A day in the life with Miriam Lipsky by Stan Schatt

Thank you. I’m always so happy when someone tells me they enjoy reading my Detective Romeo Winston mysteries. I wasn’t always a novelist you know. I was mostly a stay-at-home mom, and then when my daughter was in school I worked for Doc Sanderson. He was a wonderful comfort while my Ben was going through chemo. In any event, Ben’s insurance gave me the money to take courses in writing and police procedures. After all, you can’t write detective novels unless you understand the basics of police work.

My Francine is a grown woman now, but she’s still difficult to handle. Divorced now, she always has had a knack for picking the wrong man. She and my ten-year old grandson Brian live with me while Francine finishes nursing school. I love Brian with all my heart. He’s brilliant, but his Asperger’s Syndrome makes it difficult for him to show his love. I guess I’m telling you more than I should, but it’s been a while since I found someone who was such a good listener.

The trouble began when Doc Sanderson moved into that fancy River Bend Retirement Resort and invited me to dinner there. Morris Belkin was one of the most disagreeable old men I’ve ever met. He accused Doc of cheating at cards. Can you imagine? In any event, the next thing I know poor Doc calls me because he’s in jail and accused of murdering Morris. Doc wouldn’t hurt a fly! He convinced me to nose around the retirement home and see if I could help find the real killer. The residents there don’t open up to outsiders, especially law enforcement, but for whatever reason they seem to like me.

So, here I am trying to find the real killer when my life starts to fall apart. My best friend’s husband makes a pass at me and she thinks it’s my fault. Can you imagine? She won’t even talk to me now. At the same time, I’m finding it harder than I ever thought to do a real investigation. I realize now that my Detective Romeo Winston had me behind the scenes dangling the strings so everything fell neatly into place. Real life is so much harder. The residents are nice enough, well most of them are, but I’m finding it hard to figure out what they really saw and what they imagined they saw. Half my witnesses have some form of dementia. If I keep investigating, I’m afraid I’m well on the way there myself. Still, what can I do? Doc looks so haggard in that jail that I have to keep plugging away.

Oh, you’re asking about my personal life. You mean relationships? Well, I thought that was all over when Ben died. I know, I’m not even old enough for social security and barely old enough for an AARP card. Rabbi Goldman has been bugging me to let him fix me up with a widower he knows. I wish he and my mother would just mind their own business. Sometimes, though, to be perfectly honest, I do have dreams in which I’m with a man. They drive me crazy because I can’t see his face. Lately, though, I’d have to admit that there is one man who interests me.

How many Miriam Lipsky mysteries are there? I’ve published three and now my publisher is breathing down my back while I’m scrambling to finish my latest in time to meet my contract deadline. Meanwhile, I keep running into dead ends. The retirement home is not what I thought it would be. Who would ever guess that it’s worse than Peyton Place? You know, that sexy book we read in high school. On the surface the River Bend Retirement Resort appears to be a wonderful calm place to spend your golden years while underneath I never saw so many people seething with jealousy and passion. Maybe that should be the subject of my next Miriam Lipsky mystery. It sounds like it would be a bestseller.

---

You can read more about Miriam in Murder at the River Bend Retirement Resort, the first book in the NEW “Miriam Lipsky” mystery series.

When a very disagreeable resident of the exclusive River Bend Retirement Resort is murdered, bestselling mystery writer Miriam Lipsky has to find the real killer to save her dear friend from prison. She finds the retirement home seethes with intrigue, passion, and jealousy. To make matters worse, it’s hard to distinguish what residents actually saw from what they imagined.

Miriam finds she has to search for the killer while juggling an autistic grandson, a divorced daughter with a tendency to choose the wrong man, her best friend’s overly friendly husband, and a stalker who leaves her more and more threatening notes. To make matters worse, her rabbi who won’t take no for an answer when it comes to fixing her up.

Miriam, a widow after a disastrous marriage, has given up on love. Just when she is sure that part of her life is over, someone new appears from a very unexpected place.

Murder at the River Bend Retirement Resort is a cozy mystery with a sleuth who has to learn on the job. Despite her best intentions, Miriam makes mistake after mistake and yet moves ever closer to discovering a cold blooded killer who has no remorse.

Buy Link

# # # # # # # # # # #

Meet the author
Stan Schatt has long been interested in almost everything. He has published more than forty books on subject ranging from technology and career changing to the possibilities of extraterrestrial life and biographies of mystery novelist Michael Connelly and spy novelist Daniel Silva. Schatt’s fiction includes the Frankie and Josh mystery trilogy, the paranormal mystery Hello Again, and young adult novels such as Egypt Rising and Jane Blond International Spy. Schatt holds degrees in literature, business, and chemistry and served as a Fulbright Professor to Japan where he taught at Tokyo University.

All comments are welcomed.