Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Wheeler-Dealer – A Ghost & Camper Kooky Mystery by Rita Moreau. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Wheeler-Dealer – A Ghost & Camper Kooky Mystery
by Rita Moreau
Wheeler-Dealer Ghost & Camper Kooky Mystery
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Independently published (April 1, 2021)
Paperback: 332 pages
Solving a murder might raise her spirits. But will it spring her spectral friend from Purgatory?
Mabel Gold still isn’t sure what happened. Traded by her husband for a busty bimbo the same age as their youngest daughter, the feisty sixty-something rejects the retirement community and heads west in a vintage camper. But the RV comes complete with a ghost who needs a good deed to get into Heaven, and cracking open a homicide at their first stop in Savannah could give them both a new lease on life.
Determined to dig up the dirt on the dead wheeler-dealer, Mabel and her phantom companion tackle the crime. But with two rich dudes from Dubai, a Willie Nelson lookalike mobster, and a widow nicknamed The Barracuda all on the suspect list, conjuring up the truth could take a real live miracle.
Can Mabel catch the killer before she’s the next soul crashing the Pearly Gates?
Wheeler-Dealer is the high-spirited first book in the hilarious Ghost & the Camper kooky mystery series. If you like golden-girl sleuths, zany characters, and sardonic humor, then you’ll love Rita Moreau’s witty whodunit.
Character Guest Post: Mabel Gold
My name is Mabel Gold, and over the last couple of years, my life took an unexpected detour. You might even say it ran off the road and fell off a cliff.
What was to be the golden years: you know—taking lessons to learn bridge and mahjong, playing with the grandkids, baking a lot of cookies—turned into the What the Fudge ▬ Are You Kidding Me when my husband’s brain turned into mush when he fell for Tiffanie: a gold digger, a barfly, a way too skinny bleached blondie. You get the picture.
She’s about the same age as our youngest daughter, Bianca, but with bigger boobs—store bought. Had to be. After way too many days at the “Club” drinking my favorite gay bartender’s country club pour cosmos. Listening to one too many condescending remarks from the women who spend their days at the “Club”—like:
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“I’ve got a bitch of a lawyer you need to talk to.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“TAKE HIM to the cleaners, Mabel.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“Girlfriend, we need to talk about your hair. The 1980s are calling and want it back.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
You get the sad picture.
Lili, my bestie, helped me get my life back on track. She held an intervention. One day she walks into the “Club” ▬ and you should’ve seen the faces on those women. In walks a short plump black woman wearing a floral dress, a hat and carrying a humongous purse. She marches right into the place like she owns it. She comes up to me, taps me on my shoulder, takes the drink out of my hand and says in a soft voice, “Mabel, enough is enough.” She then takes my arm and proceeds to walk me out of the “Club” like a parent with a disobedient child. She takes me to the entrance and then stops. She looks me in the eye and then points her finger out the door. I got the message. I walked out of that life and into my second life. Now I’m driving an F-150 pickup—(no different from the mommy van I drove all those years with five kids), towing a vintage Airstream camper, all around this beautiful country with a group of like-minded nomads.
My five kids think I’ve lost it and maybe I have because I have company. A specter, a ghost, a spirit—whatever you want to call her. Her name is Irma, and I can see her as plain as the wrinkles on my face. Neither of us knows why. We’re still trying to figure that one out. She’s as stubborn and hard-nosed as I am.
It’s a wonder we can even talk to each other, since we both never learned to bite our tongues. Or as my eldest daughter Meg reminds me: “Filter Mother. Filter.”
Irma’s stuck in purgatory. That’s where you go when you’re not quite ready to walk through the Pearly Gates. It’s sort of like a way station. Irma was a madam of the night in her living years. She ran a gentleman’s club for the mob. From time to time, she checks in with Saint Peter. She says it reminds her of checking in with her parole officer. So far, he’s sent her packing. Back down the Rainbow Bridge until he hands her the get out of jail card—but I digress. Buckle up—you’re going for a ride. I hope you like camping and a few friendly ghosts.
My name is Mabel Gold, and over the last couple of years, my life took an unexpected detour. You might even say it ran off the road and fell off a cliff.
What was to be the golden years: you know—taking lessons to learn bridge and mahjong, playing with the grandkids, baking a lot of cookies—turned into the What the Fudge ▬ Are You Kidding Me when my husband’s brain turned into mush when he fell for Tiffanie: a gold digger, a barfly, a way too skinny bleached blondie. You get the picture.
She’s about the same age as our youngest daughter, Bianca, but with bigger boobs—store bought. Had to be. After way too many days at the “Club” drinking my favorite gay bartender’s country club pour cosmos. Listening to one too many condescending remarks from the women who spend their days at the “Club”—like:
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“I’ve got a bitch of a lawyer you need to talk to.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“TAKE HIM to the cleaners, Mabel.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“Girlfriend, we need to talk about your hair. The 1980s are calling and want it back.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
You get the sad picture.
Lili, my bestie, helped me get my life back on track. She held an intervention. One day she walks into the “Club” ▬ and you should’ve seen the faces on those women. In walks a short plump black woman wearing a floral dress, a hat and carrying a humongous purse. She marches right into the place like she owns it. She comes up to me, taps me on my shoulder, takes the drink out of my hand and says in a soft voice, “Mabel, enough is enough.” She then takes my arm and proceeds to walk me out of the “Club” like a parent with a disobedient child. She takes me to the entrance and then stops. She looks me in the eye and then points her finger out the door. I got the message. I walked out of that life and into my second life. Now I’m driving an F-150 pickup—(no different from the mommy van I drove all those years with five kids), towing a vintage Airstream camper, all around this beautiful country with a group of like-minded nomads.
My five kids think I’ve lost it and maybe I have because I have company. A specter, a ghost, a spirit—whatever you want to call her. Her name is Irma, and I can see her as plain as the wrinkles on my face. Neither of us knows why. We’re still trying to figure that one out. She’s as stubborn and hard-nosed as I am.
It’s a wonder we can even talk to each other, since we both never learned to bite our tongues. Or as my eldest daughter Meg reminds me: “Filter Mother. Filter.”
Irma’s stuck in purgatory. That’s where you go when you’re not quite ready to walk through the Pearly Gates. It’s sort of like a way station. Irma was a madam of the night in her living years. She ran a gentleman’s club for the mob. From time to time, she checks in with Saint Peter. She says it reminds her of checking in with her parole officer. So far, he’s sent her packing. Back down the Rainbow Bridge until he hands her the get out of jail card—but I digress. Buckle up—you’re going for a ride. I hope you like camping and a few friendly ghosts.
About Rita Moreau
Rita Moreau is the author of two cozy with a lot of kooky mystery series: The Mary Catherine Mahoney series and The Ghost & Camper series.
A workaholic by nature, upon retirement, Rita Moreau began to work on her bucket list, writing a book. Traveling the national parks with her husband, George in a vintage Bluebird motor home (on George’s list), Rita completed her first novel, Bribing Saint Anthony. Back home, she was having so much fun she completed four more novels in the Mary Catherine Mahoney mystery series. The year we entered the twilight zone, Rita decided to put this time to good use and wrote the first two novels in a new Ghost & the Camper mystery series. She kept going. The third in the series – Murder in the Badlands released fall 2021 and Murder in the Rockies released fall of 2022. Murder in Wacky Florida in 2023 and Murder in Wacka-Doodle Florida in 2023.
Rita lives in a postcard called Florida where George, the love of her life, always had fun telling everyone he’s the author’s husband. He was her lightning rod. Rita lost George in December 2021. She honors his memory daily. He lived life to the fullest. When not writing she joins PatZi Gil on the Joy on Paper radio program with Book Buzz Mysteries, or you can find her teaching Silver Sneaker fitness classes and walking the beach. She loves connecting with readers. Visit her at www.RitaMoreau.com and sign up for her newsletters and download a free copy of the Russian & Aunt Sophia.
Visit her at www.RitaMoreau.com or find her on Facebook at facebook.com/RitaMoreauAuthor and say hello.
Author Links
Website – http://www.ritamoreau.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/RitaMoreauAuthor/
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6587803.Rita_Moreau
Purchase Link – Amazon
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Wheeler Dealer TOUR PARTICIPANTS
May 26 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 27 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 28 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
May 28 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 29 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
May 30 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
May 30 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
May 31 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
May 31 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 1 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW
June 2 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
June 2 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 3 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 4 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
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