Dearly Departed — Elise Sax

Sometimes, life doesn't turn out the way we planned. We wanted a large house with a two-car garage, but we're stuck in a one-bedroom apartment with a view of the alley. We wanted love, but we're doomed to nights alone with the television and Chinese takeout. At some point, fate or self-motivation or the Public Health Department steps in, and we reinvent ourselves and find happiness and love.It's 1985, and Harriet Musgrove needs a new beginning and a fresh start to life. She lives in San Diego where she works as a secretary and yearns to someday get married. Her biological clock stopped ticking years ago, and she's still single, but not for lack of trying to find a husband.After a string of disastrous first dates, Harriet comes up with a brilliant strategy. She decides to stalk the obituaries to snag her forever man... Someone who understands commitment and doesn't yet know how much he's worth in the dating game.It works.Harriet falls in love with Brandon, and they move in together. Finally, her life has changed for the better. She keeps busy, redecorating their beach house and thriving on cooking new dishes.Harriet and Brandon have found their happily ever after...or so they think until someone with a dark secret invades their love nest, threatening the couple's newfound happiness. It's up to Harriet to uncover the truth and save her relationship and new life.Dearly Departed is a standalone women's fiction mystery novel.