Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) (16 page)

T
hanks for reading
Balmy Darlings and Deaths.
I hope you enjoyed it!

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Want more Raina Sun?

Raining Men and Corpses
(Raina Sun #1)

Gusty Lovers and Cadavers
(Raina Sun #2)

Breezy Friends and Bodies
(Raina Sun #3)

Balmy Darlings and Death
(Raina Sun #4)
preorder now
.

R
aina Sun managed
to save the wine when her fake fiancé’s brother fell on her lap. The impact knocked the stuffings out of her, and one of the toilet paper wads she’d shoved into her bra dropped onto the back of his neck. She used her index finger to nudge the side of his head, but he didn’t move…or breathe.

Fudge.

She glanced around the small alcove on the east wing of the unfamiliar mansion, but didn’t see anything that could get her out of her current predicament. It seemed rather callus to push him off her lap, but his dead weight on her lap pinned her lower body to the stone bench underneath the window. The moonlit parkland outside no longer looked so magical with a dead body for company.

Her hand shook, but she slurped down the rest of the wine without spilling it over her peacock blue silk dress. For once, it wasn’t a loaner, but neither did she wanted a red stain on her chest when she spoke to the police when they eventually got here.

But first, she had to get away from the body before the bodyguards showed up, or his wouldn’t be the only dead body lying around. With two rival Chinese triads negotiating territorials rights downstairs and bulges of big guns underneath tuxedos, her faked fiance would kill her himself for adding to his to-do list when he was already hustling to consolidate his position in the secret criminal organization.

Raina set the crystal flute down, re-padded the girls with the toilet paper, and took a deep rattling breath. She lifted her shaking hands, hovering them over the black hair on her lap. Her heart hammered against her chest.

“What the—”

Raina glanced up at the familiar voice. “Sonny!” She sagged back against the stone pillar behind her. “Get him off me.”

Sonny Kwan, her faked fiancé, rushed over from the intersection where the main hall led to the east wing. The silver scar on the side of his face glinted when it caught the light from the wall scones. He grabbed his brother’s shoulder and shook him. “Jerry!”

No answer.

He turned his brother over, sliding him into the tile floor.

Raina wiggled her toes, sharpening the pins and needles feeling. She hobbled into a standing position, but held onto the wall in case she toppled over in her two-inch heels.

Sonny unbuttoned Jerry’s bow tie and shirt and felt for a pulse. His brown eyes darkened, highlighting the silver scar on the side of his face. He glanced at Raina. “Did someone pay you to kill my brother?”

The blood rushed in Raina’s ears, and she swayed. If Sonny, the Dia Lo of the Nine Dragons triad, turned on her, she was dead meat. She shook her head. “I was texting my grandma…I heard a shuffle, and he fell on me, knocking my phone onto the floor.” She pointed at the pieces of her smart phone on the tile floor. “He made a gurgle sound…he went limp…I don’t know what happened.” Her breaths came out in short, noisy puffs.

Sonny checked his brother’s pockets and came up with a cell phone and wallet. He flipped through the wallet and put it back into Jerry’s pocket. “Give me your purse.”

Raina clutched the tiny evening bag in front of her. “Can I just go home?”

Sonny snatched the purse from her and tossed his brother’s phone inside it. He scooped up the pieces of her phone and dumped them inside too. He grabbed her hands, dragging her away from the intersection. “Dinner is about to start. Let’s go.”

Raina trotted alongside him, her heels clicking on the glossy dark wood floor, and the silk dress fluttering against her legs toward the main hall. “What about Jerry?”

“We’ll talk later, but we can’t be seen with his body. Neither of us would survive the fallout.”

“But you’re Dia Lo...”

“Who usurped Jerry for the position.”

Raina stumbled and would have fallen if Sonny didn’t catch her.

The literal translation for Dia Lo meant big brother and also the formal title for the head of a Chinese criminal organization. If Sonny was a usurper then the other fraction would gladly use this situation as an opportunity to eliminate him. And as his fake fiancée, Raina was also caught in the middle of the Nine Dragon’s civil war. And all because she wanted to get her deceased grandfather’s journal back. If only she had said no when Sonny suggested the faked engagement.

Raina heard footsteps in front of them.
Oh, no…

A
nne R. Tan
fell in love with storytelling in elementary school, but decided to study engineering so she could get a “real job.” Her day job is her vacation from home and she moonlights as a writer to keep the voices inside her head under control.

Her cozy mysteries feature Raina Sun, a Chinese American amateur sleuth, on the cusp of change in her life. Not only is she dealing with finding love and overcoming family betrayals, she is also solving murders.

If you are interested in learning more about Tan and her writing process, sign up for Anne R. Tan’s email newsletter at
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