Family Feud in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 16) by Hope Callaghan (read with me txt) 📗

Family Feud

Made in Savannah

Cozy Mystery Series Book Sixteen

Hope Callaghan

hopecallaghan.com

Copyright © 2021

All rights reserved.

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This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents, and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual organizations, events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

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CONTENTS

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Cast of Characters

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

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Cast of Characters

Carlita Garlucci. The widow of a mafia “made” man, Carlita promised her husband on his deathbed to get their sons out of the “family” business, so she moves from New York to the historic city of Savannah, Georgia. But escaping the “family” isn’t as easy as she hoped it would be, and trouble follows Carlita to her new home.

Mercedes Garlucci. Carlita’s daughter and the first to move to Savannah with her mother. An aspiring writer, Mercedes has a knack for finding mysteries and adventure and dragging her mother along for the ride.

Vincent Garlucci, Jr. Carlita’s oldest son and a younger version of his father, Vinnie is deeply entrenched in the “family” business and not at all interested in leaving New Jersey for the Deep South.

Tony Garlucci. Carlita’s middle son and the second to follow his mother to Savannah. Tony is protective of both his mother and his sister, which is a good thing since the female Garluccis are always in some sort of predicament.

Paulie Garlucci. Carlita’s youngest son. Mayor of the small town of Clifton Falls, New York, Paulie never joined the “family” business and is content to live his life with his wife and young children away from a life of crime. His wife, Gina, rules the family household with an iron fist.

Chapter 1

The front door flew open, and Mercedes Garlucci burst into the living room. “We have a problem.”

Carlita pivoted in her chair, giving her daughter her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

“I just grabbed the mail.” Mercedes handed her mother a piece of paper. “This is why the city didn’t empty our dumpster this morning.”

Carlita slipped her reading glasses on and scanned the notice from the City of Savannah. “We’re being fined a hundred bucks for not getting a permit to dump construction material. Something fishy is goin’ on.” She sprang to her feet and hurried out of the apartment.

The women made their way to the end of the alley where the dumpster for not only the apartments, but her other businesses, Swag in Savannah and Ravello’s Italian Eatery, were located.

“I’ll take a look.” Mercedes hopped onto the ledge and lifted the lid, peering inside.

Carlita watched as she teetered precariously, balancing her upper body on the edge, her feet dangling in the air. “You’re making me nervous. Be careful. I don’t want to have to dig you out of the dumpster.”

Mercedes scrambled backward, landing lightly on her feet, and holding a chunk of broken drywall.

“That’s not ours.”

“There’s more.” Mercedes reached back inside and pulled out an empty paint can. “Someone’s throwing their construction stuff in our dumpster.”

Carlita’s eyes shifted to Sandy Sue’s Bar-B-Que joint across the street. Work at the site had stopped until a few weeks ago when the construction crew returned, and the final phase of the project began moving at a fast pace.

Not far from the trolley stop was a large “Opening Soon” sign with a depiction of the finished product. Although it wasn’t a bad-looking building, it certainly didn’t fit in with the Walton Square architecture and the area’s historic buildings.

It was more modern with rustic touches of shiplap siding and a long, low front porch. Above the porch was a neon sign touting the “City’s Best BBQ” in bright red letters.

Mercedes followed her mother’s gaze. “Do you think the workers across the street are dumping their construction trash in our dumpster?”

“It would take a lot of nerve but who knows?”

Elvira’s EC Security Services van pulled into the nearby parking lot. Carlita’s neighbor emerged and made her way over. “What’re you doing?”

“Trying to figure out who’s putting construction trash in my dumpster.” Carlita eyed her neighbor and former tenant with interest. “You have surveillance cameras all over this place. Maybe your cameras caught something.”

“It’s possible. I’ll have a look and let you know if I see anything.” Elvira turned to go. “Oh, hey, I have a surprise for you.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“Something that’s gonna make you wish it was already October.”

“At least I have a few months to prepare for it,” Carlita joked. “Why can’t you just tell me what it is?”

“Showing you will be more fun.” Elvira consulted her watch. “Give me an hour or so to go over the surveillance before stopping by.”

Mercedes waited until Elvira disappeared around the side of her building. “Elvira and surprises are never a good thing.”

“I was thinking the same,” Carlita muttered. “We need to check with the restaurant staff to see if they noticed anyone messing around back here, not to mention check our