Joan Freed Life-Changing Mystery/Adventure (Good Grief!)

Two women lay sprawled in front of my truck. They are very dead. Queenie sits like a statue on the passenger side of my vintage Chevy pick-up, looking like the circus fat lady that she thinks she is - but she's not laughing. I am on sabbatical in the Kaibab National Forest, feeding my own free spirit with life-changing time by myself, much needed and anticipated after my last exhausting coaching case.

The body wedged in the doorway, floating on a pool glass shards and red liquid, was very much alive. But the body laid out under a palo verde tree in my retention pond was very much dead. The live body wedged in the doorway was blinded in the line of duty, living a demoralizing life of forced retirement with no enemies and no hope. The corpse under the Palo Verde tree was a county code enforcer with a plethora of enemies - and I was the targeted fall gal for the murder. A cozy mystery set in the desert southwest that started as two women on an adventure.

How many bodies does it take to jump-start the recovery of Elaine, the Hoarder? “It depends,” says Joan Freed, the rebel life coach, “on the variables, like which corpse - if any - is the cause of the hoarding.” This spiraling, hoarding, self-help mystery starts at Oak Flats Campground - east of Phoenix, Arizona. It quickly moves to Wellton - east of Yuma - where Joan is greeted by Elaine, a gray haired dumpling of a woman, and several years of saving "stuff" spread over 20 acres.

Rescue Me!, book six of Good Grief! series, sends Joan and Jenny scampering north into the Plumosa mountains, northeast of Quartzite, Arizona. The two were determined to get a break after the intense drama of Elaine. The hoarder had drained them physically and emotionally. They nestle into the Kaibab National Forest. Joan is bent on completing a tiny house update and makeover, and Jenny is muddling through mind-boggling decisions for her next life since her last oasis was rudely invaded, and she was on the run again.

The good news is what Joan and Jenny didn’t find when they tore into Jenny’s vintage Scotty for a makeover. But what they discovered in the false walls, the too short floor space, and secured to the underside of drawers more than made up for the lack of cadavers that most cozy mysteries require. Add to the adventure a kidnapping rescue, a big, beautiful red-headed narcissist magnet, and a smooth-talking cad that’s got his eye on Jenny. How many ghosts can live in a 40-year-old, 16-foot-long RV?

What could be more devastating than losing your job of 27 years to demolition? What if you were to have your car stolen and wake up to your dead grandma yanking you out of your burning house on the same day—on your 63rd birthday? It all happened to Azalia Ralston. A seemingly gray-haired, blue-eyed 5-foot-tall perky waitress who snaps gum and sarcasm at the Greasy Spoon Diner since forever.