ISBN 978-0-97987-447-5. $14.95 (softcover). 292 pages.
A CHAR'S WORST NIGHTMARE: Cleaning up dead husbands is not in Sally Collier's job description, so when she finds one buried at the bottom of his garden, her Monday morning work schedule gets majorly derailed. Sally has history with the owners of the multi-million dollar home overlooking Discovery Bay on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, and when her beau, Jefferson County Chief of Detectives GEORGE TULLOCK warns her she'll have to do a "Sally Sees": remember what she saw when she got there, her day turns into a walk down a bad memory lane.
From being raised in post-World War II London, England to becoming a secretary and emigrating to Chicago, Illinois where she went from an eager-beaver office gal to a single mom of two chickadees; from heading west to California's Bay Area where she met Mel and Renee at a Human Potential Movement training, and started cleaning for a living. To moving on to picturesque Port Townsend and working in a doctor's practice, she's made a good life for herself, started Sal's Gals, her cleaning company, & found a good man to love.
Sally's proud that Charles Dickens wrote about her current trade in A CHRISTMAS CAROL and says of her mentor: "My Mum was a good char, it's just that she didn't clean with a light heart. You know, have fun. Oh, quit sniggering! Of course you can have fun cleaning house. What's the first thing most little girls play at? Anyway, she taught me that a family's home will tell you a lot about how they're getting along, and for the past three years, this one's been in trouble."
Sally tells her first mystery from the perspective of an immigrant and a business woman, and isn't shy about her memories, the joy she finds in cleaning her homes and her love life.
There's never a dull moment in THE DEAD HUSBAND. It is so magical I wanted to take it to bed with me and cuddle it. I loved the characters, the stories, the situations, the wisdom, the scenery, the British pieces, the relationships, the love, the humor, the language. I was so excited that R. J. shared a lot of herself and I found it all fascinating. It filled the book out and made it very real, in a fictional sort of way.
-Lynn Lott, M.A., M.F.T.
Co-Author of THE SEVEN STEPS ON A WRITERS PATH,
CHORES WITHOUT WARS and many more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R. J. Brown, a WWII adopted orphan, was born in London, England and as a secretary emigrated to Chicago, Illinois where she worked in the Union of American Hebrew Congregations until joining the Counter Culture in 1969.
A decade later, she moved her family to Berkeley, California where she took trainings in the Human Potential Movement, put her kids in alternative schooling and started her cleaning company.
Upon relocating to Port Townsend, Washington, she continued cleaning and trained as a Children's Advocate for the Jefferson County Domestic Violence Program where she created the Stepson Walk & Talk Safety Course. For nine years she was the Managing Editor of the Townsend Letter for Doctors, a magazine written by doctors in alternative health practices.
She is now a grandmother, living on the Olympic Peninsula's West End with her husband. Together they created the book review site RebeccasReads.com and took care of her ailing father-in-law. Her first book, STANDING THE WATCH: The Greatest Gift is a memoir of those years. She is a contributing writer for the SENIORS SUNSET TIMES, monthly newspaper.
She'd love to hear from you at these websites: rjbrownbooks.com or bigriverpress.com
