Books by Lee Hollis Hayley Powell Mysteries DEATH OF A KITCHEN DIVA DEATH OF A COUNTRY FRIED REDNECK DEATH OF A COUPON CLIPPER DEATH OF A CHOCOHOLIC DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CATERER DEATH OF A CUPCAKE QUEEN DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS DEATH OF A PUMPKIN CARVER DEATH OF A LOBSTER LOVER DEATH OF A COOKBOOK AUTHOR DEATH OF A WEDDING CAKE BAKER DEATH OF A BLUEBERRY TART DEATH OF A WICKED WITCH Collections EGGNOG MURDER (with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross) YULE LOG MURDER (with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross) HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER (with Leslie Meier and Barbara Ross) CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER (with Leslie Meier and Peggy Ehrhart) Poppy Harmon Mysteries POPPY HARMON INVESTIGATES POPPY HARMON AND THE HUNG JURY POPPY HARMON AND THE PILLOW TALK KILLER Maya & Sandra Mysteries MURDER AT THE PTA MURDER AT THE BAKE SALE Published by Kensington Publishing Corp. Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer LEE HOLLIS ww.kensingtonbooks.com All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected. Table of Contents Also by Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, 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. To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book. KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018 Copyright © 2021 by Rick Copp All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews. The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945315 ISBN: 978-1-4967-3037-4 ISBN-10: 1-4967-3037-2 First Kensington Hardcover Edition: April 2021 ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3039-8 (ebook) ISBN-10: 1-4967-3039-9 (ebook) For George and Alex Chapter 1 It had been over thirty years since Poppy Harmon had stepped foot on an actual Hollywood film set. Granted, this shoot was set up at a high-end resort hotel in the heart of Palm Springs and not some cavernous soundstage on the Paramount lot where her mid-1980s television series Jack Colt, PI had been filmed, but there was a feeling of warm familiarity, an infusion of happy memories, because back in her heyday when Poppy was an actress with a regular TV role, she had never once taken it for granted. She had always been hyperaware of just how lucky she was to have scored such a cushy, well-paying gig at the time, especially after so many years in her late teens and early twenties struggling, waiting tables, modeling skimpy swimwear at car shows, and answering phones at a call center for a household appliance company. Poppy watched as the crew busily set up lights by the shimmering pool where the next scene was to be shot as a bright-eyed, eager, enthusiastic PA who had introduced himself as Timothy led her and Matt through the resort. Matt was like a kid in a candy store, excitedly soaking up everything he saw: a makeup woman powdering the face of a vaguely recognizable actor; a forty-something man in a gray T-shirt and red baseball cap, slumped over in his director’s chair, perusing a script; some kind of set decorator or production designer painstakingly arranging red bougainvillea in the background of the set as the cinematographer stared through the lens of his camera, working on getting his shot just right. Poppy knew Matt was in his element. This had been his dream for most of his young life. He had wanted so desperately to become a successful actor, the next Ryan Gosling or Chris Hemsworth, or whoever was the hot superstar of the moment. But life never works out exactly as you expect, and now the talented young man found himself playing the role of Matt Flowers, the public face, the de facto head, of the Desert Flowers Detective Agency. He wasn’t on billboards and buses, or in the front row of the Academy Awards, but he was successful and surprisingly good at the part he was playing. When Poppy, along with her two best pals, Iris and Violet, had first started the Palm Springs–based investigative firm, no one would hire them. Mostly due to people’s ageist preconceptions that three mature women in their sixties were utterly incapable of solving cases or handling potentially dangerous situations. Enter Matt. Young, virile, disarmingly charming. He had risen to the challenge of playing a master detective wholeheartedly, and his performance had put their fledgling business on the map. Now they had more clients than they knew what to do with. Including Danika Delgado, a rising young actress and social media influencer who had heard about Matt’s daring exploits online and had called the Desert Flowers office, which was located in Iris’s garage, to inquire about hiring them. Actually, Danika did not call personally. One of her three personal assistants had left the message on voicemail. Poppy, Iris, and Violet were clueless as to who Danika Delgado even was, but Matt had certainly heard of her, which became quite clear when he whooped and hollered about being a
