A Day in the Life of Jane McKenzie by Ritter Ames

Hello, I’m Jane McKenzie, and my husband George and I moved to Hazelton, Vermont soon after our wedding forty years ago. We’ve had some good times here, but the happiest day of my life was when my son Keith suffered a pro-hockey career ending injury.

No, wait a minute. That isn’t what I mean. I’m not glad my son was hurt, but the nice result was he came back to Vermont to take a position as a sports anchor at a regional radio station. His wife, Kate, and my two lovely granddaughters, Samantha and Suzanne, moved here with him. So, I guess these have been the happiest follow-up days of my life.

Before they moved close to us, we only saw the kids once or twice a year. Now, I get to see them all the time, get closer to my granddaughters, and help out with activities. I know this helps Keith and Kate a lot, since his radio show is every evening, and she’s working hard to build her organization business Stacked in Your Favor. Everyone is so busy, even my granddaughters. It amazes me how those girls have so many activities for being only seven years old, but they’re a couple of real firecrackers and I’m thrilled to spend time with Sam and Suze each day.

My daughter-in-law, Kate, is another treasure—though she tries to do way too much on her own, has trust issues, juggles a busy home life while also working to grow her small business, puts way to much pressure on herself, and multi-tasks from sun-up to sundown using the unending lists she writes and keeps in her head to stay on-track.

Yes, I know. That sounds like most of us women. Right?

Kate is getting a little better. She’s made good strides in trusting lately, and as an organization expert finds prioritizing is second nature to her. She also keeps a rubber band on her left wrist to flip whenever the inner anxiety threatens to overtake her, and that gets less and less often. But she still forgets she can’t do it all. I’m just glad I have this opportunity to be there and help out whenever I’m needed.

However, there’s one thing Kate is starting to excel at—the one thing I truly wish she’d stop—and that’s her ability to solve mysteries. Her new organization business has enmeshed her in murder several times. She solved two murders last month, one the death of her first client, and now she’s trying to solve another so a teenage honor student isn’t packed off to prison. Between Kate and her best friend and business associate, Meg Berman, I have no doubt this new murderer will be caught too. Still, I’m worried this second killer is getting as successful at murder, as Kate is at solving the crime.

I just got my little family moved here to Vermont. I don’t want the move to mean that something bad could happen to my lovely daughter-in-law simply because she cares too much about helping innocent people.

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You can read more about Jane in Organized for Homicide, the second book in the “Organized” mystery series, published by Gemma Halliday Publishing. The first book in the series is Organized for Murder.

About Organized for Homicide (Organized Mysteries #2)

Organization expert Kate McKenzie is looking forward to her newest consignment: organize the cross-country move for a divorced father and his two children. But when a dead body turns up, Kate’s carefully organized plans are thrown into chaos. Was it an accident? Or murder? Kate aims to find out and ends up falling more emotionally involved than she’d expected when the victim’s teenaged daughter becomes the police’s lead suspect. As a mother herself, she just can’t let the girl not only lose a mother but possibly lose her freedom and future as well. While the police follow the chain of evidence, Kate follows her gut, leading her on a dangerous investigation that could result in more than one death if she doesn’t watch her step…

Available in print and all ebook formats September 8, 2014!

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 6 p.m. eastern on September 10 for the chance to win a copy of ORGANIZED FOR HOMICIDE either in print or e-book version, winner’s choice. (Print U.S. only)

About the author
Ritter is an award-winning author who writes the Bodies of Art Mysteries series and the cozy Organized Mysteries series, both published by Gemma Halliday Publishing. She focuses most of her time and writing energies on globe trotting the world via her keyboard to create memorable characters and fascinating fiction novels for readers. In this great new endeavor, her cat muse remains faithfully by her side (see her catnapping in box)–only voicing displeasure when the food bowl sits empty due to Ritter focusing more on writing than on kibble. She is on Facebook and Twitter, and tries to blog regularly on her website at ritterames.com. Ritter uses her Pinterest boards at www.pinterest.com/ritterames to capture great places and ideas she wants to use in both series. Follow her blog and boards to learn more about her upcoming books.