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I’m happy to welcome GG Calpo back to Salty Inspirations! GG previously visited with Hook, Line, and Murder, and this time, she’s here with Death Hits the High Notes, part of her Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series.
Today’s character guest post, “When Your BFF Is a Murder Target,” is written by Liz Feldman, as told to GG Calpo. Settle in with your favorite cup of coffee and enjoy this visit with GG’s characters!
When Your BFF Is a Murder Target
(by Liz Feldman as told to GG Calpo)
Risk makes life interesting. The bigger the risk, the better. Life is much more fun when you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next.
Then someone tried to kill Stefan.
Amazing how the threat of losing someone changes your perspective.
Stefan is my BFF. The one who gets me, no matter how crazy others find me. No explanations needed. Friends like that are hard to find. Harder than finding a killer.
But, apparently, getting me is not the same as listening to me. Does the man have any sense? Why am I asking you this? Of course he doesn’t. The man has opinions. Lots of them. And apparently being a murder target does nothing to discourage him from expressing every single one. Except not one of those opinions has anything to do with keeping himself alive.
It pains me to say that I found myself saying things I never thought would come out of my mouth.
Be careful.
Don’t go anywhere alone.
Mind what you drink and eat.
And to top it all…maybe you shouldn’t do that.
Me. Saying the above? Not even when the kids were growing up did I arrange those words into those sentences.
Meg, Barbara, and Edna had a field day hiding their laughter. Not very successfully, I might add. Stefan just smirked at me. Apparently, there is something amusing about watching me suddenly want to know where Stefan was going, who he was going with, and when he planned to be back. I started checking on him when he was out of my sight for too long. I may even have suggested that he listen to me for once in his life.
That got an actual laugh.
The worst part was that they all knew exactly what was happening. I was worried, and worry had turned me into the kind of person I normally make fun of.
Careful. Sensible. Cautious.
I was not amused.
There is a difference between risks you can manage and risks that you can’t. I’ll take a chance, do something stupid, even drag my friends along for the ride if they’re foolish enough to follow me. But I know what I’m getting into. A killer walking around taking potshots at random, hoping
one of those shots hits you, is not manageable. There’s nothing you can do with that kind of risk except wait for the next shot. I really hate it when I don’t know what’s coming. Worse, I don’t wait well. And I really don’t wait well when the person someone is shooting at is Stefan.
Of course, Stefan would probably point out that this makes absolutely no sense. For him, all risks are alike. He’s halfway right, but I would never tell him that. The problem is, this time it’s his neck on the line, not mine, and the idiot refuses to act like it. I can tell him to stay home, watch his back, and stop making himself an easy target. Right, tell the sun not to rise tomorrow morning. I’d probably have better luck with the sun. And I can’t put him in a box until we catch the murderer. Believe me, I considered it. So I did the next best thing: hung around him like a hungry tick. I left the hunt for the killer to Meg, Barbara, and Edna. Fortunately for my sanity, the three were very good at what they do.
Unfortunately for my sanity, that left me handling Stefan.
Keeping him out of trouble became my contribution to the investigation. Following Stefan around was, to put it mildly, exhausting. Why did I never notice that the man does not stay put? I swear, he gets the fidgets. Every time I turned my back, he was off doing something he had no business doing while someone was trying to kill him. I briefly wondered if I could somehow hang a tracking device on him. Except he’d find it within five minutes, remove it, and attach it to a passing dog just to annoy me. Then I’d spend the next hour chasing a beagle while Stefan went merrily on his way.
Did any of my worrying make Stefan more cooperative? Nope. He continued being Stefan, which meant I spent an unreasonable amount of time wondering where he was, what he was doing, and whether whoever wanted him dead was wondering the same thing.
That was when I finally understood what was bothering me.
It wasn’t the risk. I could deal with risk. I always had.
It was Stefan.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that my irritating, sarcastic, rhinestone-wearing retired music teacher means more to me than I care to admit. He’s my BFF, after all. I’m allowed to insult him, boss him around, and occasionally contemplate strangling him.
Nobody else gets to kill him.
Don’t tell Stefan I said that.
I’ll deny everything.
Besides, we caught the killer. Stefan survived.
But did I?
Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series) by GG CalpoAbout Death Hits the High Notes
Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – New York
Publisher : Wild Rose Press
Publication date : October 7, 2026
Print length : 284 pages
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1509266844
ISBN-13 : 978-1509266845
Digital
ISBN-13 : 978-1509266852
ASIN : B0H4KN48RR
Trouble is brewing at Whitman’s Port Choral Society as choir members drop dead and Detective Jonathan Storm raises more questions than answers in his investigation. When Stefan, the choir’s soloist, gets weaker by the day, Meg and her friends take matters into their own hands. And if a murder investigation was not enough to elevate anyone’s blood pressure, Meg finds herself in danger tied to her past that she’s struggling to understand.
Will Meg and her friends stop the killer before Stefan becomes the next victim—and before Meg’s past catches up with her?
Join these golden-age sleuths as they follow the clues, protect their own, and prove that friendship is the strongest weapon against a killer.
About GG Calpo
GG Calpo is a retired lawyer and accountant who traded contracts and numbers for the far more enjoyable chaos of fictional crime. Now she writes cozy whodunits featuring warm-hearted golden-aged sleuths who’ve seen it all, heard it all and will investigate a murder with zero hesitation. She loves stories where the stakes are personal, family and friendships are paramount, with characters who refuse to follow the outline and endings that pull the rug out. When not plotting twisty crimes—on paper only, of course—she spends her time reading, crocheting blankets and sweaters for her five grandchildren, watching mystery TV shows and taking long walks in her neighborhood. She lives in Central New Jersey with her husband and two corgis, Whiskey and Nugget.
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Thanks to GG Calpo for stopping by Salty Inspirations again and sharing this character guest post from Death Hits the High Notes!
If this mystery sounds like one you’d enjoy, consider adding it to your to-be-read list. And while you’re here, take a look around the blog for more guest authors, cozy mysteries, and other literary finds.
As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️
