Book Title: In Vineyard Veritas
Author: Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid
Publisher: Eine Kleine Press
Cover Artist: Clancy Nacht
Release Date: January 21, 2022
Genres: LGBTQ Cozy mystery, trans man
Tropes: Amateur sleuth, favorite aunt dies, going back home again, mystery
Themes: Coming back home, finding where you belong
Length: 206 pages
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
In wine, truth. In vineyard… mystery.
Blurb
Local police summon retired CTO Geraldine Thorn from her Austin lake house to Kitsch, Texas, the small town where she grew up, when her beloved Aunt Tilda is found dead at her vineyard home, presumably from a slip in the bath. Upon arrival, Gerry discovers Tilda’s eclectic group of friends—including a much, much younger lover—and rivals. When they realize Tilda’s slip wasn’t an accident, Gerry enlists the help of a handsome Texas Ranger with secrets of his own.
When she opened her eyes, she looked out through the bay window and saw a green truck heading toward the house.
Ash Stone’s green truck.
I don’t think so, buddy.
Gerry was up on her feet immediately, the whisper of a headache gone in a flush of adrenaline as she ran to grab her keys. If he thought he could just show up and threaten her in person, he had another think coming.
“Gerry?” Hale’s voice brought her attention back to him for a moment. He looked adorably rumpled but more alert than she’d expected, rubbing his eyes as he sprawled on the couch. “What in heaven’s name are you doin’?”
She paused. What was she doing?
Her keys were in her hand. She pointed at the bay windows where the green truck was barreling towards them. “I’m going to get him.”
Gerry turned, barefoot, and headed for the kitchen.
“Gerry?” Hale, alarmed now, called after her. The couch creaked and scraped on the floor as he followed her. “Gerry, what on earth?”
“He thinks he can come to my house in my town and murder my aunt and try to prostitute my…. uncle?” Gerry paused at the door, momentarily puzzled by what her relationship to Trey was.
Didn’t matter.
“Not going to happen. Not on my watch.” Gerry threw open the door and ran out to her car.
She was halfway to the Audi when she heard the door swing shut and footfalls on the walkway. It took her a minute to get into her car—she was still a little hungover—and by the time she started the ignition, Hale pounded on the passenger side window.
“Gerry Thorn, what in tarnation is goin’ on?”
She unlocked the door and reached over to open it for him. “The green truck. Ash Stone is on his way. Get in or get out.”
Hale made a bemused sound like “bzuh” but climbed in and buckled up. He looked to Gerry expectantly, like she might help him make sense of things, but she was laser-focused on that green truck coming up the long drive. It was now or never.
She started the car, threw it into reverse, and then back in drive with a squeal of tires, more impressive since the Audi had built-ins to keep that kind of thing to happen.
With a burst of speed that came from the car finding traction, she headed for the long pathway to the house that Stone had nearly reached the end of. Pointing her car straight at him, she floored it.
To her great satisfaction, Stone stopped his truck.
She continued, watching his confused expression turn panicked as he shifted into reverse and looked behind him, heading backwards as fast as he could go.
“Gerry, think this through.” Hale’s warning somehow managed to sound casual, conversational. Gerry felt his gaze on her even as Stone almost veered into the ditch trying to get away from her.
“What do you mean?” Gerry slowed a little so she wouldn’t actually hit Stone’s car. She glared at him through her windshield. He looked scared.
Good. He should be scared.
When he got to the end of the drive, Stone took a sharp turn, then shifted to jump onto the main road.
Gerry followed.
“Honey, you’re on a public roadway now. This ain’t your private property. You’re liable for your actions.” Hale sounded a little more edgy now, and he’d pulled out his cell phone. “Please don’t do anything crazy, Gerry.”
“Crazy?” Gerry followed Stone, keeping a solid tail on him.
But as she drove, she wasn’t sure where they were going. Stone didn’t seem to know either, as he took turns that seemed random.
Stone took a turn into a neighborhood, turning their high-speed chase into a slow motion under 20 MPH, slowing over speed bumps along the way, but Gerry remained dogged. “I mean, you can arrest him, right?”
“I could’ve arrested him back at your house!” Hale didn’t quite laugh—he seemed stunned more than amused. “Gerry, you didn’t even bring your rifle—thank mercy you didn’t bring your rifle—but we’re not in my truck, I don’t have my radio… Hell, I’m not even wearin’ my hat. How’m I s’posed to arrest this guy without my hat?”
Now Hale seemed to be poking fun at them both, maybe to diffuse the tension. “You want me to stick my head out the window and shout, ‘whee-oo, whee-oo’ until he pulls over?”
“Is that an official requirement? The siren sound?” Gerry eyed him and then pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. “The rifle doesn’t go with this outfit. And it’s hard to drive and aim. Be nice.”
Gerry frowned as Stone left the neighborhood, tearing out. She followed, still not really knowing what the endgame was. “He may have been coming to murder people. We don’t know what his intention was.”
“I’m just wonderin’ how you can be so brave and yet so completely deranged. Wasn’t the point of me stayin’ at your house so I could protect you? Then a suspect shows up, and you take off alone to chase him down.” Hale sighed and rubbed his face, voice warm if exasperated. “Good lord, Gerry.”
Together, Texans and platonic life partners Thursday Euclid and Clancy Nacht write queer novels that span genres, with intense romances and a seamless shared narrative voice.
They published their first co-written novel, the m/m rock star romance Black Gold, in 2010, and now have over a decade of award-winning collaborations under their exquisite belts. Recent titles include the twisted romance His Fake Prison Daddy and the Phisher King series, in which an uptight federal agent and a bratty hacker go from enemies to lovers while solving a hate crime.
Though Elder Millennial trans man Thursday and Gen X gender outlaw Clancy live three hours apart, they are inseparable. Their friendship is a perfect example of the Grumpy/Sunshine trope, which makes Thursday very happy. Clancy thinks it’s all right.
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