Spending Time with Lenny by Rebecca Adler

Howdy, y’all. My name is Lenny, blogger extraordinaire. I write a kickin’ blog with my owner Josie Callahan. After she adopted me when I was a mere pup, we lived the good life in Austin, Texas.

The Live Music Capital of the World was a cacophony of sensations, what with the heavenly scent of Tex-Mex and barbeque and the constant temptation of bats and Monarch butterflies. We loved it. How could we have guessed she’d lose both her job at the Austin Gazette and that idiot fiancé of hers in a matter of months? We had no choice but to high-tail it back to her home in Broken Boot.

I may be a long-haired Chihuahua, but I’d never seen the Chihuahuan Desert or the Chisos Mountains until we reached that dusty, postage-sized town.

The small town vibe is nice, I guess, but the best part is the smell. Less auto fumes and more Tex-Mex. Josie and I live in the loft apartment above Milagro, her family’s restaurant. She works as a waitress while I keep watch from our apartment overlooking Main Street. From my perch I can see Elaine’s Pies, which always smells tasty on my walks through town, and Wicks of the West, which gives me the headache when they burn more than three scented candles at a time.

Josie’s family’s nice and all, but they sure are persnickety about keeping me out of the restaurant, especially the short alpha that smells like garlic, Senora Marisol Martinez. I don’t get what all the yapping is about. Who cares if someone calls the health department–whatever that is? Senora Mari acts like she hates me whenever anyone else is around; but when we’re on our own she gives me yummy bones and month-old meat from her tamale kitchen.

You should see Josie when Coach Ryan, her college sweetheart, is around. She lights up like a firefly. Too bad he’s hounded these days by a gal who wears enough perfume to choke a horse. Don’t understand why folks around here use that phraseology ‘cause I’ve yet to meet a horse that smells anything other than sweaty.

I heard tell there’s a new deputy in town named Lightfoot. Haven’t met him yet. Not sure I trust someone with a name like Lightfoot, makes me think of cats. Never met a cat I liked and I ain’t holding my breath.

On the whole, things are a little too sleepy in Broken Boot. Can’t wait until something exciting happens so Josie can try her hand at investigative journalism, the way she’s always dreamed.

Adiós amigos,
Lenny

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You can read more about Lenny in Here Today, Gone Tamale, the first book in the NEW “Taste of Texas” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime.

About Here Today, Gone Tamale

Reporter turned Tex-Mex waitress Josie Callahan is about to go from serving queso to solving cases. . .

After losing her newspaper job in Austin and having her former fiancé unfriend her on Facebook, Josie Callahan scoops up her Chihuahua, Lenny, and slinks back to Broken Boot, Texas. Maybe working as head waitress at Milagro—her aunt and uncle’s Tex-Mex restaurant—isn’t exactly living the dream, but it is a fresh start.

And business is booming as tourists pour into Broken Boot for its famous Wild West Festival. But when a local jewelry designer is found strangled outside Milagro after a tamale-making party, Josie’s reporter instincts kick in. As suspects pile up and alibis crack faster than taco shells, Josie needs to wrap up this case tighter than her tía’s tortillas—before another victim calls for the check. . .

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GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on December 10 for your chance to win a print copy of HERE TODAY, GONE TAMALE. (US entries only, please.) Good luck everyone!

Meet the Author
Rebecca Adler is the pen name of author Gina Lee Nelson. Gina grew up on the sugar beaches of the Florida Gulf Coast. Drawn to the Big Apple by the sweet smell of wishful thinking, she studied acting on Broadway until a dark-eyed cowboy flung her over his saddle and high-tailed it to the Southwest.

Prior to writing women’s fiction, Gina always found a way to add a touch of the dramatic to her life: dinner theatre in Mississippi, can-can club in Florida, flower shop in Germany, acting school on Broadway, sweatshirt boutique on Madison Avenue, all night dive on the Lower East Side, video series in Jersey, and a giant Furskin at the New York Toy Fair, plus the occasional play and musical.

She’s currently content to pour her melodramatic tendencies into writing cozy mysteries with a hint of romance and a sweet, Southern-fried flavor.

Visit Gina on Facebook and Goodreads.