Beyond a Reasonable Duck: A Simpato Mystery (The Simpato Mystery Series Book 3)

Two festivals. One dead protester. And a whole lot of missing ducks.

Sal DeVine is finally getting her life back on track. After a suspension engineered by her ex-husband, she's on the verge of returning to her law practice in the quirky wine-country town of Simpato. With the annual Pato Parade and beloved Duck Dessert celebration approaching, summer is looking brighter than ever.

But this is Simpato, where even the best-laid plans have a way of going spectacularly wrong.

When a scheduling blunder pits the town's two favorite festivities against each other, tempers flare, old rivalries resurface, and outside protesters descend on the normally peaceful community. Then one of the protesters turns up dead in the church's duck pond. As if that weren't enough, the town's ducks have mysteriously disappeared.

With suspicions flying and everyone guarding their own secrets, Sal puts her legal instincts to work. But between feuding neighbors, political agendas, and a growing list of suspects, uncovering the truth may prove trickier than she bargained for. And in a town where everyone knows everyone else's business, figuring out who's hiding something could be the most dangerous part of all.

Welcome back to Simpato, where the wine flows, the gossip spreads, the nuns sell cannabis cookies, and murder always manages to ruffle a few feathers.

Beyond a Reasonable Duck is the third installment in Claudia H. Long's Simpato Mystery Series, featuring small-town secrets, eccentric characters, and plenty of delightfully bad duck puns.

About the Author

Claudia H. Long is the author of 8 novels, including three in the Simpato Mystery Series and three in the Zara and Lilly series, one of which has been optioned for a major feature film. When she’s not writing stories, she’s a lawyer in Northern California, where she lives amid wineries and geysers in Napa County, with her husband and too many animals. And she is the owner of the new bookstore, Read Head Books.

Praise for Murder without a Duck, the first in The Simpato Mysteries

“A good old-fashioned mystery with just the right amount of wit, humor and long-held secrets.”
—Denise Allan Steele, author of Rewind

“A tongue-in-cheek murder mystery with a hilariously irreverent cast of characters.”
—Kelly Oliver, author of The Jessica James Mysteries

“If you like murder mysteries with a different twist, Murder without A Duck will fit the bill (pun intended). If you’re looking for an entertaining read, don’t duck out (pun also intended) on this one.”
—David H. Perlstein, author of Taking Stock