Strangled Prose — Joan Hess

I'm Claire Malloy. I run that cute little bookstore in the abandoned railroad depot--the Book Depot. I love Mildred--a.k.a. Azalea Twilight--so I agreed to let her use my store for the autograph party for her latest smutty romance, Professor of Passion, even though I usually don't even stock her works. But as I say, Mildred was a friend...

At the party, Maggie, our small college town's meanest feminist, burst in and read from the book, at which time I learned Mildred had used the circumstances of my late husband's death in the midst of her smutty trash. Mildred left in tears and shortly thereafter I marched after her thinking I could just kill her for her insensitive use of such a private matter.

I didn't make it to her house, though. I returned to my party-filled little store. But someone else made it because Mildred ended up dead. And since she'd offended, every faculty member at Faber College, there was no end of suspects..