Hardwood, Hush Money and Homicide
(2026)(The second book in the Ruby Hartwell Cozy Mystery series)
A novel by Pamela Gunn
Small-town festivals are supposed to feature funnel cakes, pie contests, and mild sunburn. Not a corpse.
When Pinewood's Heritage Festival kicks off with local troublemaker Chet Wheeler dead in the sawdust, Ruby Hartwell's weekend plans take a hard left into homicide.
The festival is now a crime scene, the sheriff wants Ruby gone, and the town is buzzing louder than the kettle corn stand.
Her best friend is developing a suspect spreadsheet. The town gossip is live-streaming every rumor. And Ruby is trying to remember that diagnosing root rot and diagnosing murder are completely different skill sets.
The problem? She's unnervingly good at both.
Nobody's weeping over Chet Wheeler — that's red flag number one. Red flag number two is how fast Pinewood closes ranks. There's Lila Carmichael, bankrolling Chet's silence over something she'd do almost anything to bury. And Harvey Pike, whose guilty behavior suggests his books aren't the only things he's been cooking.
The deeper Ruby digs, the uglier the roots.
In Pinewood, the smiles are wide, the memories are long, and forgiveness was never really on the menu.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
When Pinewood's Heritage Festival kicks off with local troublemaker Chet Wheeler dead in the sawdust, Ruby Hartwell's weekend plans take a hard left into homicide.
The festival is now a crime scene, the sheriff wants Ruby gone, and the town is buzzing louder than the kettle corn stand.
Her best friend is developing a suspect spreadsheet. The town gossip is live-streaming every rumor. And Ruby is trying to remember that diagnosing root rot and diagnosing murder are completely different skill sets.
The problem? She's unnervingly good at both.
Nobody's weeping over Chet Wheeler — that's red flag number one. Red flag number two is how fast Pinewood closes ranks. There's Lila Carmichael, bankrolling Chet's silence over something she'd do almost anything to bury. And Harvey Pike, whose guilty behavior suggests his books aren't the only things he's been cooking.
The deeper Ruby digs, the uglier the roots.
In Pinewood, the smiles are wide, the memories are long, and forgiveness was never really on the menu.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Pamela Gunn's Hardwood, Hush Money and Homicide