They Called Me Margaret

by Florence Osmund

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Margaret Manning has spent the better part of her life conforming to the expectations of other people—first her father, then her husband. To break from this tradition, she becomes a writer of cozy mysteries and is in the process of living out her dream of opening her own bookstore—The Indie Book Nook—featuring self-published authors. But when she perceives her husband is behaving similarly to some of the unscrupulous characters in her books, she fears that she will lose him or—maybe even worse—that she is losing her mind.

While abandonment is nothing new to Margaret—she hasn’t seen or heard from her mother since she was six years old—the fear of losing her husband is devastating. As she struggles to find the strength to mend her shattered marriage, she must also cope with her obscure health issues, her daughter’s precarious behavior, a disingenuous neighbor, and an unpredictable mother-in-law.

Who in her life is a friend and who is more of a foe is not always apparent, and it’s up to Margaret to figure it all out.

A Word from the Author

Cozy mystery writer Margaret Manning thinks her husband may be mimicking the behavior of some of the shadier characters in her books, even though he claims to have never read any of them. When several pieces of her jewelry go missing, she wonders if he’s responsible for it or if she’s losing her mind. When her world becomes complicated with health issues and the unsettling actions of friends and family, her dream of opening a bookstore for indie authors begins to crumble…along with the promise for a happier life.

After creating the perfect writing environment for my fictional character Margaret Manning, I got to thinking about my own work environment—my condo on the thirteenth floor of a downtown Chicago high-rise paled in comparison. So after living there for twenty-one years, I sold my condo and bought this charming lake home fifty miles north of the City, close to the Wisconsin border. Huge change for this city girl, but couldn’t be happier.

(Florence Osmund, February 2018)

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