Aunt Madge and the Civil Election

Aunt Madge is horrified that her Jersey shore town will give big tax breaks to a huge resort. Ocean Alley will be swallowed up in a condo canyon. She runs for mayor to promote sensible progress over massive growth. A lot of people agree with her. Maybe not whoever tried to burn down her garage. Neither she nor her opponent will stoop to low blows, so people are actually talking about the issue. How odd. With the regular Ocean Alley characters, a bunch of laughs, and murder on the side, visit Ocean Alley to find out how it will chart its future.

If this is your first book in the Jolie Gentil series, it’s a bit different than the others. In fact, it’s called an Aunt Madge Story in the Jolie series. In terms of story chronology, it follows "Underground in Ocean Alley" (book 11). In that book, Jolie solves a murder while Aunt Madge happens to be running for mayor of Ocean Alley.

In "Aunt Madge and The Civil Election," events of the crime-solving are muted and the campaign is the focus. If that sounds boring, be assured there is plenty going on, with much of the usual dry humor. I wanted readers to have the story of Aunt Madge’s campaign. It’s told from her point of view rather than Jolie’s, without spoiling the mystery in "Underground in Ocean Alley," should you choose to read it.

This is a 17,000 word "long short story."