Check Mate

by Caron Allan

Friendship Can Be Murder! A murderous confessional full of twists and turnsReviewers “…the heroine is completely without morals…You really should not like her, but you find yourself wishing her every success in her increasingly bizarre schemes and personal entanglements”“Outstandingly witty, daft, exciting and so enjoyable!! This is the best book I have read in a long time. Exquisite!!”“…enables the reader to enter into the twisted world of the main character … reading her journal … you take voyeuristic pleasure in her inner thoughts, plans & audacious exploits” At the end of book 2, Cressida Barker-Powell-Hopkins was fighting for her life in hospital after being mowed down by her former best friend, now arch-nemesis Monica in a hit and run murder attempt.When Cressida finally wakes, she vows vengeance in this, the third book of the Posh Hits trilogy. But she's still recovering from her injuries, she’s got a limp, is feeling depressed, and her murdering skills are a bit rusty. To make things worse, her arch-enemy seems to have moved house.What on earth can Cressida do now? Fortunately she knows people who know people.As her loved ones rally round, Cressida gets her mojo back and gets back on the trail of her former best friend, and as ever, confides her plans and schemes to her journal. Will she ever get back to reading Vogue with Billie? Why are dead flowers coming to the house?Buy Check Book 3 of the Friendship Can Be Murder series now for a dark, humorous tale of murder, revenge and choosing the right outfit for a dastardly deed.Extract from Check Book 3 of the Friendship Can Be Murder I paused for a moment to allow my eyes to adjust to this deeper darkness, and once I found the bath, sank down on the side of it to allow my jelly legs a few moments of recovery before leaving this sanctuary to complete my mission. I saw now that the door was open, and beyond the bathroom, the hall was dense deepest black. No sound came to my ears.In the doorway I paused again, to get my bearings and to allow my thumping heart to calm. I eased the bathroom door almost shut, and with a quick flash of my torch, checked around the room. I determined that I could easily doctor the mouthwash, both the open one and the new bottle I found in the cabinet.I tipped away about a quarter of the contents of the open one down the sink and added the same amount of the ethylene glycol-rich anti-freeze I had brought with me in fizzy pop bottle. Then I filled the syringe, and pushed the needle into the plastic near the lid of the new bottle to make a hole. I squeezed out a good inch and a half of mouthwash and then topped the level up again from the syringe.I felt pretty pleased with myself. I’d made almost no noise and caused no disturbance. My confidence rocketed.Time to find that kitchen.It’s not easy finding your way around someone else’s house in the middle of the night. It takes forever to go anywhere as you have your hands stretched out in front of you, and you have to feel each step of the way. The last thing I wanted was to bump into a shelf of ornaments or fall down the stairs.By the time I had finally reached the kitchen, I was mentally and physically exhausted. There were a number of useful items in the fridge that I knew I would be able to ‘enhance’. For example, the plastic container of leftover peach slices in syrup. I added a little splosh to that.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2016

About the author

I was born in Kent, England and then moved all over the South of Britain before spending five years in Brisbane, Australia.  I'm now living back in Britain, in Derbyshire, where Jane Austen's Mr Darcy came from. I haven't met him yet, but I cling to the dream. I mainly write mysteries and crime but I sometimes dabble in other genres, to little effect.

Like many writers, I have always wanted to write stories. I can remember announcing this to my mother when I was eight years old. I seem to remember she wasn't overly impressed. Sigh.

I started reading adventure stories and mysteries for children when I was around 7 or 8, and graduated to Agatha Christie and Patricia Wentworth (my fave) when around 9 or 10.  I have never looked back.

I wrote my first novel Ghosts! Ghosts! Ghosts! in 1970. Sadly no longer available due to my mum keeping it in a drawer with my old school books, a knitted bookmark, and a tea-cosy I made. I do, however, still have a picture of the self-made cover for the book:

Sadly Canva wasn't around in those days so I had to make do with the back of a cereal packet...

Like many writers I am surrounded by cats most of the time, not necessarily my own. I love listening to music, which often inspires my writing, and I love learning languages, which all get muddled in my head, and emerge in single mixed sentence in times of need, ie 'Vielen dank, ich liebe bardzo molte bene este livres de Mysteriosa, dobranoc och ursäkta.'

I have often tried writing other types of fiction and non-fiction, but I always get bored and throw in a murder, so I have given into my inner nature and now devote myself mainly to killing people. On the page, of course.

When not plotting how to kill people, I can often be found trawling the aisles of my local grocery stores in pursuit of everyday items with lethal potential.  Other interests include literary studies, history, reading about poisons, researching psychoses and serial killers, cooking from 'recipes', growing 'herbs' and digging deep holes in the garden.  I always assumed no 'real' publisher would be interested in my work, so self-published my first eBook in the Friendship can be Murder trilogy, Criss Cross, in 2013 and the follow-up,  Cross Check in 2014.  The third book of the Friendship can be Murder Trilogy, Check Mate, appeared in February 2016.

Also In 2016, I introduced my new murder mystery series set in London in the 1930s. These are very much of the classic Golden Age style, and feature amateur sleuth Dottie Manderson and police officer William Hardy. The first book was Night and Day: a Dottie Manderson mystery. Book 2 is The Mantle of God: a Dottie Manderson mystery. In April 2018, the third book in the Dottie series, a novella Scotch Mist was published and followed in November 2018 by a full-length novel called The Last Perfect Summer of Richard Dawlish. 2019 saw the publication of book 5 in the Dottie Manderson series, called The Thief of St Martins, with book 6, The Spy Within appearing in 2020. Book 7 Rose Petals and White Lace is scheduled for release in 2022 as is the first book in a new series set in the 'swinging sixties' and entitled the Miss Gascoigne mysteries. Book 1 will be called A Meeting With Murder. If you're interested in finding out more, please take a look at my blog (listed below) for sneak peeks and news.

www.caronallanfiction.com

I also released a new stand-alone full-length novel called Easy Living: a story about life after death, after death, after death. It's a little bit paranormal-type fantasy, a little bit romance, a little bit mystery.  I love stories that cross generic boundaries and have a broad reach. Maybe try it out?

Please say hello on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caronsbooks/

or Twitter: https://twitter.com/caron_allan

I'm also on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Thanks for dropping by!

Reviews

[LeAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

How else could it have ended?

Book 3 was more serious...suspenseful yet warm. I read it in one day - one of the strangest series I've read. I will be looking for some from the author's other series. How else could it have ended? Without spoilers, a variation of the ending was what I expected. I couldn't see them going back to the way they were when they were BFF's....too much water under the bridge. Monica was the less stable of the two. Things had gotten too serious.

[S A W Steel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most enjoyable series

I've read all of them now and feel a bit sad that they've come to an end. Quirky and unusual, keep you guessing. Dark humour, shouldn't really find it amusing but can't help yourself.

[Suzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third and final book in this quirky, dark humor book. This 3rd book was a very quick read. I wasn't sure how the story would end but I didn't see it like that. Caron Allan has a very interesting mind.