A Gift for Murder

by Karen McCullough

Overview

For fifty-one weeks of the year, Heather McNeil loves her job as assistant to the director of the Washington DC Market Show Center. But the Gift and Home trade show, the biggest show of the year at the center, is a week-long nightmare. This year's version is worse than usual. Misplaced shipments, feuding exhibitors, and malfunctioning popcorn machines are all in a day's work. Finding the body of a murdered executive dumped in a trash bin during the show isn't. The policesuspect the victim's wife killed him, but Heather doesn't believe it. She's gotten glimmers of an entirely different scenario and possible motive, but questioning exhibitors about the crime doesn't make her popular with them or with her employers. Still, other lives might be at risk, and if she doesn't identify the murderer before the show ends, the culprit could well remain free to kill again. Her only help comes from a company executive with ulterior motives and the Market Center's attractive new security officer, Scott Brandon. Despite opposition from some of the exhibitors, her employers, and the police, Heather seeks to expose the killer before the show ends. To solve the mystery she will have to risk what's most important to her and be prepared to fight for answers, her job, and possibly her life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781723446191
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	07/19/2018
Series:	Market Center Mysteries , #1
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	841,379
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.60(d)

Editorial Reviews

Just before a busy gift and home trade show opens at the Commerce & Market Show Center in Washington, D.C., in this lively first in a new cozy series, Heather McNeil discovers a crowbar-smashed corpse in the center's dumpster. Figuring out who wanted Tim Bethel, the co-owner of Grantwood & Bethel, a supplier of gifts and accessories, dead is up to Det. Peter Gilmont, but plucky Heather, the overworked assistant to the center's director, and her potential boyfriend, security guard Scott Brandon, show they're up to the job and more as they get on the track of Tim's killer. Despite some padding and predictable twists, McCullough (A Question of Fire) shows real flare in describing the hectic trade show world, including an exhibitor with a smelly, malfunctioning popcorn machine. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

The Gift and Home show provides fertile ground for intrigue and feuds, but murder is most unexpected.

Heather McNeil is assistant to the director of the Washington, D.C., Market Show Center and is very good at her job, especially fixing problems and listening to complaints, but finding a body is outside her job description. With the help of a newly hired security person, the mysterious former cop and current hunk Scott Brandon, she becomes a reluctant sleuth. The murdered man was an unfaithful husband and a partner in a business that may soon be merging with another. The police suspect the wife, but Heather has a feeling the murder is rooted in his business activities. While dealing with malfunctioning popcorn machines, suspicious exhibitor activities and misplaced shipments, she also has to worry that her investigation will cost her the job she loves.

A new cozy from the prolific McCullough introduces a charming heroine while providing a behind-the-scenes look at trade shows and a nice little mystery to solve.

Kirkus Reviews