DEADLY DONATION: A Tails and Trails Mystery (The Tails and Trails Mysteries Book 6)
By Hailey Hartley
Park Ranger Quinn Reeves thought the hardest part of hosting a VIP tour would be dealing with the demanding donor’s attitude. She was wrong. When wealthy philanthropist Gerald Whitmore collapses during a private after-hours hike at Riverbend State Park, Quinn’s carefully prepared thermos of coffee becomes a murder weapon. With the medical examiner confirming poisoning and Quinn herself as the one who handed Gerald the fatal drink, she’s desperate to prove her innocence and find out who used her to commit murder. Armed with her attention to detail, her knowledge of everyone who had access to that thermos, and her Golden Retriever Scout’s uncanny ability to find evidence, Quinn is determined to figure out who turned her coffee preparation into a deadly delivery system.
Gerald Whitmore made enemies as easily as he made donations. His supervisor was facing termination thanks to Gerald’s campaign to get her fired. The community center director was about to lose his building and his job because Gerald refused to renew the lease. The park board president was fighting to keep her position as Gerald pushed to remove her. Gerald’s own wife was being written out of his will in favor of a charitable foundation. With nearly everyone having both motive and opportunity to tamper with that thermos during the narrow window it sat unguarded in the ranger station break room, Quinn faces a tangled web of suspects who all had excellent reasons to want Gerald dead. As the evidence piles up and threatening messages warn her to stop investigating, Quinn realizes the killer is getting desperate and she might be next on their list.
Between maintaining trails, giving educational programs to enthusiastic third-graders, and trying not to think about how someone manipulated her into being an accomplice, Quinn races to identify the poisoner before they strike again. When threatening messages escalate to include Scout, the investigation becomes personal. With her best friend Nora digging through research, Sheriff Berkley methodically building the case, and Scout finding crucial clues the professionals missed, Quinn must untangle a carefully planned murder before the killer decides a curious ranger is too dangerous to leave alive. Because in the mountains of Riverbend State Park, some people value control more than human life, and the deadliest donations aren’t always the ones made with money.
Park Ranger Quinn Reeves thought the hardest part of hosting a VIP tour would be dealing with the demanding donor’s attitude. She was wrong. When wealthy philanthropist Gerald Whitmore collapses during a private after-hours hike at Riverbend State Park, Quinn’s carefully prepared thermos of coffee becomes a murder weapon. With the medical examiner confirming poisoning and Quinn herself as the one who handed Gerald the fatal drink, she’s desperate to prove her innocence and find out who used her to commit murder. Armed with her attention to detail, her knowledge of everyone who had access to that thermos, and her Golden Retriever Scout’s uncanny ability to find evidence, Quinn is determined to figure out who turned her coffee preparation into a deadly delivery system.
Gerald Whitmore made enemies as easily as he made donations. His supervisor was facing termination thanks to Gerald’s campaign to get her fired. The community center director was about to lose his building and his job because Gerald refused to renew the lease. The park board president was fighting to keep her position as Gerald pushed to remove her. Gerald’s own wife was being written out of his will in favor of a charitable foundation. With nearly everyone having both motive and opportunity to tamper with that thermos during the narrow window it sat unguarded in the ranger station break room, Quinn faces a tangled web of suspects who all had excellent reasons to want Gerald dead. As the evidence piles up and threatening messages warn her to stop investigating, Quinn realizes the killer is getting desperate and she might be next on their list.
Between maintaining trails, giving educational programs to enthusiastic third-graders, and trying not to think about how someone manipulated her into being an accomplice, Quinn races to identify the poisoner before they strike again. When threatening messages escalate to include Scout, the investigation becomes personal. With her best friend Nora digging through research, Sheriff Berkley methodically building the case, and Scout finding crucial clues the professionals missed, Quinn must untangle a carefully planned murder before the killer decides a curious ranger is too dangerous to leave alive. Because in the mountains of Riverbend State Park, some people value control more than human life, and the deadliest donations aren’t always the ones made with money.