TROLLING FOR MURDER
A troll with a message. And a bully with a short fuse.
Lavender “Lew” Lewis takes a friend’s dog on an early morning run and discovers a body at one of the island’s most popular tourist attractions: a 20-foot-tall wooden troll. A local teacher becomes the prime suspect, and Lew agrees to quietly poke around to see if she can nudge the investigation toward someone more deserving. The suspects pile up, but every promising lead fizzles.
Lew finds herself racing against the clock to identify a killer, track down two missing teenagers, and stay ahead of a bully who wants payback. When the evidence leads her in a direction she doesn’t want to go, she faces a gut-wrenching ethical dilemma.
What happens when the case demands one truth and her heart whispers another?
“Stuart expertly walks the line between lighthearted and ominous … With clever twists, engaging characters, and a satisfying reveal, this second installment solidifies the series as one worth sticking with.”
—Matt Pechey for Reedsy Discovery
Firebird Book Award for Humor
Author Shout Recommended Read
Bogged Down
An ancient bog hidden in a forest is the perfect backdrop for murder . . .
Bogged Down is a mystery set on Vashon Island, a place that has been described as Mayberry-meets-Burning Man. Lavender (Lew) Lewis moved there because it is only a twenty-minute ferry ride from Seattle, yet light years away in tempo and character. She grew up on a commune in Alaska, joined the army at 17, does woods parkour for exercise and HR investigations to earn a living. Life in her waterfront cabin with her two food-obsessed cats is predictable and relatively stress free. Until she leads a tour group into an ancient bog on the island and discovers a body.
“A beautifully-written, intricately-plotted classic whodunnit with a heroine (Lavender ‘call-me-Lew’ Lewis) unlike any I’ve encountered…”
—Harley Jane Kozak, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity-award winning novelist
“The author’s vivid imagery will transport you to this island paradise and you won’t want to leave.”
—Cindy Sample, five-time Lefty Award finalist, Best Humorous Mystery
