Introduction

Ella McBane’s biggest mistake? Thinking life would be easy once her daughters have all grown up and moved out… until her eldest daughter is accused of murder.

Every woman wants their adult children to be happy, healthy, and loved. Maybe that’s why Ella takes on her daughter Savannah’s request to cater her engagement party. With no formal culinary training but a ton of cooking experience, Ella struggles to not upset her future in-laws who aren’t exactly accustomed to old-fashioned home cooking.

Everything seems to be going well… until Ella trips over a dead body at the celebration.

Fingers swiftly point at Savannah, and the evidence is overwhelming. But Ella knows Savannah wouldn’t hurt a fly, and jumps into action to clear her daughter’s name. Little does she know that her actions will drag her into the dangerous world of organized crime. With her ex-husband eyeing her like a prize, a sexy former flame looking to rekindle their past, and trouble lurking around every corner, Ella might regret slowing down to face everything chasing her… especially with time running out.

Engagingly Dead expertly combines romance, intrigue, humor, culinary temptations (and plenty of fun 80s and 90s references!) to make a dizzyingly thrilling ride in Michele Scott’s latest read.

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Excerpt

Chapter One

“So what’s next, Ella? What do you plan to do?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking up from my lap and into Dr. Sherman’s blue eyes. They were the kind of eyes that seemed to know exactly what one was thinking or feeling—or at least what I was thinking and feeling. His eyes were kind but piercing … yes, definitely piercing.

“For you? You’re officially an empty nester now. Jay is obviously doing his life. So, what about you? Don’t you think it’s time for you to take some time for yourself and figure out the second half of your life?” my psychologist asked.

“I don’t … I don’t … don’t … think I know what you mean.”

He sighed and squinted those baby blues like a hawk at me … pierce, pierce, pierce! “I think you do. Look, you’ve been coming to see me now for what, about five-years, or so? Since the affair and divorce. You lived your life for your marriage and your three girls. Honestly, Ella, you’re an amazing mother, and I know what your marriage meant to you and the devastating effects it had on you and your self-esteem.” He folded his hands together.

“That’s all behind me now,” I said, laughing half-heartedly, shifting deeper into the corner on the plush beige sofa.

“Mmhmm. Yes, and no. Do you want to know what I think?”

“You usually tell me whether I do or not.” It was one of the things I hated and also loved about the good doc. He always did let me know what he thought. And even though it made me squirm sometimes, I knew he was usually right. I waited with bated breath for his staunch words of advice—or I suppose the better term would be counsel.

“You, Ella McBane, have done an amazing job, raising three wonderful daughters. But now, it is time for you to do you.”

“Do me?”

Was this some kind of love yourself psychobabble I was always reading about in self-help books? I mean, okay, yeah, sure, you gotta love yourself—or at least like yourself—but all the focus on it these days was kinda ad nauseam. I, I, I … me, me, me seemed to be the latest of trends.

He nodded. “You’ve got nothing but time on your hands now. No more sports banquets to organize, no more glee club fundraisers to chair, no more bake sales or cheerleading squad schedules to put together. Between the three girls, you’ve done it all. And Jay, obviously, had to provide you a nice settlement, but something tells me that you’re not the shopaholic type to fill your days. So, after you walk the dogs, water the plants, and do your yoga each morning, what do you plan to do with the rest of your days? Erin is off at college now. Your other two have been out for a while.”

Man … talk about a sucker punch. He hadn’t exactly made my life sound all that interesting. I was still really involved with my charity work for Friends of Animals.

I fidgeted in my seat, not finding words at first. I couldn’t help but be a bit offended in some way—all I had was time on my hands. But the truth was the truth. Feelings of panic and loneliness began to well up in my gut and spread throughout me, and within seconds, it caused a little pang in my heart.

Of course, I knew my girls had flown the coop. Erin had left two weeks ago for Rice University to study biochemistry. She wanted to be a forensic scientist. The kid had grown up loving CSI, Law & Order … anything she could watch or read that was remotely related to forensics.

I kinda broke down daily when I thought of the moment I had dropped her at school. It was a tearful good-bye with her reminding me that Houston was only a little over four-hour flight from the Bay Area. Logically, I realized that three hours was nothing. But it was a lifetime when you were used to seeing your daughter daily. Erin was the last daughter launched and out the door. All my girls were living their lives, and here was Dr. Sherman, spelling that out for me—as if I needed that!

I swallowed hard. “I don’t know, but when you put it like that. it’s awfully depressing. I don’t think that’s what I pay you for.”

“I beg to differ. That’s exactly why you pay me.” He leaned back in his leather chair and folded his palms together, glancing up at his clock. “Speaking of payment, it’s that time. And don’t forget that I’m out of town for the next month. Taking time for myself, which, as I’ve suggested to you more than once, you should do. But of course, if there’s an emergency, please contact me. I’ll check my messages.”

“Yeah. Okay. I’m sorry. I forgot.”

Dr. Sherman took his annual month off every summer, and every summer, I hated it. My stomach sank, just thinking about it in the moment. I’d been seeing him for years every week, and then he would go and get all selfish and had to take a damn month to go do stuff for himself! Ridiculous! I knew I was being ridiculous, even thinking that. But as irritated as I could get with Dr. Sherman and his analysis of me and my life, I did rather enjoy our weekly therapy sessions, and I kind of felt lost on the Tuesdays without him.

“You can Venmo me now. I added an account. My clients really seem to appreciate it.”

I stared at him.

“You do Venmo, don’t you?”

“Well, no, but, um, I’m sure I can figure that out.”

All of the apps and tech things were stuff Erin handled for me.

“It’s all right, Ella. I can still do a check. While I’m away, why don’t you really think about what I said…—what do you plan to do with the rest of your life? I’ll give you a little homework …”

He did that every year too. Always gave me some kind of lengthy homework assignment in order to help me explore some aspect of myself and become what he referred to as “self-actualized.” Most of the time, I failed his assignments and made excuses about being busy with the girls, et cetera. When I said fail, what I meant was that I just didn’t do them.

“And, Ella, this year, please make a real effort to do it. You don’t have any girls—or I should say, adult children—at home any longer to use as an excuse.”

I looked down at my shoes. Shoes I liked. I liked to wear heels. These were a strappy nude pair with a wedge heel that added three inches to my five-foot-two-inch frame.

“Sure. Yeah.” I nodded. “No excuses. What do I have to do?” I looked up at him, biting my lip.

Dr. Sherman did sometimes make me nervous. I hated letting anyone down and he’d never said too much about me not doing his annual homework, but he just had, so I’d been busted. Oops.

“Take stock, Ella. Look at your life, look at what we’ve worked through in this office together. How far you’ve come. And now, how far do you want to go? That’s the real question. You can’t change the past. The present is quickly whipping into the past, so I think it’s really important for you to look at the future. Write it down, make a plan. The world is your oyster now. We can look at empty nesting as being a sad time, but in reality, your life is just beginning as far as on your own terms. And another thing: maybe you should start thinking about dating.”

“Oh God, no,” I blurted.

He crossed his legs and looked at his watch again. “It’s part of your homework to at least check out the dating apps and really consider making a profile. You could just go out for a coffee. I’m not telling you to go get married, but it’s obvious Jay is a reflection in the rearview mirror, and it is time you look forward. That’s it. My next client is waiting.” He nodded toward the small blinking light next to the office door.

I quickly wrote him a check and stood up.

“Do your homework.”

“Absolutely. You enjoy your time off.”

“I will.” He stood and lightly patted my shoulder.

I walked out of my therapist’s office and smiled weakly toward his receptionist, Jenny. Thankfully, she was on the phone, so we didn’t need to exchange any pleasantries. I passed a thirty-something couple going into his office. A sadness came over me, thinking they were too young to already be having issues.

In the waiting room, John Lennon’s voice melodically filtered out over the speakers—“(Just Like) Starting Over.” I couldn’t help feeling a bit like a dog with her tail tucked. Reality was, Dr. Sherman was right. I was truly an empty nester with Erin now at Rice. My middle one, Hailey, worked at one of the top wineries in Napa Valley, running the tasting room after receiving her degree in viticulture from Berkley. And my oldest, Savannah, was finishing law school, interning at an excellent firm in Marin—an engagement ring on her finger and an impending wedding sneaking rapidly up on us. And that fact alone was a story within itself. One that had me a bit stressed out. Let’s just say that my future in-laws weren’t high on the Easy to Like list.

And then there was Jay. My ex-husband. We’d been married three months shy of our twenty-year wedding anniversary when I learned about Kari.

Yeah … yep.

Jay had done the stereotypical thing, He started sleeping with the pretty, young receptionist at his architecture firm.

They lived together now, but it didn’t keep him from texting me or calling me with absurd questions like, “Hey, El, you know those tacos el pastor you make? Yeah, I was wondering if you could give me the recipe.”

Last week, it was, “Hey, El, you know that vegan potpie you made for Hailey when she went vegan for, like, six, seven months? Yeah, well, Kari is doing the vegan thing now, and it’s really working for her. Think we can get the recipe?”

And for some stupid reason, I usually acquiesced to what he asked for even though I knew it wasn’t a good thing. The codependency between us was so not a good thing, according to Dr. Sherman, and I had to agree. It was pretty ridiculous. I didn’t even love the guy anymore. Not like I used to. He had killed that with playing hide the snake in the bush game with tight-ass blonde, Kari. So, I had taken the good doc’s most recent suggestion, and I’d just stopped responding to Jay’s absurd requests. I mean, he was Kari’s problem now. Not mine!

I got behind the wheel of my Range Rover—a gift to myself when the divorce had been finalized. It had kinda lost its luster over the past five years. At the time when I’d gotten it, Erin had been thirteen, so there were still plenty of pickups and drop-offs with her and her friends. Savannah had been twenty-one at the time, and Hailey seventeen, so Savannah had already gone off to school, and Hailey had been in her senior year—the year Jay had blown up our family.

I put on the ’90s hip-hop station—a little secret I kept … I was a closeted rapper. Not really. I wasn’t really. Swear. I mean, I wasn’t very good at it. My family and best friend, Noelle, said that I never got the lyrics correct, but I seriously thought they were not right about that.

Facts were, I liked music, and if I was off a key or couldn’t remember a line of lyrics and sorta mumbled what I thought they were, then so be it! That said, I loved old-school hip-hop, and, uh, when no one was looking, I might dance around in my kitchen, channeling my inner J. Lo.

I turned the radio up as Dr. Dre busted out a line about a lecture being a backhand, and my mind went right back to Dr. Sherman and his lecture/counsel. What was I going to do with the rest of my life? As Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre sang the chorus line, I figured, yeah, it was like this and like that, wasn’t it? Life was this ebb and flow of this and that, and before you knew it, this and that was over and done. I had better sort this life thing out because I wasn’t getting any younger, as fifty was approaching me at Daytona 500 speeds. I realized that it was time for me to figure it the hell out. Plus, I had a plan your future homework assignment due in a month. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

Ella’s life changes from the beginning to the end of the book. How do you see her story arc?

Ella is close with all her family members, including her ex. Did you view this as codependency or familial love?

Ella and Jay both cling to the past even thought they both seem to understand that they’re better off apart. What do you think it is about human nature that tends to cause some people to hang onto the past, even when it isn’t good for us?

Although the book is a murder mystery, this isn’t really the heart of the book, or do you think it is? If not the mystery and suspense, what is the heart of the book to you?

There is a lot of love in this book in regards to family, mothers and daughters, sisters and also friends. What was the most important relationship(s) in the book and why?

There is a mystery within a mystery here and I tried to maintain the comedic aspects throughout without diminishing the harshness and destructiveness of human trafficking. It is obviously a horrific reality. Did this piece of the story work for you?

What was your favorite scene in the book?

For women, dating over 50 seems daunting. For all the single ladies in the club, is it? Why? What do you know now (this for the over fifties…okay forties) that you didn’t know in your twenties? What would you tell your 20 something self about dating, life, and relationships if you could?

What would you like to see happen to Ella next? If Ella’s adventures wound up on Netflix, Prime, Paramount…etc..who would you cast in the main roles? I have my favorites and would love to share with you, if you choose to do a zoom with me!?

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