Appraised for Annihilation - Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

A small town cozy with gossip, coffee, and murder

The old Bramblett County bowling alley was supposed to be an easy sale.

Instead, I found Jimmy Simms dead in his office.

What should have been a routine real estate deal quickly turns into something far darker when the town's beloved bowling alley manager is discovered sprawled across the floor of the very building I'm trying to sell. With the property tied up in questions, rumors flying through Bramblett, and everyone insisting Jimmy was adored, none of it adds up.

The deeper I dig, the more I realize Jimmy wasn't the man everyone thought he was. Old resentments, quiet betrayals, and secrets buried in the alley's history begin to surface, and it soon becomes clear someone is willing to kill to keep the truth hidden.

Now the sale is stalled, the suspect list keeps growing, and every conversation in town seems to come with a smile and a lie.

If I don't uncover what really happened inside that bowling alley, the next closing in Bramblett might involve another body.