Possum Creek Series

Gracie Malone has made a lot of mistakes. She didn't mean to be her parents' problem child. She never intended for her stupid, silly fight with Cal to turn into their last fight. She definitely never imagined he'd decide he wanted to marry someone other than her. Running away from her problems seemed like an ideal solution until Gracie wound up 300 miles away from her hometown, alone and in even more trouble than she was in before she got to college. After all, she certainly hadn't meant to kill the first guy to ask her out on a date after she and Cal split up. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This novel was originally split into two books at the advice of a publisher who I am no longer associated with. After much consideration, I have decided to discontinue selling the second half of this story, previously titled Hissy Fit, as a standalone novel and instead combined it back into Hot Southern Mess. The Extended Edition of Hot Southern Mess contains Hot Southern Mess + Hissy Fit.

Gracie Malone has made a lot of mistakes.  She didn't mean to be her parents' problem child.  She never intended for her stupid, silly fight with Cal to turn into their last fight.  She definitely never imagined he'd decide he wanted to marry someone other than her.  Running away from her problems seemed like an ideal solution until Gracie wound up 300 miles away from her hometown, alone and in even more trouble than she was in before she got to college.  After all, she certainly hadn't meant to kill the first guy to ask her out on a date after she and Cal split up. 

***THIS BOOK CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT AND EXPLICIT LANGUAGE. NOT INTENDED FOR READERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18.***  Getting rid of Brett's body was the easy part of committing murder.  Gracie thought the worst was over when David dropped her back off at college with a believable alibi. She thought Brett's body was safely hidden in the depths of the swamp and that no one would ever find out that she'd been the one who helped put him there.  She never dreamed that Deputy Kerry Longwood would find the evidence he needed to haul David in on murder charges less than a week after Gracie had committed her most unthinkable sin.  Now Gracie is having to work together with Cal Walker, the ex-boyfriend she's still in love with, to clear David of murder and make sure no one ever finds out the truth of what happened to Brett.

Trish Shallowman feels like her life has been put on pause. She has an ex-husband who doesn't understand the meaning of the word ex, a career that tanked before she ever worked her first day and a car that breaks down on alternating Wednesdays. When Trish's mother asks her to temporarily move to Possum Creek so she can take care of her ailing grandfather, Trish figures that a change of scenery can't make her situation in life any worse. She wasn't expecting to spend most of her days trying to prevent her grandfather from shooting at the mailman or that her impossibly gorgeous neighbor would decide he wanted to be her first ever one-night-stand. She definitely wasn't expecting that two months in Possum Creek would make her question whether the future she's spent so much time waiting for is really the future she wants.

Trish Shallowman just wants her divorce but Curtis, her soon to be ex-husband, has already proven that he's willing to kill to maintain the sanctity of their marriage. Thanks to Curtis's sudden sense of homicidal devotion, Trish's grandfather is dead and Addison is in the hospital having a bullet dug out of his chest. Now David, the only guy Trish really trusts, is dividing his time between trying to keep Trish alive and figuring out what to do with the million dollars in stolen jewelry that Trish's grandfather kept hidden in his house for the last 30 years. Trish is pretty sure someone's body is going to wind up buried in the depths of the swamp before she actually makes it to her final divorce court date. She's just not sure whether the corpse in question will be hers or her ex's.

It's two days before the wedding of the year, but all anyone in Possum Creek can talk about is the decapitated head that's just been found in the trunk of Callahan County's least favorite deputy's car. Half the county thinks the skull is just another one of Addison's pranks, but when more pieces of the corpse turn up it becomes obvious that someone a whole lot more dangerous than Addison might be gunning for a piece of a Kerry Longwood. Gracie Malone has enough problems on her hands without having to worry about whether or not Kerry has finally gone homicidal. All she wants to do is tie the proverbial knot with Cal and sail off into the sunset on their 14-day honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas, but life in Possum Creek is never that easy. Someone has sent wedding invitations to every name she'd written on her personal 'do not invite' list, changed her catering menu from filet mignon to fried bologna and put live fish in the swimming pool for her bachelorette party. Gracie is clueless as to who the saboteur is or why they so desperately seem to want her to walk down the aisle looking like a bridal vampire on her way to a funeral, but she quickly realizes she and her friends need to get to the bottom of this mess before her wedding turns into a bigger disaster than Kerry's police career.

**This book is a Prequel Novella to the Possum Creek series. It was previously published as "Long Dead".** MISSING PERSONS ALERT  Casey Black  Age:13  Eyes: Brown  Hair: Brown  Height: 5'2  Weight: 137 lbs  Casey was last seen leaving Possum Creek Middle School. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and blue jeans at the time of her disappearance. If you have seen Casey, please contact 890-5569. A $1,000 reward is being offered for any information about her whereabouts.  The day Casey Black disappeared is a day that will haunt David Breedlove's nightmares forever. He never dreamed that a little bit of reckless fun could have fatal consequences. He never imagined that his desire to protect the people he cares about the most had the potential to turn him into a monster.

Nothing ever stays calm in Possum Creek for long. After watching her husband make-out with another woman during her best friend's wedding, Katie has been forced to acknowledge that her own happily ever after is more like a B-rated horror movie than a fairy tale.  Katie loves her daughter more than life itself, but she's pretty sure that Ian loves his Xbox more than he loves either one of them. Addison, the man Katie's been secretly in love with from the safety of the friend-zone for most of her adult life, thinks she's pathetic. At least, that's what his girlfriend told her. Katie doesn't know what her future holds, but she knows it's past time for a change. She's done wasting her life trying to please Ian while silently lusting after Addy. She's ready to move on and leave her feelings for both of them in the past. Addison Malone thinks the dust has finally settled after his sister's wedding. He couldn't be more wrong. The evidence in a rash of burglaries that have struck Possum Creek and the surrounding area make it apparent that he and his friends are being betrayed by someone they've always considered one of their own. When Katie makes it clear that she's ready to walk away from him forever, Addison is left scrambling to fix their relationship while he's still trying to get to the bottom of the crime spree.