Through a Shot Glass Darkly PDF
Preview Through a Shot Glass Darkly
Alex Fitzpatrick, transplanted Jersey girl, has recently moved to Sherman, Nebraska and opened a pub. Sherman is on the map, but sometimes Alex feels she’s living in a time warp. The little boys have crew cuts and the residents smile and say hello to strangers. No one locks their doors.
Then, on a cold October night, Book Ends,a wonderful Main Street bookstore, burns down with the owner, Alex’s friend Barb, inside.As Alex grieves, her initial unease about the fire deepens into a conviction that it was arson. She digs into Barb’s past and finds enemies there: an abusive ex-husband—a farmer embittered by their divorce—and closer to home, God’s Warriors, a secretive local men’s group: think Promise Keepers meets Ku Klux Klan.
Sometimes she feels like a Miss Marple impersonator, but Alex is determined to discover who set the fire. Humor helps her keep things in perspective. She’s also helped by her wisecracking friend Kathy (her instructor in Nebraska 101) and Chris, a beautiful photographer to whom she is secretly, unwillingly attracted. But someone wants them to stop, and pranks escalate into threats. To discover the arsonist, Alex must decode the often mystifying culture of Sherman, Nebraska, whose sunny surface conceals more darkness than she’d bargained for. Ultimately, her investigation will force her to confront this question: does a Jersey tomato belong in Nebraska dirt?
“Jersey-born Irish pub owner Alex Fitzpatrick is a real fish out of water in a Nebraska college town that’s dominated by farming, faith, and football—and scarred by fire. Prejudice of all kinds simmers below the surface here, and dogged, curious Alex is the perfect sleuth to unravel the death of her new friend in a tense and compelling debut mystery. Kelly gets all the small-town details right, skillfully blending beauty and danger in a mystery that will make you hungry for Kelly to write more.” Lev Raphael, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of the Nick Hoffman Mysteries, Dancing on Tisha B’Av, and My Germany
“In Sherman, Nebraska, Siobhan Kelly has masterfully crafted an old-fashioned, family-values town where nothing special seems to happen. But underneath this benign façade, murder lurks, and Kelly has created the perfect amateur sleuth, New Jersey transplant and pub owner, Alex Fitzpatrick. The writing is sharp and evocative, and there are enough suspects to keep the reader guessing all the way to the end.” Charles Salzberg, author of Shamus Award-nominated Swann’s Last Song, and the sequel, Swann Dives In
"Alex Fitzpatrick, New Jersey's 'queen of tunnel vision,' opens an Irish pub in Nebraska--and received a hilarious education in the ways of small towns. When her guide to the Midwest falls victim to a fiery misadventure, Alex, in the best tradition of amateur detectives, refuses to stand by and let an arsonist, perhaps a murderer, stay hidden. Through A Shot Glass Darkly, Siobhan Kelly's debut mystery, is utterly chilling."
Lisa Sandlin, Shamus Award-nominated author of "Phelan's First Case," Message to the Nurse of Dreams, and Stories from the River Province
Siobhan Kelly is a Jersey girl who taught for thirteen years in Nebraska, where she wrote a food column for the Norfolk Daily News. She lives at the Jersey Shore with her partner and three demanding cats, and is at work on a sequel to Shot Glass.
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