Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting - Santa Cruz, California
Publisher: Good Read Mysteries
Publication date: August 11, 2025
Paperback Print length: 247 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8990936614 / Digital ASIN: B0FLYRXYSD
Pat Pirard, Santa Cruz Law Librarian, newly turned private investigator, is asked to help with jury selection. She has one condition before she agrees: she must meet the suspect and believe he’s innocent. The accused’s story about how his fingerprints got on the murder weapon and why he was at the murder scene seems so outlandish that he convinces contrarian Pat he must be telling the truth. But as she listens to testimony during the trial, she fears she’s been duped and is helping a killer get away with murder. Pat’s life turns into a race to solve the crime before the jury reaches a verdict.
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About Nancy Lynn Jarvis
I have a great deal of empathy for my protagonist, Pat
Pirard.
I probably should connect more with Regan McHenry, the
realtor-protagonist in my first series, Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries,
because, like Regan, I was a realtor for many years and like to tell people that
while the murders are made up, the real estate stories in the books, no matter
how improbable they seem, are always true. But the reality is, I connect much
more with downsized out of her Santa Cruz County Law Librarian and newly minted
PI Pat Pirard.
The fact that I have used my favorite dog and one of my
favorite cats, both of whom have long since crossed the rainbow bridge, as
Pat’s pets contributes to my favoring her, although Regan McHenry also had cats,
so probably not.
It could be because my Pat is based on a real friend (also
named Pat) whom I greatly admire. Normally, when I begin writing, my characters
start out as people I know. Starting that way works until I want a character to
do something my real person wouldn’t do. Often, they refuse to do what the
story demands quite forcefully. I have learned the best way to solve the
problem is to change their name so they will become more malleable and bend to
my will, although not always without an argument.
There are only two exceptions in my name-changing game. The
first is Dave in the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries. I tell a story about him
which never fails to send chills down the spines of audiences I share it with
when I’m invited to a book club or other speaking engagement. The other
character who has always retained her real name is Pat.
That’s another reason she’s fun for me to write. The real
Pat is one of the most interesting people I know. She’s also inquisitive,
daring, friendly, resourceful, and curious, traits she has in the books. It’s
fun to take some of her idiosyncrasies and incorporate them into my written protagonist.
Both Pats, real and written, are incredible markswomen who always carry a .357
Magnum revolver with them, the real Pat in her purse, my Pat in the leopard
briefcase she sports.
Both Pats love bold jewelry and wear it liberally. Both were
the Santa Cruz County Law Librarian for many years. The real Pat retired from
that role and was happy to devote more time to the side hustle she had: being a
PI. My Pat was downsized out of her job on her thirty-fifth birthday and had to
become an unlicensed private investigator, not so much because she loved being
a PI, but out of necessity to pay the bills. She is learning to love her new
role, though.
The real Pat is confident about what she wants. Pat Pirard
started out unsure of what she was doing, who she should pursue a romantic
relationship with, and if she could solve a case and get a paycheck before she
and her pets, Dot, her Dalmatian, and her ginger tabby cat, Lord Peter Wimsey,
got evicted because of non-payment of rent.
In the series, time moves realistically, with Pat getting
her next assignment at the end of each book or immediately after the previous
book ends. “What Lucy Heard” is Pat’s sixth job and begins with her taking on a
jury selection assignment. She has no experience with her new job, but she
agrees to help because the accused murderer is the brother-in-law of the man
who replaced her at the law library, and a friend of hers.
With each of Pat’s cases, she’s been gaining experience and
confidence and has learned to trust her instincts, but in this book, she has no
idea how to do jury selection and no desire to work with the famed attorney who
has made her feel manipulated when she worked with him in the past. In many
ways, it feels like she’s starting over and will have to build belief in her
abilities from scratch.
She accepts the challenge, though, and does a creditable job
with jury selection, happy to help because she believes the accused man’s
bizarre story about how his fingerprints wound up on the murder weapon and why
he was at the scene of the crime. The only problem is that Pat sat in the
courtroom and heard all the witness testimony, which contradicts what the
accused man told her. Self-doubt swamps her, and she becomes concerned she’s
helping a guilty man get away with murder.
She decides the only way to be able to sleep at night is to
solve the murder, something the police feel they’ve already done. After
investigating and looking at things differently, she thinks she’s finally
figured out what really happened. Unfortunately, her solution to the murder seems
as far-fetched as the story the accused man told. How Pat tries to prove her
thesis makes for lots of fun and a few story kinks.
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