Please welcome back Texas author Jan
Christensen who shares the opening from her latest book, Buried Under Clutter. This is the second novel in her Tina Tales series following 2012’s Organized To Death which I reviewed
here. After the synopsis below is the excerpt from Chapter One. For more on her
books and writing in general make sure you check out her website at: http://www.janchristensen.com
BURIED UNDER CLUTTER SYNOPSIS
Following the first in the Tina Tales series, Organized
to Death, Jan Christensen’s newest mystery novel is called Buried
Under Clutter.
Someone screams inside the old, neglected
Victorian house next door, and Tina Shaw runs to find out what’s wrong. A woman
bursts out the door saying her aunt is dead. Murdered. Tina notices that the
hallway is piled high with cartons. Later when the woman begs her to help clean
up the house, Tina hesitates. She’s just begun a career as a professional
organizer, though, and her hands itch to start on a new job.
As Tina sifts through the clutter, she finds clues the
murdered woman left behind. She learns the woman was rich, and all her
relatives are suspects. But when the will is read, Tina and her family also
become suspects. After her mother is arrested, Tina begins investigating in
earnest with the help of her boyfriend, Hank (the Hunk). Will she find out who
the killer is before her own life is put in danger?
CHAPTER 1
The scream pierced the cold
winter air. Tina whirled around in her driveway and stared at the old, decaying
Queen Anne next door, then began running toward it. Fumbling in her bag for her
cell phone, she stumbled on the cracked sidewalk leading to the house.
Another scream.
Tina dashed up the steps to the
porch, then hesitated at the front door. Common sense told her not to go in.
She dialed nine-one-one and waited. The silence from inside the house seemed
more ominous than the screams.
Dispatch answered on the second
ring. “What is your emergency?”
“Someone screaming next door to
my house.”
“Address?”
Tina told her. “I’m standing
outside. Should I go in?”
Before the dispatcher could
answer, a distraught-looking woman burst out of the front door and banged into
Tina, making her drop her cell. Tina bumped against the rotten railing, which
gave way behind her. She caught herself by grabbing onto the also-decaying
post. At least it saved her from flying into the dead bushes in front.
“Sorry. Sorry,” the woman
mumbled. Her eyes were wide, her face pale as death. She ran her hand through
her brown hair and plopped herself down on the faded green metal chair in front
of the bay window. Tina shuddered. The paint was peeling. What would it do to
the woman’s clothes? Nice clothes; expensive clothes, she noticed.
“What’s wrong?” Tina began to
search for her phone. A stench from the open front door made her hesitate, but
she couldn’t place the smell, so she continued the hunt.
“My aunt. It’s my aunt. She’s…
she’s dead.”
“Mrs. Blackwell’s dead?” Tina
stopped looking for her cell and stared at the woman.
A tinny voice from under the
glider helped Tina find her phone.
“Hello? You there? Hello?”
“Yes.” Tina grabbed the phone and
looked for a place to sit down because her legs were shaking. Nothing appealed
to her—the other metal chairs were rusting and the glider looked dangerous.
“Apparently there’s a dead woman in the house. Her niece found her just now.”
Mrs. Blackwell’s niece nodded.
And nodded. Couldn’t seem to stop. Tina asked her, “You the one who was
screaming? Is anyone else in there?”
More nodding. Then a shake of the
head.
Tina made an effort to loosen her
cramping hand on the cell. “She was screaming, but she’s not hurt. There’s no
one else here. That we know of.”
A lone siren sounded, coming
closer. The patrol car stopped in front, and two officers jumped out and ran
toward the house. Another siren wailed,
and an ambulance parked behind the police car.
Tina saw her mother and
great-uncle come through their front door and approach the yard. Her mother’s
eyes were wide and a little frightened. Uncle Bob had his service dog on her
leash and had a determined set to his jaw. Here
comes trouble. Tina said goodbye to the dispatcher and faced the two
officers.
“Who called? And why?” the one
who had been driving asked.
Mrs. Blackwell’s niece didn’t
answer, so Tina said, pointing to her, “I called. She found her aunt inside.
Dead.”
The officers dashed inside, the
EMTs close behind.
“What’s going on?” Tina’s mother
asked. “Olivia’s dead?” She gave the niece a sharp look. “Jenny, you all
right?”
So, her mother knew the niece.
Why wasn’t Tina surprised? Tina didn’t remember ever seeing her before. Must
not have been a frequent visitor.
Jenny nodded. Tina noticed she
wasn’t tearful. Just shocked.
The smell coming from the house
was getting to her. She approached the doorway and peeked inside. Recoiled. The
place was crammed with junk, piled to the ceiling in the hallway. It smelled
like a dumpster in there. Tina backed away and caught her mother’s eye. Laura
frowned at her and raised her eyes heavenward. So, she knew Mrs. Blackwell had
been a hoarder.
Why hadn’t Laura told her about
that? Tina had come back to Newport just a few months ago and started a
professional organizing business. Laura should have known Tina would be
interested in a hoarder living right next door. Oh, right, Mom didn’t approve of my new profession. She certainly
wouldn’t want me anywhere near this awful mess. Tina had no enthusiasm for
mucking around in there, either.
One of the officers, the cuter
one with the spikey blond hair, stepped onto the porch. He held a white
handkerchief over his nose, and his eyes were watering. But he wasn’t crying.
Tina realized the stench caused the tears.
He talked to the radio on his
shoulder as he moved down the steps and onto the cracked sidewalk. “We need the
M.E. Yes, looks like a homicide.”
Jan Christensen ©2014
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