Mariachi Meddler

"Andy, would you come up to my office for a minute?"

What can you say when your boss makes a direct request?

"Take a load off," Rolando said as I joined him. "Want a brandy?"

"All right," I said cautiously. For small favors he bribed me with beer.

"How did things go tonight?" he asked.

"You mean until that drunk insisted on singing with us?" Volunteer singers were a common nuisance. When they approached the stage while clutching a shot of tequila, we braced ourselves.

"The crowd loved him," Rolando said.

"His friends loved him. Everyone else tuned out."

"Lighten up, Andy. You take everything too seriously."

He was right. I cared about details such as intonation and accurate lyrics. I couldn't help it. "You didn't call me up here to ask questions about tonight's performance."

"You're right, Andy. I need to ask you a favor. I want you to keep an eye on my wife."

Andy Veracruz leads a mariachi band in Southern California, but when the owner leaves town, the restaurant turns to chaos. Andy sidesteps Rolando's flirtatious wife, but when Yiolanda is implicated in a colleague's death, the musician isn't sure whether to help her or turn her in. The more Andy learns, the more trouble he finds. A sleuth by accident, he would rather work on new songs than spend restless nights following leads. He goes to his lookalike brother for advice, but why is he too stubborn to listen?

Follow Andy as he scoots across town to discover his attacker and try to save the restaurant at the same time!

D.R. Ransdell plays the violin in mariachi band in Tucson, Arizona. Between scheming colleagues and curious customers, her night job gives her plenty of ideas for fictional plots. For her day job, she teaches composition at the University of Arizona.