Highly Suspicious

Hello!

I’m so excited to finally introduce Highly Suspicious, the second book in my Cedar Spurs Ranch series.

If you read the first Cedar Spurs book, you already know that this ranch has a way of bringing together people who probably wouldn’t have found each other anywhere else.

Book one leaned heavily into romantic comedy. There was chaos, competition, pranks, and a romance that grew right in the middle of all of it.

For book two, I wanted to stay at Cedar Spurs but try something a little different.

So naturally, I added a mystery.

Highly Suspicious is still very much a romance—and definitely still a spicy one—but this time the love story unfolds alongside a cozy little mystery involving strange objects, unexplained clues, questionable theories, late-night stakeouts, and two people who become far more invested in solving the case than either of them intended.

And honestly, writing the mystery was one of the most fun parts of this book.

This was my first time building a cozy-mystery-style plot, and I loved figuring out how to plant clues, create suspects, misdirect Garrett and Sophie, and keep the puzzle moving without losing the heart of their relationship.

Because for me, this book was always about Garrett and Sophie first.

Garrett Larkin thinks he understands flirting.

After watching an escalating prank war turn into a relationship over the summer, the former rodeo cowboy decides that a little harmless trouble might be exactly what he needs to get the attention of Cedar Spurs Ranch’s beautiful new assistant housekeeper.

He is very, very wrong.

Sophie Sutton has just lost the grandmother who raised her. She’s inherited a house that feels too empty, started a new job, and is trying to figure out what life is supposed to look like now that years of caregiving have suddenly ended.

The absolute last thing she needs is a cowboy trying to make her the punch line.

So when Sophie tells Garrett to stop, he does.

No more pranks.

No more pushing.

No more trying to charm someone who clearly doesn’t want to be charmed.

And that turns out to be the moment Sophie finally starts seeing the man underneath all the noise.

Then things around Cedar Spurs start getting…strange.

Objects move.

Odd clues appear.

Pieces of the ranch’s past begin turning up where they absolutely shouldn’t be.

Nothing is dangerous. Nobody else seems particularly worried.

But Garrett and Sophie know something is going on.

Their unofficial investigation soon involves secret case files, ridiculous suspect lists, late-night stakeouts, ranch history, and a growing amount of time spent together trying to answer one increasingly important question:

Who is doing this—and why?

Of course, somewhere along the way, the mystery stops being the only thing keeping them up at night.

What I love most about Garrett and Sophie is that their romance isn’t really about Garrett finding the right trick to win Sophie over.

It’s about him realizing that there shouldn’t be a trick at all.

He has to listen to her. Respect her boundaries. Let her decide when she wants him closer.

And once he does, Sophie gets to discover something too: being independent doesn’t have to mean being alone, and starting over doesn’t mean leaving every part of your old life behind.

There’s grief in this story, but there’s also a lot of warmth.

There are horses, cowboys, ranch chores, terrible detective work, good detective work, old photographs, suspicious pieces of brass, quiet kitchens, flirting, laughter, and plenty of heat.

Most of all, it’s about two people slowly becoming a place of safety for each other.

And Sophie absolutely does have a sense of humor.

Garrett just had to earn the right to see it.

If you like cowboy romance, cozy mysteries, slow-burn tension, amateur sleuthing, emotional healing, ranch settings, playful banter, and an open-door romance with plenty of spice, I hope you’ll give Highly Suspicious a try.

Highly Suspicious: Cedar Spurs Ranch Book 2 is available now on Amazon.

I hope you enjoy returning to Cedar Spurs—and meeting Garrett and Sophie.

And I hope you have as much fun trying to solve the mystery as I had creating it.