A Case of Imagination

Madeline Maclin #1

by Jane Tesh

"On this nice July morning in Parkland, North Carolina, the office of Madeline Maclin Investigations might as well have been an Egyptian tomb: hot, dusty, and dead." It doesn't help that her landlord Reid Kent, does a brisk business...and briskly hits on Mac to rejoin his agency. He maintains no one will hire a former Miss Parkland as a serious PI.

Mac has been friends forever with Jerry Fairweather. Jerry claims to be psychic and is, unlike his two brothers, somewhat screwy. And he refuses to claim a share in the Fairweather fortune. But he shares some good news with Mac--his Uncle Val has died and left him a house. The two friends drive out to Celosia, a half hour away, where they discover a local beauty pageant in trouble and a house just perfect for setting up shop. A Psychic Shop. The arrival of lawyer Olivia, Jerry's shark-like girlfriend, rouses both Mac's interest in the mystery at the pageant and the one in her own heart. And then comes the first murder....

A Case of Imagination is Jane Tesh's playful first mystery, the start of a series by an author who admires Terry Pratchett, Martha Grimes, Carl Hiaasen, and P.G. Wodehouse.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Contemporary, Ebooks, Detective

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jane is a 2022 Book Excellence Award Finalist for her fantasy novel, Butterfly Waltz and a 2023 Book Excellence Finalist for her mystery novel, Ghost Light.

Jane lives and writes in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, the real Mayberry. She is the author of the Grace Street Mystery Series, the Madeline Maclin Mysteries, four fantasy novels, and over thirty plays for children.