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EXCERPT WEDNESDAY! JEWELER’S MARK BY R.V. REYES


Every Wednesday The Latina Book Club features excerpts from exciting novels by Latino authors.  
                                                                                             
Happy Reading and Happy Holidays!
  


JEWELER’S MARK by R.V. Reyes is a fun, breath-stealing, edge-of-your-seat page turner! Read The Latina Book Club review here.  
  

  
Latina Book Club, Maria Ferrer, Read Latino
Click on title to order your copy.

*Excerpt


 “The table was sticky with soda rings. The light bulbs were doing that weird buzzing flicker thing. It was nothing like CSI. No tight six-packs, just beer bellies—so disappointing,” Lourdes said with a pout.
 Just like her not to take things seriously. She hadn’t been arrested but she’d been asked to come to the station for questioning.
 “I’m sure the police station is not the Intercontinental, but put that aside. Are you a suspect?” I asked her. All day yesterday I’d worried. Every time the phone rang I’d expected to hear word she’d been thrown in jail.
 “I guess so,” she replied, shrugging in that way a teenager admits they might be wrong. “My lawyer told me to find an alibi.”
 “Lou, did you do it?” I asked. My voice hesitated as the words forced themselves from my mouth.
 “No way! You know me better than that.” She slammed her palm onto the marble café counter. “I wanted to kill her when she called me a whore, but she was so loca I was afraid of her. She was like a rabid dog.”
 “I know. I’m sorry.” I gave my best friend a hug. “It is just too strange. Right? Alive one moment, murdered the next.”
 We paused in a reflective moment, drinking our coffee, remembering the surreal scene. I thought about Rosario screaming in the shoe department. It was hard to believe she was dead now. I took one bite of my toast and tossed it aside.
 “I need something sweet. You want a guava pastry?” I asked Lou. The counter waitress slid open the door of the small case that held the Latin versions of danishes and muffins. I pointed to one and she passed it to me.
 “No, I have to fit into that size four I bought,” Lou said.
 “You wear a six,” I chided.
 “This designer cuts big so I got a smaller size to be safe.”
 “You got a size smaller because you like to show off your fondillo!” I said with a laugh.
 Thank goodness we’d changed the subject to something as trivial as Lourdes’s butt. Her butt isn’t trivial as in insignificant. It’s proportional to her height and weight but with surprising roundness and oomph. Oh my God, was I having an internal monologue about my best friend’s ass?
 At least that was better than the conversation I’d had with myself late last night before finally falling asleep. I’d convinced myself she’d killed Rosario. I even dreamt of Lourdes and a giant pumpkin. In the dream, she’d torn a boulder-sized squash from a floor display, thrown it down the escalators, and laughed when it smashed into the fragrance counter.
 “Let’s talk about the reunion. It’s only two weeks away,” Lourdes said.
 “I can’t. I’ve got to get back to work. I have a buyer coming.” I threw away the wax paper, sticky with guava paste. We gave each other a kiss and parted ways. ###

*Excerpt published with permission of R.V. Reyes. All rights reserved by author.



BOOK SUMMARY:  Gigi Santos, wedding ring designer and diamond appraiser, is looking forward to her ten-year high school reunion. She is trying to be a better, less gossipy person, but Lourdes, her BFF since forever, has not matured past teenage pettiness.

Cover boy–handsome Detective Carlos Garcia comes into the picture to investigate a year-old burglary at Gigi’s jewelry business. They flirt, and sparks fly. Gigi is sure she will have him on her arm as her reunion date. That is, until her BFF becomes the prime suspect in the murder of the reunion's organizer.

Gigi knows Lourdes is innocent and she is determined to prove it. When Gigi’s sleuthing puts her and the people she loves in danger, Detective Garcia tries to keep her out of harm’s way. But she wants a date, not a hero.

Will Gigi and Carlos dance under the Miami moonlight? Or will fake diamond rings send them all to jail? Find out in the first of the Love and Diamonds mysteries.



Latina Book Club, Maria Ferrer, Read Latino
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  R.V. Reyes writes what she knows. As the third generation to work in her family’s jewelry business and as a Cuban-American living in the culturally diverse city of Miami, Raquel is passionate about representing multi-culturalism in the mystery genre. An active member of Mystery Writers of America- Florida chapter, she volunteers for their annual conference SleuthFest. Follow her blog, Cozy in Miami, where she interviews other Florida writers or find her on Facebook and Twitter.


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