Free Spruced Up by Holly Jacobs

Dear Reader,
 
    I am a writer who likes to stick close to home, both in real life and in my books.  But in the Maid in LA Mystery series, I moved the setting to Los Angeles and Hollywood.  My friend Dee J. Adams has been very generous in making sure I stay pretty close to the facts.  She patiently answered all my e-mails and stupid questions for the first book ( Steamed ) and second book ( Dusted ) in the series.  Well, Dee, you’re off the hook in this one because Quincy’s coming home to Erie, PA for Christmas.  This is a town I can speak about with authority.  From our Presque Isle peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie, to the bayfront that sits at the foot of State Street and from the downtown area, to the Millcreek Mall area that sprawls along Peach Street.  I grew up here.  I love it here.  I love setting most of my books here. And I’m thrilled to bring Quincy here.
    Yes, Quincy’s come home to the city by the bay…a city that is one of the snowiest cities in the US.  (Look up the stats…we’re there.)  Now, after solving a murder, and then solving an art theft/forgery mystery, Quincy’s ready for a vacation.  But it seems that an article in the local paper has made her a mini-celebrity in her hometown.  And some missing medical supplies throw another mystery in her lap…just in time for the holiday.  This is a novella, but though the mystery is a small one, it’s an important one in the Maid in LA series.  It helps move Quincy’s story arc forward.
    For writers, characters can become real, and Quincy is that for me.  So from Quincy, the entire Maid in LA Mystery gang, and from me as well: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Chanukah, Merry Kwanza, Season’s Greetings, Super Solstice…basically, whatever holiday you’re celebrating, I hope it’s a lovely one that’s filled with family, friends…and of course a lot of good books.
    Thank you so much for making Quincy and her friends such a hit!
 
    Holly
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter One
     
    “Quincy Mac, you’ve done it.” Lottie Webber screamed as I spotted her in the Erie International Airport.  A giant Christmas tree stood in the corner of the lobby, holiday music played over the speakers, and people were dressed in winter-weather wear.
    “Now where are your glasses?” she asked.
    I was wearing my warmest coat, which in Erie could be considered a fall coat at best.  I did own Uggs more as a fashion statement than winter wear.  I’d had to dig to the back of my closet to find them when I packed. 
    I took in the sights and sounds…I was home.
    Before that feeling truly set in , I was swept into my childhood best friend’s hug—which was well padded by her down coat.  Gone were the two career women we’d grown into.  As we hugged, we were both squealing like we were high school girls again. 
    Yeah, it’s not pretty when two women pushing forty act like they’re fourteen, but sometimes it can’t be helped.  It had been years since I’d seen Lottie but she hadn’t changed at all.  Lottie was short and twiggishly built.  With anyone else who was so darned cute, I’d have been tempted to suck in my stomach, but this was Lottie.  I knew she loved me baby-pooch and all.
    “I didn’t know that maids get red carpet treatment,” I said when our squealing abated.  “But I still have my glasses.” 
    I was pleased I’d thought of those star glasses. Lottie had given them to me so many years ago when I left Erie, Pennsylvania for Hollywood, California. I’d had my bags, my glasses, and dreams of stardom.
    I might not be a star, but I’d built a good life in LA.
    Still I pulled out the glasses and slipped them on.
    Lottie squealed all over again.  “Really, you kept them?  All these years?”
    “Of course I did.  Sorry I didn’t ever get to wear them on a red carpet.  They don’t give awards for an almost toothpaste spokesperson.  I missed the fame and fortune boat.”
    “Are you kidding?” Lottie