LITMIR.BIZ

      Prologue

      FOR SUCH AN ordinary middle-American town, Quimby had its share of legends. There was the ghost who haunted the clock tower of the old stone courthouse. There was Eunice LaSalle, the 1962 prom queen who’d gone to Hollywood and costarred in an Elvis beach flick. Reputedly, a monster muskie lived in Mirror Lake and nibbled on the toes—or various other bobbing appendages—of unwary skinny-dippers. And on one unforgettable night in 1985, the Quimby Kingpins had beaten the Buxton Bluejackets with a half-court lob at the buzzer, 53 to 52.

      Then there was Heartbreak.

      Zachary “Heartbreak” Brody, aka The Smooth Operator.

      A man who was a legend in his own time, according to the female half of Quimby’s populace.

      And they would know.

      As it happened, the five women who’d been most seriously “Heartbroken” gathered every Wednesday evening at Cathy Timmerman’s arts and crafts shop. Scarborough Faire—formerly known as Kay’s Krafts—was at 1208 Central Street, Quimby’s version of Main Street, U.S.A. An innocent setting for the chicanery to come. Although, as it would turn out, appearances were decidedly deceiving.

      The weekly meeting of the five women in question was purported to be an informal craft class. Local ladies signed up left and right for Cathy’s other classes, even woodburning and china painting, but the Wednesday-night calligraphers had closed their ranks to the uninitiated. Group therapy hadn’t been their initial intention, yet nearly every week the talk turned to Zack Brody: What he’d done to them, how they still hadn’t recovered, where he was now, whose heart he was currently breaking with his deceptively charming and oh, so smooth and seductive ways.

      Which was not to say that the five women hated the man. Goodness, no.

      It was Zack’s particular skill that he’d left even his jilted bride harboring certain feelings—definitely more than fond—for him. In fact, if the truth be known, several of the women maintained a secret fantasy that someday she would be the one to capture the legendary Lothario’s heart for good. The likelihood that the rest of his perfect male specimen body would be included in the deal was…not unpleasant.

      Be that as it may, there were also times, when the hour grew late and strong ink fumes had gone to their heads, that the five women bandied about a suitable revenge. ’Twas only fair, they said. Heartbreak should have a taste of his own medicine.

      Thus, upon the fateful evening of Heartbreak Brody’s prodigal return to Quimby, a scheme was afoot. A nefarious plot that would turn out to be neither as easy nor as simple as intended. But far more effective.

      And it all began at Cathy Bell Timmerman’s arts and crafts shop….