Bottling the Cold, Hard Heart

By Meyari McFarland

Eliza's comfortable life ended when her beloved grandmother died. Her cousin Sandra swooped in and took it all, from the house to Eliza's beloved dog, Miki. Nothing Eliza did worked but the one thing she would never give up on was saving Miki, no matter what it took.

Bottling the Cold, Hard Heart is a cozy mystery where family and tradition are the true threats to life, love and liberty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MDR Publishing
• Release date: Mar 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310959462

Meyari McFarland

Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from SF and Fantasy adventures to Romances but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way. Her series range from Space Opera Romance in the Drath series to Epic Fantasy in the Mages of Tindiere world. Other series include Matriarchies of Muirin, the Clockwork Rift Steampunk mysteries, and the Tales of Unification urban fantasy stories, plus many more. You can find all of her work on MDR Publishing's website at www.MDR-Publishing.com.

Book preview

Bottling the Cold, Hard Heart

By Meyari McFarland

Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Fitting In

Artifacts of Awareness

A Range of Debts Collection

The Nature of Beasts

Captured Debts Collection

Repair and Rebuild

Infinite Horizons Collection

Tales from the Dana Clanhouse

Storm Over Archaelaos

Infinite Dreams Collection 2

Coming Together

Tales of Adventure

Tales of Romance

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Copyright ©2015 by Mary Raichle

Cover image © Seventy77 | Dreamstime.com - Spilled Red Wine. Photo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to [e-mail]

This book is also available in TPB format from all major retailers.

Dedication:

This story is dedicated to my mother for her love of mysteries and her encouragement of my writing.

Table of Contents

Bottling the Cold, Hard Heart

Memories of Fire

Afterword

Bottling the Cold, Hard Heart

1.

Eliza paused just inside the back fence, heart pounding so hard that her head spun and her stomach churned. Her familiar old yard looked so very barren now. Sandra had stripped out the purple and gold irises that had clustered along the west side of the yard like sunlit storm clouds in the spring. Every single blueberry, concord grape and blackberry bush was gone, torn up as though they were worthless. There was no hope of wine this year, sweet and rich from the fruits of the garden Eliza and Grandmother had spent so many years tending.

Her old oak tree, trunk bent and twisted from the lightning strike that had killed half the tree when Eliza