The Jackpot

The jackpot finally hit. Then the numbers stopped adding up.

Retired accountant Walt Brubaker has a new hobby: Tuesday night bingo at VFW Post 6640. Earl calls a number every eight seconds. Bea Gackenbach plays with three dabbers and a lucky troll. And the Commander has a joke for every ball in the cage.

There is just one problem. The jackpot board says CAPPED PER IRS, and Walt knows the IRS changed the rules in January.

Then the biggest jackpot in post history finally pays out. The next morning, Walt's best friend Freddie, two days sober, finds the bingo card salesman dead inside the old Army tank on the front lawn. The padlock is hanging open. The state police arrest the gentlest man in town. And the front door of the post will not stop banging.

Armed with a green ledger, a calculator that prints, and a wife who can stop a state trooper with one look (almost), Walt has until the Halloween vote to prove what he has always known. Numbers don't lie. People do.

Inside you'll find:

• A retired accountant who solves murders by noticing which numbers should have moved and didn't
• A best friend counting his sober days on Shirley Temples, with a brass plate riding on it
• A retired teacher whose voice can stop a classroom, a crowd, and a state police corporal
• Tuesday bingo, an all night apple butter stir, a polka, a corn maze, and a goose with opinions
• Big laughs, real heart, and a fair play puzzle with every clue on the page

No graphic violence, no explicit scenes, no bad language. Just a good mystery, a small town full of people you'll want to visit again, and a Thanksgiving you won't forget.

The Jackpot is Book Two in the Vera Crus Funny Cozy Mystery series, and it stands on its own. Pull up a chair at Post 6640. Eyes down.