Getting Old Is to Die for (30 page)

Camille Minichino

Jonnie Jacobs

Peggy Lucke

Special extra thanks to Camille for San Gennaro

Special thanks to Rose Stone and Barbara Sutterfield for Fair Lawn, New Jersey

And my family and friends for continuous support, you know who you are.

About the Author

Fate (a.k.a., marriage) took Rita Lakin from New York to Los Angeles, where she was seduced by palm trees and movie studios. Over the next twenty years she wrote for television and had every possible job from freelance writer to story editor to staff writer and, finally, producer. She worked on shows such as
Dr. Kildare, Peyton Place, The Mod Squad
, and
Dynasty
, and created her own shows, including
The Rookies, Flamingo Road
, and
Nightingales
. She wrote many movies-of-the-week and miniseries, such as
Death Takes a Holiday, Women in Chains, Strong Medicine
, and
Voices of the Heart
. She has also written the theatrical play
No Language but a Cry
and is the coauthor of
Saturday Night at Grossinger's
, both of which are still being produced across the country. Rita has won awards from the Writers Guild of America, as well as the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award and the coveted Avery Hopwood Award from the University of Michigan. She lives in Marin County, California, where she is currently at work on her next mystery starring the indomitable Gladdy Gold. Visit her on the Web at
www.ritalakin.com
or e-mail her at
[email protected]
.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed reading GETTING OLD IS TO DIE FOR as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope you were pleased with a change of scenery for Gladdy and her girls.

But they are all back home again for their next adventure, and this time, keep your raincoats and umbrellas close by--there's going to be a perilous change in the weather.

Storm clouds are gathering, both in the Florida skies and in the lives of all our beloved characters. Gladdy and Jack will have to put aside their future plans when their condo is hit at the height of a hurricane.

A dead body is found that unearths terrors from an earlier era--and Gladdy and her small band of private eyes must uncover some dreadful truths in time to save the life of someone very close to them.

So watch your local bookstore for the arrival of the new and exciting GETTING OLD IS A DISASTER, coming out next spring. Or go to my website, www.ritalakin.com, to get updates about the arrival of the new books in the series, as well as my schedule of book signings. If I turn up in your neighborhood, please drop by and say hello. And keep those wonderful e-mails coming to me at [email protected]. I love hearing from you.

ALSO BY RITA LAKIN

Getting Old Is Murder

Getting Old Is the Best Revenge

Getting Old Is Criminal

And coming in Spring 2009:
Getting Old is a Disaster

GETTING OLD IS TO DIE FOR

A Dell Book / January 2008

Published by Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved

Copyright (c) 2008 by Rita Lakin

Dell is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

eISBN: 978-0-440-33735-5

www.bantamdell.com

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