Butterfly Betrayal

November 24, 2023

Butterfly Betrayal

Butterfly Betrayal: A Seneca James Mystery
by Ruth J Hartman

About Butterfly Betrayal

Butterfly Betrayal: A Seneca James Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Rural Indiana
Level Best Books (November 21, 2023)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 Pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CKJ16LXB

Raising butterflies is peaceful and calm, until someone dies.

Majestic Monarch Butterfly Farm might flitter away forever. That is, unless Seneca James acquires the property next door. She and Winifred, her costume-wearing cat, have a fight on their hands. Their land sits next to a milkweed-covered field, essential for monarchs. If she’s unsuccessful in buying it, her precious, winged friends won’t survive. When people end up dead on her farmland, Seneca is suspected of murder.

What is it about the milkweed field that’s worth killing for? And who’s the murderer?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Annie was tall, skinny, and geeky, with crazy red hair and tiny wire-rimmed glasses. I’d had my doubts about her ability to lift the butterfly pens and heavy supplies, but she’d proven me wrong. Kid was strong as an ox. If she just wasn’t so weird. Not being mean when I said that. I did like her. But sometimes things she blurted out were, let’s say, unexpected.
When I entered the greenhouse, she was there, sweeping the floor, the stiff bristles of the broom scratching against the concrete. My eyes were drawn to the spot. I couldn’t look away. The image of him crumpled there would stay with me forever.
“Seneca?”
“Hmmm?” I couldn’t stop staring. Remembering. The expression of surprise frozen on his face. The giant pool of crimson crawling across the floor in an ever-widening circle.
“Uh, are you having a stroke?”
Startled by her question, I snapped out of my trance. “No. I’m not having a stroke.”
“Heart attack?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
“Oh, dementia.” She shook her head sadly.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine.”
She stared at me, wide-eyed, like I was out of my gourd for thinking myself to be healthy, when in fact, I might expire any second where I stood, and she’d have to call the funeral director to come get my lifeless corpse. “If you say so.”
Annie was taking lots of science classes. She wanted to be a doctor and was always trying to diagnose everyone she talked to. I’d had to discourage her from doing that to people who toured the farm or frequented the café. One poor man had left here after talking to Annie, sure that the tiny mole on his chin was a portal to a humongous brain tumor that would kill him within the week. I shook my head. Maybe Annie’s mom would try to convince her to lower her standards a little from wanting to be a physician. I wasn’t sure future patients would survive her lack of a bedside manner.

About Ruth J. Hartman

Ruth J. Hartman spends her days herding cats and her nights spinning mysterious tales. She, her husband, and their cats love to spend time curled up in their recliners watching old Cary Grant movies. Well, the cats sit in the people’s recliners. Not that the cats couldn’t get their own furniture. They just choose to shed on someone else’s.

Ruth, a left-handed, cat-herding, farmhouse-dwelling writer uses her sense of humor as she writes tales of lovable, klutzy women who seem to find trouble without even trying.

Ruth’s husband and best friend, Garry, reads her manuscripts, rolls his eyes at her weird story ideas, and loves her despite her insistence all of her books have at least one cat in them. See updates about her cozy mysteries at Ruthjhartman.com.

Author Links

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ruth.j.hartman

Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063631596817

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ruth-j-hartman

Website https://www.ruthjhartman.com/

Purchase Link – Amazon

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

November 21 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – SPOTLIGHT

November 21 – My Reading Journeys – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 22 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

November 22 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

November 23 – THANKSGIVING U.S.