Hammered, Nailed and Screwed — Kathleen Hering

Interior decorator Laura Howard is receiving messages from her husband on her telephone answering machine. It's his voice all right. But his ashes are in the urn on Laura's fireplace mantle. . . Now wealthy from her husband's life insurance benefits, Laura tries to put her life in order. She strains to keep her sense of humor and sanity as vandals destroy her car and burglars ransack her house. Is it the final straw when the new resident of the home she shared with her late husband is killed on the very designer tile Laura selected for the entryway? All this -- plus mysterious and threatening messages from her cheating, lying, no-good husband -- begins to push the ever-tasteful Laura to that tacky place known as despair. Oregon Detective Chris Pfeifer has everyone including Laura on his suspect list while Laura has everyone including Detective Pfeifer on her dinner date list. Between decorating gigs, Laura and her co-workers â€" a cantankerous retiree and a handsome young contractor â€" assist Detective Pfeifer as he unravels the truth behind the bizarre twists in Laura's life.