Distractions Can Be Murder

About the Book

After thirteen years, Julia Mallory is a little bored with her job as a department manager in a large bank. Cranky customers, tedious staff meetings, and a secretary who thinks she’s in charge of the department strain her good nature. Add in a copy machine that won’t stay fixed and innumerable staff wedding, baby or birthday showers, and Julia is in sore need of a diversion.

When she investigates what seems to be a simple accounting error, she thinks maybe she’s found something to break the routine. Her curiosity leads her into some interesting places – city government offices; snarled accounting records; meetings that, for a change, don’t bore her; neighborhoods with buildings that aren’t all they’re supposed to be. Her circle of acquaintances also increases. She adds a pompous city official and a suave do-gooder to the list. All in all, things seem to have brightened up.

As she follows the clues she digs up, she learns that maybe the dull office routine had its compensations. Still, Julia sees an interesting side to every situation she finds herself in, and the thought of letting sleeping dogs lie goes against her nature. When she finally straightens out the tangle, the results surprise her, in more ways than one.

About the Author

Claudia McGill is an artist and writer whose experiences as a commercial lender for a large metropolitan bank (though definitely not including murder) gave her the inspiration for this book. An avid reader, she also enjoys knitting and gardening. She exhibits her fabric and paper collages in regional art shows and exhibitions, and creates and sells original knitting patterns. Distractions Can Be Murder is Claudia’s first work of fiction; she has previously written two other books related to fabric collage. She lives with her husband, son, and three cats in a suburb of Philadelphia.