The new release of Murder in the Village by Yvonne Mason is ranking in the top 100 of new releases on Amazon. As of this morning it sits Best Sellers Rank: #70,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#101 in Lawyers & Criminals Humor
#12 in Suburban Fiction (Books)
This is simply amazing. The story line is this.
When Greer O’Mally moves into a supposed quiet retirement community if was with the intent of healing. However, some things are not meant to be. Before she has even unpacked her boxes, she is up to her neck in murder. Bodies are piling up like cordwood. The local town crier is telling every one who will listen that Greer is the murderer. Help arrives in the form of Det. Friday. Yes, he has heard all the jokes. He just wants the facts.
When things get really uncontrolled the three girls show up. Yep, Lola, Vicky and Penelope join the fray.
Who is doing the killings? What do they all have in common? and why is Lala going around telling the village that Greer is the killer?
Read Murder in the Village.
There is a second book in the work which will be a series of books. While this book is based on a real please the characters are fiction. However, so many folks in the village want to be in the book, we will have to see how many show up in subsequent books.
Two of the many reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars Yvonne Mason has writtern another can’t-put-down book
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2025
Yvonne Mason has done it again! She has used her vast knowledge and life experience to write another book that’s extremely difficult to put down. I know I couldn’t. Within hours of the book arriving in my mailbox, I reached the satisfying end. This is a fun book that introduces readers to or reacquaints readers with characters who enliven “Murder in the Village.” Three drag queens who also help unravel murders show up in grand fashion to help the main character, Greer, who somehow has become a prime murder suspect. Do not buy this book if you expect to dawdle over it for weeks. This is the kind of dramedy you can’t wait to dig into to find out who is killing all the retirees in the community.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2025
Verified Purchase 5 star review
Great book! Very well written and holds your attention until the end. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHW2KTKT
Second in the Series coming Soon……
Just when Greer O”Malley thought her life had gotten back to the quiet life she invisioned, it didn’t.
Chapter 1
It all started in the middle aisle of the hardware store. Just when I thought things were going to settle down after the arrest and conviction of Dante Sherman and the commitment of his wife Lala to the institution of the off-the-reservation mindset, they blew up again.
For those of you who have forgotten, my name is Greer O’Malley and I live in a community of soon to be forgotten
people of a certain age. There is an adage that the state I currently reside in is called “God’s Waiting Room.” I am inclined to agree. People of a certain age move to this state in the beginning to just be here part time. They don’t like the winter months in the frozen tundra also known as North of the Mason-Dixon line. They, like the winged creatures, fly south for the winter. After growing tired of either flying back and forth, or driving back and forth, they at some point decide to stay put in “God’s Waiting Room.”
As I said at the start of this little story, it all started in the middle aisle of the hardware store. I made the mistake of venturing out during the daylight hours. I needed something from the hardware store and this is where my story begins. As I stood looking at the numerous water faucets, I heard a voice I thought I would never hear again.
“Greer, what a surprise.”
Slowly I turned around and there she was. Lala Sherman in the flesh and not a twisted part of my imagination.
“Well, I thought you off on a retreat of some sort. At least that was the word going around in the village.” I said.
“Oh, Greer. You would not believe what has been going on. After that disaster of a drag show, I did go away for a while. But I am back, no thanks to you.”
This time my thoughts did not come out of my mouth. I wanted them to but that little voice said, “Don’t do it. There are too many sharp objects with her reach.”
Instead, I said, “Well, it is good to see you out and about.”
Before she could answer I saw him. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Her husband Dante was strolling down the aisle like he didn’t have a worry in the world. I looked around to make sure I had not beamed up to a parallel dimension. How in the name of all reality did he get out of prison? How did she get out of the home for the stupidly insane? My answers were soon to be forthcoming.
Lala smiled. It was a smile I knew all too well. “I guess you are wondering how come we are back?”
Not missing a beat, I replied, “well, that thought did cross my mind.”
Looking at her husband with that secret look that sometimes pass between husband and wife, she replied, “It appears during his trial, there were some small technicalities that his attorney used to get an appeal which resulted in his getting early release. The judge got overzealous and gave him sentences outside of the min/max guidelines. As for me, well, I am cured. Or so they say. So, here we are. Free at last as the old saying goes.”
I looked at both thinking to myself, ‘here we go again.’
Out loud I said, “Are you back at the village?”
Lala replied, “Sort of.”
I didn’t ask what she meant by ‘sort of’. I really didn’t want to know. I did know that things would not end well.
As I was trying to find a way to move away from the two of them, Lala solved that problem for me.
“Well, I guess you are looking to hide a body?” She asked innocently enough.
“Excuse me.” I answered.
“Remember the first time we met and I introduced myself to you. You told me you had to go because you had to go hide a body. I figured you were here because you needed Duct tape, a tarp and a shovel.”
“Look, does it appear that I am standing in that aisle? If you look around, we are in the faucet aisle.”
“Well, maybe you are just pretending to need a faucet. I bet you are going to go hide a body.”
As I walked away shaking my head, I said to no one, “I just can’t.”
I wondered what those two were up to and how in the world they managed to return to the land of the somewhat normal. I also wondered what she meant by the statement of they were sort of living in the village. Either they were or they weren’t. There is no sort of. I would soon find out.
Midnight Publishing 