Claret and Present Danger
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In this thrilling mystery by USA Today bestselling author Sarah Fox, deadly happenings stick around like red wine stains on white tunics when the Renaissance faire visits Shady Creek, Vermont.
The Trueheart Renaissance Faire and Circus has rolled into town, attracting locals who can’t wait to spend a few summer days lost in a whimsical world of all-knowing fortune-tellers and daring acrobats. Well-read pub owner Sadie Coleman is swept up in the magic herself when she serves drinks to the faire’s resident wizard, the shamelessly brazen illusionist Ozzie Stone, and scores two tickets to his dazzling performance.
Sadie has no complaints about indulging in a free show with her new beau, craft brewery owner Grayson Blake. But while Ozzie is an instant crowd-pleaser, the real surprise comes when he collapses in the middle of his set. It’s not part of the act—Ozzie is dead, seemingly poisoned by someone who wasn’t clowning around about writing the roguish showman’s final chapter.
The terrifying situation intensifies when the police eye one of Sadie’s employees, last seen caught in a suspicious fistfight at the fairgrounds. With so much at stake, Sadie must strain through a suspect list longer than her cocktail menu to find the real knave of a killer. But when another performer is murdered, it becomes clear that bringing the mixed-up murderer to justice will be about as dangerous as walking the high wire after happy hour . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shady Creek, Vt., is the latest stop for the Trueheart Renaissance Faire and Circus in Fox's charming fourth Literary Pub mystery (after 2020's The Malt in Our Stars). Pretending to step back in time is only part of the attraction, and pub owner Sadie Coleman is eager to see the circus. Initially, Sadie can't get admission for the main attraction, illusionist Ozzie Stone, until one evening he walks into her pub and they discover they both grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., and he offers her a pair of tickets. Later, at the performance, Ozzie drops dead on stage, and the results of a toxicology test show he was poisoned. Sadie soon realizes Ozzie was not well-liked by his fellow performers, including a juggler and a soothsayer, among a plethora of potential suspects. When the detective investigating the case focuses on Sadie's employee Damien Keys, who made a mysterious visit to the faire, she and her boyfriend, craft brewery owner Grayson Blake, set out to exonerate Damien. The tension rises with a second death. Cozy fans will find plenty to like.
