Raining Men and Corpses: A Fun Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 1) (23 page)

Raina followed her grandma’s gaze. Two men shouted at each other further down the store. A store associate tried to calm the men down. The taller man pointed at Po Po and spoke animatedly. The three of them started walking toward the Starbucks.

“Yo! The old Chinese woman. Where’s my Jiggle Me doll?” the taller man shouted.

“It’s the only one left in the area,” said the shorter man. “And it’s mine. I called the store to have them put it on hold for me.”

A woman stopped in her tracks. She turned to look at Po Po. “How much do you want for the Jiggle Me doll?” She whipped out a fifty dollar bill from her purse. “I must have it for my daughter.”

The cell phone in Raina’s hands vibrated. She glanced at the new text message.

Raina stood, swinging the diaper bag on her shoulder. The men looked ready to wrestle her grandma. “Let’s go.”

The taller man broke away and ran toward Po Po. “Stop.”

“It’s mine!” The shorter man grabbed the back of the taller man’s jacket and yanked him up short. They grappled and the two fell to the ground.

The woman pulled out another fifty. She shoved the money in Po Po’s face with one hand and grabbed the shopping bags with the other. “Here. Let me have the doll.”

Po Po slapped the other woman’s hand. Raina and her grandma rushed out the store to the sound of pounding footsteps and strains of
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

A
nne R. Tan
is an avid reader. She fell in love with storytelling in elementary school, but decided to study engineering so she could get a “real job.” Her day job is her vacation from home and she moonlights as a writer to keep the voices inside her head under control.

After years of suppressing her creativity, she wrote Raining Men and Corpses, her debut cozy mystery featuring Raina Sun, a Chinese American amateur sleuth, on the cusp of change in her life. Not only is she dealing with finding love and overcoming family betrayals, she is also solving murders.

For those of you who had read any of her work, Tan would love to hear from you at [email protected], and she would really appreciate it if you could leave her a review on Amazon.com or Goodreads.com

If you are interested in learning more about Tan and her writing process, please visit her website at http://annertan.com.