Val Fremden Midlife Mystery

Watch Your Step on Your Way Down the Social Ladder...A midlife meltdown leads to southern-fried mayhem in this outrageously funny story about a down-on-her-luck divorcee's attempt at starting life over again in St. Pete Beach, FL.Duped out of her life savings in Germany, 45-year-old Val Fremden retreats home to Florida with more than just her pride in tatters. Broke, divorced, and virtually unemployable, starting over is going to be tough enough. But when her only friend suddenly turns up dead, Val begins to seriously wonder if the world is out to get her.Maybe it is … maybe it isn't.The sugar-white sands of Sunset Beach attract weirdos like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. So when the will of Val's friend makes the local newspaper, weirdos and con artists stumble from their beach shacks to claim a piece of the leftover pie.Determined to find her friend's true heir, Val reluctantly turns to three crackpots for help-a boozehound, a redneck, and a snarky beach bum. Working at odds with each other, their bumbling investigation attracts the attention of a hot cop. He quickly gets into the fray and under Val's skin. Whether it's in a good way or bad only time will tell. Because sometimes, it's not until you reach the bottom of the barrel that you find out who your true friends are.

Bust a MoveIt's moving day for Val. And, as usual, anything that can go wrong does--beginning with her new boyfriend, Tom. When he shows up at her doorstep with an unwelcome delivery, Val becomes the unwitting center of attention for a whole new world of weirdos…Whack-jobs whose antics could pin Val for human dismemberment.Plagued with a hot cop on her tail and a mean one on her trail, Val is forced to turn to old friends and new ones in her attempt to point the finger of blame on somebody else. But when an unexpected witness identifies Val as the guilty party, it may be time for her to skip town.Who's the good cop? Who's the bad cop? And who's the dwarf in the Halloween mask?Will a pair of falsies help Val stumble onto the truth? If not, she's going to have to rely on her oddball beach-bum friends if she's to escape the fickle finger of fate.

Baloney and Cheesed.They say three's the charm. But charming isn't Val's style.Val Fremden is a lot of things. Quirky. Jaded. Disaster prone. But more than anything, she's afraid of commitment.When boyfriend Tom tells her he loves her – then trades away her mom's ashes for a tiki hut – Val's just not feelin' it.On the warpath with Tom, Val's forced to rely on her oddball friends to help track down her mom's cremains. But three botched stakeouts and two disasters later, she still hasn't got peanuts. Through trial (but mostly error), Val discovers it's not easy to outwit a mobile master of disguise when she's driving a paddy-wagon full of nutcases.She loves Tom...she loves him not. Knowing Val, she's gonna need a bigger flower….If you like deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Three Dumb. It's the third book in Margaret Lashley's hysterical Val Fremden Mystery Series. Buy it now and let the laughs begin!

Most Definitely Contains Nuts. All Val wants is a quiet holiday away from her oddball family. But that just ain't gonna happen. After a close brush with a crazy cousin in St. Pete, Val and her boyfriend Tom arrive at her mom's house in Hicksville to find the annual Family Fruitcake Frenzy competition is already well underway. And there's more than a few fruits and nuts in the running....But the biggest contest is between Val and her mom. As their battle of wills heats up, unexpected ingredients get thrown into both women's batter. It may be time to call in a game warden….Who'll win? Who'll get their just desserts? And will Val's half-baked family finally prove too much for Tom to handle, or will he rise to the occasion?What Four: Family Fruitcake Frenzy is a satirical look at something we've all come to love and dread -- spending time with our nutso relatives during the holidays. It's told through the eyes of a reluctant, middle-aged woman who can't escape her redneck roots, no matter how far out on a limb she climbs. If you like deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love What Four. It's the fourth book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremdens Mystery Series. Give yourself the gift of laughter. Buy a copy and start reading today!

Ever Notice How a Wedding Ring and a Noose are the Same Shape?Val's always been unlucky at love – and a whole bunch of other things. But she's never actually felt cursed. Until now.When fiancé Tom plans a romantic getaway and can't go, one of Val's pals goes instead. On the first day, her friend entangles Val in a prank that ticks off the wrong tourist. On the second day, she gets Val charged with murder.To clear her name, Val must go fishing for the real culprit. But what kind of bait do you use when you don't want to get caught yourself? With both marriage and jail pressing down on her like potential life sentences, Val's going to have to do some pretty fancy angling to get herself off the hook this time….If you like deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Five Oh. It's the fifth book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series. Get your copy now and join in on the fun!

I got a dog for my boyfriend. It was a good trade.When Val's forced to take up dog-sitting as a second career, she runs into one tiny snag.She's afraid of dogs.In fact, the only thing she's more afraid of is Tom moving in and wrecking her Sweatpants Saturdays. With neighbor Laverne facing the same impending doom, the two women decide sabotage is the perfect solution to change the plans of their cohabitation-minded boyfriends.But their schemes get sidetracked when a swarthy guy with a shady past moves in next door and neighborhood dogs start disappearing. With Tom away and a convicted felon grilling mystery meat next door, Val's forced to rely on Winky and Goober to help her sniff out clues about the suspected canine chef.If you like deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Six Tricks. It's the sixth book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series. Pick up a copy and get laughing today!

You can't fix stupid with duct tape. But you can muffle the sound.When Val tries to revive her old writing career, story ideas prove as elusive as a moment alone without her boyfriend Tom breathing down her neck.Tom's moved in, and Val's itching to move out – at least temporarily.A last-minute getaway to the country seems like the perfect solution for dissolving her writer's block. But a fateful fish fry ends up inspiring a whole different kind of dead end.With an angry horde of RVers pointing the finger at Val, she's got to out-smart Bigfoot, out-do a seedy crafter, out-wit a psycho killer, and just plain "out" whoever in blue blazes keeps scaring the daylights out of her with those hideous shrunken heads!Whether Val gets out of this alive or not, one thing's for sure. She'll never trust the internet again….If you like wacky, deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Seven Daze! It's the seventh book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series. Pick up a copy and get laughing today!

Old habits die hard. But old lounge chairs die harder.Val can't solve all the world's problems, so she's settled on two: smashing every tacky figurines on the planet…and ridding the universe of her boyfriend's hideous Barcalounger.During the neighborhood yard sale, the fate of Tom's beloved chair comes down to a wager. But what Val herself puts up as an ante proves hard to live without, and soon has her wrestling with the demons she keeps locked in her closet – both literally and figuratively.With an old nemesis breathing down her back and an old friend missing in action, Val soon finds herself jonesing for more than justice.Who'll win the bet? Who'll lose? And who in the world is Sir Albert Snoggles, III?Come along for the ride as Val's "Hammer of Justice" lays waste to atrocities of both the ceramic and non-ceramic kind, and the gang learns that when you mess around with Karma, just who ends up dealing the final blow is anybody's guess.If you like wacky, deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Figure Eight! It's the eighth book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series.

Change happens. Even when it doesn't make any cents.Planning for a rainy day has never been Val's forte. But when a storm brews up right in her own backyard, Val's forced to get off her lounge chair and spring into action.A shady, ham-fisted developer's threatening to knock down Val's favorite beach haunt, along with all the precious memories held within its shabby walls. With the owner's signature on the bill of sale, the plan seems like a done deal.Or is it?Something fishy's going on at the beach, and it's going to take all the wits Val can muster to put a pig-headed developer out to pasture. But with her friend Goober missing in action, can Val get her act – and her troops – together in time to keep Sunset Beach from being wiped off the map?Sandwiched between ghosts of the past and hopes for the future, Val needs to whip up a miracle if she's going to save her own bacon….If you like wacky, deeply flawed characters and laugh-out-loud situations, you'll love Cloud Nine! It's the ninth and final book in Margaret Lashley's hilarious Val Fremden Mystery Series. Order your copy and be prepared to be blown away Thanksgiving Day!