Dead in the Ditch

J.C. Kenney

May 2025 · Tule Publishing

About this ebook

Wild animal removal specialist Elmo Simpson needs to act fast before the good people of Paradise Springs decide to remove him!

Halloween has arrived, and all is well in Elmo Simpson’s life until his beloved cat Oscar wanders off and doesn’t return. While searching for Oscar, Elmo discovers a body in a ditch. A body that turns out to be Elmo’s former arch-nemesis, a man who Elmo believes stole intellectual property from him worth millions.

When word gets out who the victim is, the town becomes convinced Elmo is the murderer, intent on taking revenge. With nowhere to turn and the reputation of his recently purchased Sea Breeze Resort on the line, Elmo takes it upon himself to figure out who the real killer is. All the while, trying to assemble the threads that connect a dark time in his past with the equally perilous present.

 

“Carl Hiaasen, look out! You’ve got stiff competition.” ~Ellen Byron, multiple Agatha and Lefty Award winner. A funny, edgy, and entertaining new cozy mystery series!

Ratings and reviews

A fast-paced entertaining story. Elmo has finally left the critter removal business and is enjoying the easy life running the Sea Breeze Resort. But Elmo’s life quickly changes course when someone from his past turns up dead at his resort. To save his reputation, Elmo puts his sleuthing skills to work to find the killer. This book is a great addition to the series. As with the rest of the books, I just couldn’t get enough. It’s fun to return to Paradise Springs and it’s quirky characters.

I will start off by saying I very much enjoy this series. I think it’s witty and the humor is a bit off key but it’s most definitely lol funny to me. There were a lot of big changes in this book. Elmo went from fading into the background to front and center in a lot of ways and no so afraid to show his wealth in small ways. I just think that while his bumbling way of investigating does fondly remind me of Colombo there was a lot of missed opportunities here. The victim was a huge reason in his d

I am loving this series so much. Each book just gets better and better. Elmo is cool. I love that he's a bit naive but so caring. And he's not in it to get accolades. Seven and Nic...their personalities are the best lol. The no BS attitudes and the way they back it up. Rambo....a league of his own. All the characters just grow on you so much. The mystery itself is so fun to try to figure out. Highly recommend. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a rev