Wendy Roberts' "Grounds To Kill" Quiz

Answer: Merlot's Cafe

The cafe's name was a play on the owner's name, Mervin Lo. Mitch, Jen's coworker and friend, was described as "tall and muscular with golden hair and eyes like espresso". Into the story, Jen learned Mitch had been romantically interested in her for a couple of years, but she seemed to be only into men in uniform. Once he revealed his interest, she revealed her own.

Answer: They shared the same father

Jen found out that her father had another daughter when she was nineteen and Misty was sixteen. She came to live with Jen and Jack after Jen's mom died of cancer, and turned out to be nothing but problems. In the book's current time frame, Misty had also moved into the same apartment complex as Jen, given Jen her dog, and slept with Jen's boyfriend.

Answer: Mojo

She'd received the dog from Misty, when Misty was unable to get along with Mojo. Jen described her as seven pounds, blue and tan, and impossibly adorable. Mojo loved her walks and playing Attack Duck with her stuffed ducky.

Answer: True

Jen and Misty's dad, a former police officer named Jack, was living on the streets by choice. He was said to be a paranoid schizophrenic and would no longer speak. He kept appearing on the sidewalk outside of the coffee shop, and Jen would take him food and try and get him to talk. All he would do in return was hand her flyers for a lost dog.

The flyers held more info than they seemed to, as the background showed a picture of Misty, Jen's former boyfriend Arthur, and a cross dressing man named Kiki.

Answer: Jen

Jen had actually gone down the hall to Misty's apartment to do something mean in retaliation for her sleeping with Arthur. When she arrived, the door was open and Misty had been killed. For a while she suspected Charlie, the local baker, whose grandmother lived in the same building. He just turned out to be a liar who groped women.

Answer: Tremendous Trio

It turned out that they'd all shared the same milestone with the same boy in high school. On the night of their prom, he decided to tell the entire class in attendance. This led to their bonding experience and long time friendship. In the present day, this sworn enemy (Fred) was a private detective.

They enlisted his help to solve Misty's murder, as Jen and her dad were the only suspects.

Answer: True

Hand of Doom (nicknamed HOD) would start to itch when it had a message that Jen needed to know. It was a psychic named Zelma Turnquist who diagnosed the condition as automatic writing. Jen had a mysterious spirit guide who would send her messages. This itchy palm was how she found out that Arthur had been sleeping with Misty. It also helped her discover who'd killed Misty.

Answer: Storage unit

The key was for a unit at XYZ Storage. Jen did not even realize that she'd been doodling those letters with her HOD while working at the coffee shop. When Mitch gave her the pad she'd doodled on, she and Mallory realized what it meant. Inside the unit was just a lot of lost dog flyers, but Jen finally realized what was in the image behind the dog.

Answer: Arthur

Arthur also killed a homeless woman named Alice, after Jen had talked to the woman. He stole Jen's Neon and placed Alice's body inside the trunk. He left the laptop he'd stolen from Jen's apartment in the car as well. I knew something was off about Arthur, a traffic cop, when he bragged about catching bad guys and Jen had to remind him that he did not catch bad guys at all.

Answer: Seattle

Wendy Roberts' "Ghost Duster" series also takes place in and around the Seattle area. At time of writing all of these stories, Wendy lived in the Pacific Northwest herself. I contacted her on Facebook to ask if there were any plans for a sequel for this book. She said not at this time (2015) but she was working on something new.