by Peggy Webb
Ruby Nell Valentine – Callie’s mom is fond of changing her hair color to suit her mood and wearing caftans that make her look like the queen of a small country. She keeps things lively with her off-beat sayings at Everlasting Monuments, the tombstone company she founded and runs single-handedly, and her little jaunts to Tunica for some restorative gambling. All on Callie’s dollar.
Fayrene Johnson – Fayrene murders the English language with sayings such as “I’m sitting on my sexual sofa,” and “I have ESPN,” while she’s being Ruby Nell’s best friend, running Gas, Grits and Guts (Mooreville’s only convenience store) and keeping her husband, Jarvetis in line. She hears all the gossip and considers it her civic duty to spread it around.
Charlie Valentine - A widower and a former Company operative, Charlie owns Eternal Rest Funeral Home over in Tupelo, and holds his family together by quietly making sure his brother’s widow (Ruby Nell) doesn’t drive Callie crazy, his daughter Lovie doesn’t give in to all her animal instincts, and his protégé, Jack Jones, stays close at hand and in the know. And if Charlie has anything to do with it, in the family.
Jack Jones - Callie’s hunk a burnin’ love almost ex is a bad boy on a Harley, the Company’s best operative who is trying not to get shot at and killed while he wins back the woman he can’t seem to do without. If Elvis has his way, Jack will be become the family man Callie has always wanted.
Bobby Huckabee - Charlie’s assistant over at Eternal Rest has mismatched eyes and claims the blue one is psychic. His biggest fans are Ruby Nell and Fayrene, who built a séance room on the back of Gas, Grits and Guts so Bobby can commune with the dead. Shy almost to the point of being tongue-tied, Bobby’s sincerest wish is to commune with Fayrene’s many-times married daughter.
Darlene - Callie’s manicurist is fond of reading a customer’s Horoscope while she does her nails. She has a little boy named David, an uppity cat named Mal (short for Malicious, according to Elvis) and a Lhasa Apso named William who is currently shaking his useless tail at Elvis’ French Poodle babe.
Jarvetis – Fayrene’s husband loves his redbone hound dog Trey (Elvis’s best friend) as much as he does his wife…according to Fayrene, who is worried her husband will work himself into a heart castration.
Sheriff Trice – An ongoing character in the Southern Cousins Mysteries.
Various Other Residents of Mooreville who pop in an out of Hair.Net and make use of Eternal Rest and Everlasting Monuments.
For more information on the Southern Cousins Mysteries and all things Elvis, visit the author at www.peggywebb.com. That’s it, folks. Elvis has left the building!
Don’t miss…
Elvis and the Bridegroom Stiffs (Book 6), coming soon, and Elvis and the Deadly Love Letters, an exclusive Southern Cousins Mystery short story in My Evil Valentine, a multi-author anthology coming in February!
Excerpt Elvis and the Bridegroom Stiffs
Book 6
A Southern Cousins Mystery
Peggy Webb
Elvis’ Opinion #1 on Weddings, Dead Bodies and Beagle Babes
There hasn’t been a dead body around here since Corky Kelly knocked off Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and tried to snuff out Santa Claus. What all this peace in the valley means is that a famous doggie sleuth like yours truly has plenty of time to make sure my human mom (that would Callie Valentine Jones, owner of the best little beauty shop in Mooreville) does not have a change of heart when my human daddy pops the question.
It’s now or never. Yesterday they had a big argument over her involvement in the Christmas mall murders, and she sent him packing. Again! Now yours truly is bouncing between Callie and Jack, living in luxury half the time and wallowing in my human dad’s dirty gym socks at the Magnolia Arms the rest of the time. Even when Jack puts my guitar shaped silk pillow by his bed, there’s no hope for that apartment. It’s enough to make a dog of my fine tastes hit the long, lonely highway
I’ve got to work fast to get Jack and Callie back together and back to the altar. For keeps, this time.
And speaking of weddings, everybody in Mooreville is up in arms over how Trixie Moffett dumped poor old Roy Jessup at the feed and seed store in favor of a slick dude who arouses suspicious minds. If you want to hear the real story, mosey on over to Gas, Grits and Guts. Fayrene always knows the latest gossip, and she’s more than willing to tell it. She’s got so many folks heading to her convenience store to hear news hot off wagging tongues, she’s had a big run on pickled pigs lips.
Ruby Nell, Callie’s mama, called this morning to say she was heading that way, but it’s not gossip she’s after; it’s a little game of cards and some Prohibition punch with Fayrene in the séance room. When Ruby Nell’s not meddling in Callie’s love life, she’s with Fayrene looking for trouble.
Another Valentine looking for trouble is Callie’s cousin, Lovie. Ever since she made up with Rocky Malone in that showdown in the séance room over at Gas, Grits and Guts, she’s been trying to get him to discover her National Treasure. He may look like God’s gift to every woman – a younger version of Harrison Ford on a dig without the white hat and the whip – but he’s the last of a dying breed, a gentleman who had rather woo and wed than woo and bed.
As for yours truly, I’m through staying in Heartbreak Hotel over that two-timing French poodle, Ann Margret. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to convince Callie’s silly spaniel there’s a steak buried on the other side of the fence. He’ll work his fool self silly digging a hole. And then I’m out of here and it’s love machine time, baby! I hear there’s a hot new beagle babe hanging around Mooreville Truck Stop, and that she’s not playing hard to get.
Don’t tell Callie. I don’t like to worry my human mom. She’s got enough on her mind keeping Ruby Nell out of trouble and fixing hairdos for everybody who will be at Trixie Moffett’s wedding, and that includes everybody who is anybody in Mooreville.
Look for me when you see me coming.
About Peggy Webb
Peggy Webb is a USA Today best-selling author from Mississippi with 70 books to her credit. She writes romance and the hilarious Southern Cousins cozy mystery series starring Elvis, the basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. Her peers call her a “comic genius.” She also writes literary fiction under the pen names Anna Michaels (for Simon & Schuster) and Elaine Hussey (The Sweetest Hallelujah, MIRA, July 30, 2013). Pat Conroy calls her literary work “astonishing.” This critically acclaimed author has won many awards, including a Romantic Times Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy. Several of her romances have been optioned for film.
Peggy is a member of Novelists, Inc., Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is excited about bringing her romance classics back to readers as E-books. The award-winning Touched by Angels and A Prince for Jenny, as well as the Donovans of the Delta series, have all been Kindle Top 100 bestsellers.
Follow the author on her websites: www.peggywebb.com, and www.elainehussey.com, and on Facebook and Twitter.
Other E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels (RT Reviewer’s Choice)
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity (Rave review, RT Reviewer’s Choice)
Where Dolphins Go (RT Reviewer’s Choice, women’s fiction, optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time (time travel, prequel to Only Yesterday)
Only Yesterday, (time travel, sequel to Christmas in Time)
Summer Jazz
Taming Maggie (#1 on romance bestseller list)
That Jones Girl (sequel to the Mississippi McGills series)
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles (7 book series)
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Belinda, Book 1
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Janet, Book 2
The Dix
ie Virgin Chronicles: Molly, Book 3
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Bea, Book 4
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Clementine, Book 5
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Joanna, Book 6
The Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Catherine, Book 7
The Donovans of the Delta Series:
Donovan’s Angel (Paul Donovan’s story)
Sleepless Nights (Tanner Donovan’s story)
Hallie’s Destiny (award winning book, Hallie Donovan’s story)
Any Thursday (Hannah Donovan’s story)
Higher Than Eagles (Jacob Donovan’s story)
The Mississippi McGills Series (spin-off from Donovans of the Delta)
Valley of Fire (Rick McGill’s story)
Until Morning Comes (Jo Beth McGill and Colter Gray Wolf’s story)
Saturday Mornings (Andrew McGill’s story)
Forever Friends series
Can’t Stop Loving You (Book 1, Helen’s story)
Only His Touch (Kat’s story, Book 2)
Bringing Up Baxter (B. J.’s story, Book 3)
Angels on Zebras (Maxie’s story, Book 4)
Boxed sets:
The Donovans of the Delta
Finding Mr. Perfect
Finding Paradise
Christmas Heroes
Romantic Suspense, originally published as Bantam Fanfare
Witch Dance
From A Distance
E-books Coming Soon
The Secret Life of Elizabeth McCade
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb (available in print and e-books)
Published by Kensington
Elvis and the Dearly Departed, 2008
Elvis and the Grateful Dead, 2009
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders, 2010
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, 2011
Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse, 2012
Elvis and the Bridegroom Stiffs, 2014 (Ebook only)
Jack Loves Callie Tender, 2013, prequel and companion guide (Ebook only)
Novels written as Anna Michaels (available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses (Gallery, Simon & Schuster)
The Language of Silence (Gallery, Simon & Schuster, coming 2014)
Novels written as Elaine Hussey (available in trade paperback, e-book, and audio)
The Sweetest Hallelujah (MIRA, July 30, 2013)
The Oleander Sisters (MIRA, July 2014)
