Murderous Homecoming: The Riverbrook Geeky Cozy Mysteries, #1

By Alina Popescu

Nothing like murder to welcome you home

Jayden Carmichael is not moving back home to small town Riverbrook. She's only there for a break. A few months' worth, tops.

She is definitely not getting involved in a murder investigation. So what if she found the body at her new job and the entire town thinks she's killed one of the most obnoxious locals? And she's most certainly not going to help Riverbrook's new, gorgeous, and way too chill sheriff get the truth out.

All Jayden wants is to lick her wounds, save up, and return to New York City to take the art world by storm. Instead, she gets swept up in Riverbrook's gossip, sordid secrets, and simmering conflicts. With the help of loving relatives, a new friend with a wild beast for a pet, and the sheriff she's so not interested in, Jayden might just make it out alive.

Murderous Homecoming kicks off the Riverbrook Geeky Cozy Mysteries series with a reluctant sleuth, a small town trapped between its past and future, and a victim that rubbed just about everyone the wrong way. If you like murder mysteries, quirky protagonists, and huge pets, you'll love this new series.

Get your copy right now to find out if Jayden survives her Murderous Homecoming.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alina Popescu
• Release date: Oct 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393629375

Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu is an author, traveler, and coffee addict. She has published several paranormal, science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary series, many of them having reached the Amazon bestseller lists for their genres. Her stories often fall under the LGBTQ fiction and romance subgenres. Born and raised in Romania, Alina has been writing for most of her life. She’s an avid consumer of stories in all their forms. She’s fascinated by myths, folk tales, and other creators’ visions of the future. She finds her inspiration in books of all genres, movies, and the occasional TV shows or anime binges. Alina is a proud geek and needs her fast internet connection and assortment of gadgets more than she needs air.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Alina Popescu

Murderous Homecoming

The Riverbrook Geeky Cozy Mysteries, Book One

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

To Mike, thank you for letting me ramble about all the anime references in this book. Also thank you for the cool reference you suggested.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

A Note from the Author

Meet Alina Popescu

Other Books by Alina Popescu

Chapter One

I TURNED THE KEY in the ignition and held my breath. I couldn’t see anything, so I mentally nudged myself to open my stupid eyes and stare at the dashboard. Yes, I hissed on a long exhale. My tank was three quarters full. I could get out of here right away.

I checked my side mirror and pulled into the almost non-existent traffic. I didn’t look back. I could barely see anything anyway through the tiny space I’d left between my messily bundled belongings that cluttered the rear half of my car. I just didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me turn sad doe eyes on the apartment building where I’d spent the last ten years of my life. Especially not my ex-boyfriend, who I knew still stood next to where my car had been parked, a grim smile on his lying lips.

According to his cheating highness, Dale still loved me. I was acting like a child, refusing to understand these things happened. It was just sex, it didn’t matter. Not even when it happened with the same person for years. And, he’d carefully enunciated, as if I were too dumb to get it, monogamous relationships didn’t really exist. They were nothing but a figment of my gullible imagination.

Someone broke hard in front of me and I groan-shouted as I stopped an inch from his ugly, gas-guzzling, crappy car. Okay, it was a sleek SUV, but still a piece of crap, just like its driver. I tapped the steering wheel nervously until I made it to the next traffic light, then twisted in my seat to check on my prized possessions.

My eyes teared up in relief. All my manga and anime collectibles where stacked precariously on the passenger and back seats. Under them, I’d packed my laptop, a couple of tablets, and some external hard drives. And they’d all survived this close encounter. The actual books and DVDs I’d stored in my trunk and in the oversized cargo box on top of my car. Yeah, the car was filled to capacity, but that was what happened when you packed up all your belongings and ran back home to your mommy.

I’d become such a cliché! One of those thirty-somethings who couldn’t cut it in the big city and ran back to their small town to lick their wounds. I was basically a Gilmore Girls punchline. Probably why I’d cried so much during that Netflix special where Rory goes back home and writes a book. The realization she’d had better options than me made this particular five a.m. on a Wednesday even more depressing.

I focused on the driving and the splash of traffic marching me out of New York City. It felt just like being dragged away in shame. Like I’d been unruly in a night club and the bouncers were forcefully ending my party time. Not that I’d partied much since I’d moved here, back in the early days of college. You can’t buy exclusive Archer action figures, delivered straight from Japan, to further feed your Fate franchise obsession and have money for drinks at the club!

It’s fine, Jay, this is temporary. A strategic retreat. You’ll go home, save up, then get your own place in New York. And a new job. And… And nothing, I stopped at that, I did not, under any circumstances, want a new boyfriend. I was doomed in the love and relationships department to start with. No need to keep poking at it.

Riverbrook, here I come, I muttered and pushed forward, feeling lucky I had enough gas to last me by the time the banks opened.

My old boss had been a bitch about my swift departure, and she’d delayed my final check. Of course, she didn’t know about Dale and how one of his flings had been my supervisor. She wouldn’t have cared anyway. Hence, I was the proud owner of twenty bucks in cash, the gas in my car, a check she’d given me after all the banks had closed yesterday, and a savings account I couldn’t touch if I ever wanted to come back here. What I had would get me home, if I only got cheap coffee and a sandwich from a gas station during my five-hour drive. If I’d miscalculated how far my tank would take me, I could cash in that check once the banks opened for business in a few hours. If I found the right bank along the way, that was.

I smiled at the thought of arriving home and letting Mom pamper and spoil me, which I knew she would. I’d called her bawling my eyes out and had given her a huge scare. When she finally got her hands on me, she’d wrap me up in one of those bubbles that kept you safe from everything if I let her.

That’s right. Mom would let me move back home. She’d feed me and hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay. I groaned at the thought. I’d left home the moment I’d graduated high school—after working my way through every small job I could snatch since I’d turned eight and I’d realized how hard she was working to support me—and I’d never once returned. Sure, she’d visited me in NYC and whenever she’d stayed with me, she’d filled my fridge and cupboards and bought me stuff I needed around the house. Yes, she’d twisted my arm into giving me money for every occasion she could think of, from Christmases and birthdays to holidays that sounded like they’d been made up. Like International Craft Beer Day. Isn’t that happening every weekend? Despite all that, I’d been taking care of myself for a long time. Having to run to her for shelter felt… Well, very much like failure to me.

I could just imagine the snide remarks and mocking grins of people I’d left behind when I’d moved out of Riverbrook. While I’d chased dreams in the Big Apple, they’d built careers and homes and pushed tiny versions of themselves out of their bodies. And while they’d been adulting hard, I had nothing but an art degree to show for my troubles. I’d worked in coffee shops and built an online art business. Which, despite growing in popularity, couldn’t pay the bills. Not in an expensive city like New York.

Jay, you have an amazing cover story, I said out loud, as if that would make it any less of a lie. You took time off in between jobs and decided to spend a couple of months with your mom. Yeah, like anyone would buy that! When people managed to get an extended holiday, they traveled or hung out with friends or went on their honeymoon. No one came back to small-town hell to cry to their mommy. On the other hand, I did look like I needed a break.

I glowered at my cut-out image in the rearview mirror. Yup, matted hair that needed some TLC, huge dark circles under my eyes, and a face so pale, I could pass for a creepy vampire without any extra special effects makeup. Maybe I should snap a few shots of myself. They’d work great as inspiration for the next time I cosplayed a vampire character. I dismissed the idea quickly. Manga and anime vampires could be pale, but they never looked as deathly as I did. They were gorgeous.

It felt surreal, driving past the Welcome to Riverbrook sign. Uncanny how little had changed in the years I’d spent away. Sure, there were some new flower beds, maybe a few new trendy shops, but the familiarity of the place was still baffling. I wasn’t even ten seconds within town limits when someone waved at me in greeting. I waved back on reflex. Despite my repeated attempts to lose myself in the New York crowds, it felt good to be welcomed like this.

I pulled the car into Mom’s driveway and sighed. Why had my life gone so wrong? Nothing I’d planned for had happened. Maybe I’d brought this on myself. My father thought so. According to him, it all came down to my insistence on drawing drivel instead of dedicating all my time to fine art. I’d apparently fix everything in my life if I just agreed to paint exactly what he told me to.

A knock on my window pulled me out of my self-loathing. Mom’s grin welcomed me, and I couldn’t look anywhere else. She moved her hands fast, a mix between waving and motioning for me to come out. All I wanted was to bang my head against the steering wheel, but her joy was infectious. I waited for her to make room and pushed the car door open.

Even the smell of this place felt familiar. But it was my mom’s hug that finally sealed the deal. I was home. I’d be sheltered from the evil world outside while I was here.

Oh, baby. It’s so good to have you home.

I missed you, Mommy. I clung to her, eyes closed, face hidden in her hair that smelled of coconut. I wouldn’t cry! Besides, I’d insisted I was fine, just in need of some time to think things through.

She petted my head, her hand so gentle and warm. My resolve broke so fast, it left me dizzy. And sobbing. On the front lawn, in my mother’s arms. When I knew all our neighbors would be spying on us. Too late now.

Chapter Two

JAYDEN AMELIA CARMICHAEL. Get out of bed right now!

My full name. And a threatening voice to drive the point home. I pulled the cover down, opened one eye, and squinted at my mother. My heartless banshee of a mother. Did she need to shout? I was half-asleep, not dead.

Five more minutes.

Young lady. Oh, this was bad. You need to wake up right now and go take a shower. And do something about that bird’s nest you call a bun. I want you downstairs for breakfast. And you’d better not be dressed in your pajamas. Or for a run in the park

But I’d spent the last few weeks in my PJs and sweatpants! What was wrong with her? I grumbled my discontent but did as I was told. Mom’s good little girl, I was. Well, not that good if she’d pulled out the dreaded young lady.

I sat on the edge of my bed and watched, bleary-eyed, as she stiffly departed. I caught my reflection in the large mirror on my dresser and cringed. Birds’ nest was putting it mildly. I’d wrapped up my hair in a messy bun like two days ago. I’d slept like that and it had gotten progressively more frightening.

My legs felt shaky under me. Yeah, maybe I’d been spending too much time in bed, after all. I dragged my feet to the bathroom next to my bedroom. Mom had stocked it all up for me before I’d arrived. More beauty products than I’d ever used since moving out. I did love pampering myself, but I just couldn’t afford this many expensive products when I had anime merch to order. They did smell nice, though. And they made me feel good, even if it was only skin-deep. So, I subjected myself to the ordeal of scrubbing and toning and moisturizing.

It took forever to get cleaned up and find something to wear. I wasn’t fussy about the clothes I put on, unless it was creating a cosplay outfit, but today was particularly challenging. I needed something that didn’t break Mom’s rules yet felt comfy enough.

After much deliberation, I decided on a pair of old, well-worn jeans, and a t-shirt that said Anime is trash and so am I. I liked the self-deprecating message. Enough