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A 'Class A' Murder
Paperback
Publisher: Chatham Hill Publishing
Published: Nov 10 2025
Pages: 356
Weight: 0.91
Height: 0.79 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
When retired teacher, Fran Manning, bumps into a body while swimming in the pool at the Roadrunner over-55 RV Park of Palm Springs, California, she immediately recognizes the dead woman. It is none other than Lurleen Connor, the most disliked resident in the park.
Fran soon realizes that the local police, led by Detective Brenda Galvin, are happy to rule this an accident of the sort that happens frequently to the elderly. Fran takes issue with this assumption and begins to understand that if Lurleen's death is to be investigated, then it will be up to her to find the answers.
Accompanied by her feisty Chihuahua rescue dog, Poco, she begins to unravel the mystery of Lurleen's demise. Many residents of the park had reason to wish woman dead. She stole newspapers and complained about her neighbors incessantly. Several people note that they heard her arguing with someone the night of her death.
Will Fenton, a ten-year-old boy living in the RV park, hints to Fran that he woke up and saw someone carrying what might have been a dead body on the night in question. The detective warns Fran to leave Will alone and to let the police do their work. This doesn't sit well with Fran.
While Fran is piecing clues together she discovers that she is not averse to crossing the line between legal and illegal in order to get at the truth. If it means breaking into the dead woman's RV, she's ready to do just that.
As Fran and Will gather clues, another mystery presents itself. Pedigree dogs are being stolen from the park in broad daylight. This time, the police are happy to have Fran do some sleuthing. She discovers that a man on an e-bike is kidnapping the dogs and selling them online. She tracks the man to a remote desert community, and, after a scuffle, has him arrested and the dogs returned to their owners.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested a local homeless man for Lurleen's murder even though Fran knows he couldn't have done it. She redoubles her efforts to unearth the culprit, and on the way receives anonymous notes telling her to give up her sleuthing.
In the end, one of Lurleen's neighbors, a retired military man, confesses to Fran that he committed the murder. Fran doesn't believe him because he is doesn't know the real cause of Lurleen's death. Fran intuits that this man is covering up the truth - that it was his wife, who suffers from dementia, who killed Lurleen by mistake.
Fran and Detective Galvin visit the woman, who is in a care home, and Fran's hypothesis is confirmed.
The detective wishes Fran well, and assumes their paths will not cross again. Fran is not so sure about that.
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