Or at least, my characters are. Where I am right now it’s intermittently overcast and a little on the chilly side, at least if you’re not being active. Which for those of us who tend to wilt in the heat, is not necessarily a bad thing!

Today’s snippet, however, recalls sunnier days. Obviously, it’s not set in Britain! 😉 It’s taken from Stop Cock, #6 in my Plumber’s Mate Mystery series:

Naples was a little on the warm side. By which I mean, blisteringly, arse-roastingly hot. You could have used the pavement to fry your eggs on, not to mention any mad dogs and Englishmen who happened along. Like, for example, yours truly and his newly wedded husband. I couldn’t see a handy thermometer on any nearby buildings as we trundled our cases out of the airport, but forty Celsius probably wasn’t far off—that’s over a hundred in old money.

Rubbing the sweat off my brow, I turned back to Phil. He was looking annoyingly fresh, crisp, and tasty . . . Okay, so the annoyance might have turned into lust somewhere along the route. I sent him an appreciative smile that hopefully didn’t come off too soppy. “When they said see Naples and die, they meant from heatstroke, didn’t they?”

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A match made in heaven – but the honeymoon from hell

Plumber Tom Paretski and his newly-wedded husband, PI Phil Morrison, plan to enjoy their honeymoon in Italy to the full. It should be the start of a wonderful future together. But when Wayne—Phil’s ex best mate and Tom’s former bully—turns up unexpectedly at their hotel, issues from their schooldays threaten to derail the fun. Tom may not bear a grudge against Phil for past injuries any longer, but Wayne’s another matter—or is he?

Wayne now seems determined to make friends, but Tom’s struggling to forgive and forget. To add to his confusion, cryptic messages from home spark the question: Are he and Phil are really as in tune as he thought? Tom’s not the first man Phil ever made a commitment to, and that marriage turned sour sooner rather than later.

It shouldn’t surprise them when death explodes onto the scene in shocking fashion, and their honeymoon turns into a murder investigation. When the group of locals Wayne had been meeting with turn their attention to Tom’s psychic abilities, he and Phil will need to pull together to figure out what’s going on—or risk this trip being the last they’ll ever take.

Available in ebook and paperback: Riptide | Amazon