Ian Ferguson

A once-famous TV sleuth An amateur theater production An onstage murder A town full of suspects… Miranda Abbott, once known for the crime-solving, karate-chopping church pastor she played on network television, has hit hard times. Turned down for a role on a cable reality show, Miranda is facing ruin when a mysterious postcard arrives, summoning her to Happy Rock, a small town in the Pacific Northwest. But when she gets there, nothing is what she expected. In dire straits, Miranda signs up for an amateur production at the Happy Rock Little Theater, competing against the local real estate agent for the lead role. In front of a packed house, one of the actors is murdered, live, onstage. But out of one hundred witnesses, no one actually saw what happened. Now everyone is under a cloud of suspicion, including the sardonic town doctor, the local high school drama teacher, an oil-stained car mechanic, an older gentleman who may or may not have been in the CIA—and Miranda herself. Clearly, the only way to solve this mystery is for Miranda to summon her skills as television’s Pastor Fran and draw on the help of her new sidekick, Susan, a shy bookstore clerk who seems to know everyone’s secrets. Because the show must go on!

From the bestselling authors of I Only Read Murder comes a sidesplitting mystery of epic movie-of-the-week proportions, featuring the unstoppable Miranda Abbott. Miranda Abbott, actor, will once again be a star. After a very long dry spell that followed her network hit series, Pastor Fran Investigates, Hollywood has come calling and wants Miranda back. This time, she will be the female lead in an oddly expensive movie of the week being filmed in Happy Rock. Miranda signs on the dotted line, but her trusty assistant, Andrew, a whiz with apps and clouds, thinks it all seems a bit fishy. Things go from bad to worse when Miranda’s costar makes a grand entrance at a media-packed press conference by crashing through the atrium window at the Duchess Hotel and being very much dead. The out-of-town cast and crew are horrified, but the great citizens of Happy Rock—including police chief Ned Buckley, grumpy bookstore owner and soon-to-be ex-husband Edgar Abbott, Bea of Bea’s B&B, and the malodorous Melvin Jacobson of S.J. Fertilizer Supply—return to help solve the case in this second Miranda Abbott mystery.