In case you missed the 1st in the series
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THE DEEP END
PILLOW STALK
FRONT PAGE FATALITY
FINDING SKY
PRACTICAL SINS FOR COLD CLIMATES
Praise for the Giulia Driscoll Mystery Series
SECOND TO NUN (#2)
“Giulia is a sympathetic, well-drawn character who has built a full life for herself after she leaving the convent, but appealing touches of the former nun remain.”
– Booklist
“Driscoll’s second solo turn as a sleuth (after Nun Too Soon) offers a fun and fast read with a lot of appeal.”
– Library Journal
“Former nun and current private eye Giulia Driscoll tackles ghosts with the same wit and wisdom she uses to tackle crooks. Great fun.”
– Terrie Farley Moran,
Agatha Award-Winning Author of the Read ’Em and Eat Mysteries
“Loweecey’s characters are colorful without being caricatures, and once again we’re lucky that Giulia Driscoll left the convent behind. She solves the crime with a happy mix of online savvy, humor and intelligence.”
– Sheila Connolly,
New York Times Bestselling Author of An Early Wake
“Loweecey is herself a former nun, and she brings to Giulia all of this inner conflict, residual guilt, and disillusionment…and how can you not love an author who quotes from the movies Airplane and Young Frankenstein? Giulia’s recent marriage adds a delightful dash of romance, but the real appeal of this series is her genuine likability and fiery independent streak that could never be hidden behind a veil.”
– Kings River Life Magazine
“Loweecey has once again crafted a delightful, sassy, smart tale that will send the hair on the back of your head skyward and keep your eyes glued to the page. I loved it!”
– Jessie Chandler,
Author of the Award-Winning Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series
NUN TOO SOON (#1)
“Exciting and suspenseful.”
– Publishers Weekly
“For those who have not yet read these incredible mysteries written by an actual ex-nun, you’re missing out...Brilliant, funny, a great whodunit; this is one writer who readers should definitely make a ‘habit’ of.”
– Suspense Magazine
“With tight procedural plotting, more flavoured coffee than you could shake a pastry at, and an ensemble cast who’ll steal your heart away, Nun Too Soon is a winner. I’m delighted that Giulia–and Alice!–left the convent for a life of crime.”
– Catriona McPherson,
Agatha Award-Winning Author of the Dandy Gilver Mystery Series
“You’ll love Giulia Driscoll! She’s one of a kind—quirky, unpredictable and appealing. With an entertaining cast of characters, a clever premise and Loweecey’s unique perspective—this compelling not-quite-cozy is a winner.”
– Hank Phillippi Ryan,
Mary Higgins Clark Award-Winning Author of Truth Be Told
“Grab your rosary beads and hang on for a fun ride with charming characters, amusing banter, and a heat-packing former nun.”
– Barb Goffman,
Macavity Award-Winning Author
Books in the Giulia Driscoll Mystery Series
by Alice Loweecey
Novels
NUN TOO SOON (#1)
SECOND TO NUN (#2)
NUN BUT THE BRAVE (#3)
July 2016
Short Stories
CHANGING HABITS
(prequel to NUN TOO SOON)
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Copyright
SECOND TO NUN
A Giulia Driscoll Mystery
Part of the Henery Press Mystery Collection
First Edition
Kindle edition | September 2015
Henery Press
www.henerypress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Henery Press, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Copyright © 2015 by Alice Loweecey
Cover art by Stephanie Chontos
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), humorous murder mysteries, book club recommendations, private investigator mystery series.
ISBN-13: 978-1-941962-95-4
Printed in the United States of America
Dedication
To my family, who are still waiting to be killed off in a heart-wrenching scene in one of my books. Not this time, guys.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, thanks to my Awesome Agent, Kent D. Wolf; and my terrific editor, Rachel Jackson. To Natalie Case, for sharing her Tarot expertise. To my fellow Hens for their continual support and encouragement. And to everyone whose phobias include clowns and creepy dolls, my apologies.
One
Hot, tired, and triumphant,
Giulia Driscoll pushed open Driscoll Investigations’ frosted glass door.
“Nobody talk to me until I rip these nylon torture devices off my legs.”
She hung her purse on the coat rack and headed straight for the narrow bathroom. Seconds later, she stuffed her pantyhose into the pocket of her navy blue suit jacket and wiggled blissfully free toes. She opened the door again, carrying her low-heeled shoes in her left hand.
“A few years back, I thought pretending to be a nun again was the worst undercover job I’d ever have. Wrong. If that company calls me for a follow-up interview, I’m wearing pants.”
Zane, her all-but-genius admin, looked at her with that expression men get when women are the most inscrutable creatures on the planet. Sidney, her perky, all-natural assistant, fist-bumped Giulia as she went past.
“If I ever try to institute a formal dress code here,” Giulia said, “you have permission to pour cold water over my head until I come to my senses.”
“Did they fall for it?” Zane said.
“Did you catch the cheating scumbag harassing the receptionist?” Sidney said.
“To answer Zane’s question: Possibly. I gave the HR person ideal canned answers as much as I could. That’s one reason I used my maiden name. You never know if someone’s heard of Driscoll Investigations.”
She pulled out a chair at the worktable under the single window and stretched her spine, dangling her head over the back of the chair and dropping the shoes in the same motion.
The position gave her an upside-down view of the stores across the street: The pizza place that filled the air with the aroma of frying sausage every morning, the celebrity tanning studio, the combination New Age/Tarot Reading shop, and the cell phone store on the corner. The pre-lunch rush had started. Several people headed into the cell phone store. The pizza delivery Honda pulled into traffic after a taxi and a city bus zoomed past. The tanning salon looked deserted, as always. A tall, white-haired woman in flowered capris and a blue camp shirt came out of the Tarot shop.
Zane said, “How soon did they ask you about your greatest weakness?”
Giulia sat up again and laughed. “It’s one of the questions on the intake form.”
“Maybe it’s their inside joke. Sidney, the cheating scumbag did indeed harass the receptionist. He’s so good at it—you know what I mean—that if I hadn’t been looking for inappropriate touching I wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary.”
Zane mirrored Sidney’s frown so well they looked like the positive and negative prints of a photograph. “Seriously, why is that receptionist putting up with his crap? This isn’t the 1950s. The company’s employee handbook has to have a section on sexual harassment.”
“It’s not that straightforward. The CEO and the scumbag are golf and drinking buddies. He’s done this before and gotten away with it. He targets a low-level employee who can’t afford to make trouble at the job. The receptionist’s disabled father lives with her and her income pays the rent. She needs the job for that and the health insurance.”
Sidney made a noise that sounded like an angry bear. “We’ve got giant hogweed in the fields behind our alpaca pasture. Let’s toss him into it naked.”
Giulia said, “Is it similar to poison ivy?”
“Not even close. Hogweed gets like ten feet tall and causes blisters and burns that can hang on for years.”
“That’s much better than my idea of dumping him into the koi fountain in the company’s lobby.” Giulia stood, still barefoot. “Did I miss anything around here?”
The door burst open. The white-haired woman from the Tarot shop strode in and looked at all three of them in turn.
“I need the owner, right now.”
Giulia stepped forward. “I’m Giulia Driscoll. How may I help you?”
The woman grabbed Giulia’s hand and dragged her toward the door. “I have to take you to Lady Rowan.”
Giulia dug her heels into the just-buffed wood floor. “Release my hand, please.”
The woman tugged harder. Giulia braced against her and kept herself in the same spot.
“Please release my hand.”
“All right.” The woman complied. “I’m sorry, but this is urgent. Lady Rowan told me that I must seek the Veiled Woman immediately.”
Giulia glanced at Sidney and Zane, who both shrugged.
“She’s the Tarot reader, of course.” The woman pointed out the window with her left hand and reached into her straw purse with her right. “Here.” She slapped a checkbook with a lighthouse cover on Zane’s desk. “Private detectives get a retainer, right? They always do in the movies. You hold my checkbook while I take your boss to consult with Rowan. When we return I’ll pay for this appointment.”
Giulia slipped bare feet into her shoes. This promised to be much better than spying on a cheating husband. “Let’s go.”
Two
Giulia and her new client walked side by side downstairs and out onto the sidewalk. Both women dodged a score of hurrying pedestrians.
“Those stairs are an accident waiting to happen. I’m MacAllister Stone. Everyone calls me Mac. Here’s a gap in this insane traffic. Ready to run for it?”
They dashed across the street to the music of honking taxi horns and at least one physically impossible suggestion. Giulia figured Mac to be in her early seventies, but her fitness level shaved off a good twenty years.
“People these days have no manners.” Mac led Giulia past the tanning salon’s wide glass windows and under the New Age shop’s deep purple awning.
The restrained storefront showcased different styles of Tarot decks for sale. A black velvet picture frame enclosed a rate sheet for various types of readings. The awning blocked the June sun, creating a pool of twilight for them to stand in. Mac opened the door and ushered Giulia inside. A bell chimed a single high note.
Opposite them, a huge vase filled with stargazer lilies sat on the floor between two flowered armchairs. The scent of violets hung in the air, but didn’t overpower it. The dark floral carpet and mauve wallpaper completed the color scheme.
“Jasper, you’re a lifesaver,” Mac said to the ponytailed young man behind the counter.
“I can do more than blow stuff up, Aunt Mac.” He held out a prosthetic hand to Giulia. “I’m Jasper Fortin, Lady Rowan’s nephew.”
Giulia shook hands. “I seem to be missing an essential clue here.”
Jasper smiled. “Sorry. Hazard of the profession.” He stepped over to a violet jacquard tapestry hanging in a doorway. “They’re back.”
A fluting voice answered, “Send them in, please.”
He held aside the tapestry, still smiling. “Lady Rowan will see you now.”
Mac led the way into a square, dim room with the same carpeting and wallpaper. A circular table and three Mission-style chairs took up seventy percent of the space.
A dark-haired woman faced them. “Ms. Driscoll, I’m relieved you agreed to come with Mac. Take the right-hand chair, please. Mac, the other is the chair you sat in earlier.”
She pressed a remote control and recessed ceiling lights brightened, banishing the spooky atmosphere. “Much better. Let’s get down to business.”
Giulia sat in the indicated chair, trying to decide whether Lady Rowan was emulating Maria Ouspenskaya in The Wolf Man or going for cliché New Age Summer Fashion.
Rowan winked at her. “Certain customers expect the mysterious Hollywood getup, Ms. Driscoll. Mac here likes the whole cosplay treatment. If it were just you and me, I’d wear a business suit. You don’t need the ambiance.”
Giulia gave her points for reading all the nuances of the newcomer’s body language.
“Rowan a
nd I were sorority sisters,” Mac said. “I think she looks adorable in all those scarves and shawls.”
“I’m too old to qualify for adorable. Only because this place has excellent air-conditioning am I sporting the layered look today.” She placed her hands on either side of the complex pattern of Tarot cards on the table. “This isn’t your reading, Ms. Driscoll, so I won’t unpack everything. That would take another half-hour. The reason I sent Mac for you is this combination of the High Priestess, the Hanged Man, and the Moon.”
The many bracelets on her arms jingled as she indicated the cards. “The High Priestess guards the veil of knowledge. When she combines with The Hanged Man in relation to Mac’s situation, the meaning started to become plain to me. When I turned over the Moon card, everything settled into its proper place.”
Giulia turned her polite smile on both of them. “I don’t quite see what’s been settled in relation to Driscoll Investigations.”
Rowan cackled. “That was a beautifully subtle mood-killer. In brief, I told Mac that she was to do nothing without consulting she who uncovers the truth. I called Jasper in here. He’s clairvoyant but needs more practice. He knew right away to whom the cards referred.”
“You see?” Mac said. “The cards and Jasper directed me to you, the former nun. The Veiled Woman. You’re meant to help me.”
Giulia didn’t have Rowan’s people-reading skills, but she knew how to take control of a situation. Step one was to get back on her own turf. “I appreciate your confidence in me. If Lady Rowan will excuse us, we can discuss in my office the possibility of Driscoll Investigations taking you on as a client.”