Little Broken Things

by Cheryl Bradshaw

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  Little White Lies

  Thank you for reading Little Broken Things, book three in the Georgiana Germaine mystery series.

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  I hope you enjoyed getting to know the characters in this story as much as I have enjoyed writing them for you. This is a continuing series with more books coming before and after the one you just read. You can find the series order (as of the date of this printing) in the “Books by Cheryl Bradshaw” section below.

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  In Little White Lies, book four in the series, Georgiana tries her hand at private investigating as she hunts down the murderer of beloved film star Pippa Holliday.

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  Want a sneak peek?

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  Here’s an exclusive look at chapter one …

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  LITTLE WHITE LIES

  GEORGIANA GERMAINE BOOK 4

  PROLOGUE

  Pippa Holliday bade farewell to the last of her guests and switched off the porch light, pleased her hosting duties had come to an end. She crossed the living room and stepped onto the back deck, pausing to breathe in a lungful of cool coastal air. Nights like this were Pippa’s favorite. Nights where she sat with a blanket draped across her legs, listening to the sound the waves made as they slapped against the rocks on the shore below.

  Four months earlier Pippa had purchased the oceanfront home in Cambria, California for three million dollars, her first major splurge since landing an acting role on the television series A Murderous Affair. The show was two seasons in, and she’d already been bumped up from supporting actress to lead actress after her co-star dropped out and entered rehab.

  For as long as Pippa could remember, all she ever wanted was to become a star. Now, at age twenty-seven, her dreams had become a reality. Life was good, and it just kept getting better.

  With her dinner party at an end, Pippa’s thoughts turned to her four-year-old son Cooper. It had been a while since she last checked on him. She walked to his room, pulled the blanket over his tiny frame, and brushed a lock of his dark brown hair out of his face. Leaning down, she planted a kiss on his forehead, and then she watched him sleep, reminiscing about the day she’d discovered she was pregnant. Cooper’s father was no longer in the picture, and Pippa was a broke, out-of-work actress, crashing at friend’s apartment and scraping pennies together to get by. She remembered how scared she’d been and how ill-equipped she’d felt about becoming a mother. At the time, she wasn’t sure she could manage it. Then her sister Greer swooped in, and everything changed. Greer moved Pippa into her house and looked after Cooper while Pippa pursued a future in Hollywood.

  Thinking back now, it seemed like a lifetime ago, and sometimes it still didn’t seem real. But it was real. At long last, life was the way she’d always imagined it could be.

  Pippa tiptoed out of Cooper’s room, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she strolled down the hallway. Her eyeliner was smudged, and the curls she’d rolled into her long, blond hair had flattened. At some point during the night, she’d also managed to spill a dime-size dollop of tomato sauce on the sleeve of her shirt.

  Nice.

  Hoping the stain hadn’t set, she headed for the laundry room, stopping when she heard a strange noise on the back deck. It sounded like footsteps, like someone was walking around, but when she poked her head out to check, she saw no one.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  Or course no one’s out here.

  You’re two stories up, and everyone’s gone.

  Don’t be silly.

  Pippa’s cat brushed across her leg, and she reached down, picking him up, and turning him around to face her. “Was it you, hmm? Are you the one making a racket out here, Percy?”

  The cat meowed in response and Pippa smiled, stroking his fur before putting him down. Percy trotted off to Cooper’s room and jumped on the bed, snuggling in next to Cooper the same way he did every night. Pippa lifted her shirt over her head, dabbed it with stain remover, and then set it on the counter to marinate until morning. Then she wiped her makeup off with a washcloth, slipped into a bikini, entered the kitchen, and grabbed a wineglass out of the cupboard.

  Every night since she’d moved into the new place, Pippa’s ritual was the same. She poured herself a glass of wine, got into the pool, and watched the moon’s light dance across the ocean while she floated around. But tonight was different than other nights. The sky had been impregnated with a foggy haze, shielding the moon from view.

  Pippa sipped her wine and leaned back, drifting to one end of the pool and back again. Minutes passed, the fog began to clear, and Pippa’s eyes fell on a dark shape next to the sliding glass door. A moment earlier, she could have sworn the shape had moved. She swam over to get a closer look, squinting at the area in question. She saw nothing and decided it must have been a combination of her eyes playing tricks on her and lack of sleep.

  She tipped the last bit of wine into her mouth and reached for the metal bar to pull herself out of the pool but struggled when her muscles failed her. She tried again, feeling paralyzed, like she was about to collapse.

  Something was wrong.

  On her third try, Pippa managed to pull herself onto the cement, but when she tried to stand, she couldn’t. Hunched over on all fours she began crawling toward the house. If she could get to her cell phone, she could call for help. But her cell phone was at least thirty feet away, and with each passing moment, she felt weaker, and her stream of consciousness began to waver.

  I’ll just rest and minute and take a break.

  And then I’ll try again.

  Pippa rolled onto her back and stared up the sky, wondering why her body was feeble and weak. The sensations she was experiencing were unfamiliar, and she couldn’t recall a time when she’d lost control of her body and mind the way she was now.

  The wind whistled a faint melody through the air. Pippa listened to it for a moment and then something dawned on her—it wasn’t the wind at all.

  Someone was whistling.

  Someone close by.

  “Relax, Pippa. Close your eyes and relax,” someone said.

  She attempted to turn her head toward the voice and couldn’t.

  Footsteps approached, fast and heavy, and then a blur of a person leaned over her body, blinking at her and smiling as they said, “Don’t worry. This will all be over in a few minutes.”

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  Order Little White Lies now by clicking HERE and then choosing your preferred bookstore.

  Enjoy Little Broken Things?

  You can show your appreciation by leaving a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, or Goodreads.

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  All published books are heavily researched, proofed, and edited. Should you find any issues in the book you just read, please forward them to her assistant HERE so they can be sent along to the publisher.

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  If you write a review, please be sure to email Cheryl HERE so she can express her gratitude. She does her best to reply to as many emails as she can, and she appreciates every piece of mail she receives.

  About Cheryl Bradshaw

  Cheryl Bradshaw is a New York Times and 11-time USA Today bestselling author writing in the genres of mystery, thriller, paranormal suspense, and romantic suspense, among others. Her novel Stranger in Town (Sloane Monroe series #4) was a Shamus Award finalist for Best PI Novel of the Year, and her novel I Have a Secret (Sloane Monroe series #3) was an eFestival of Words winner for Best Thriller.

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  Raised in California, most of the year she can be found exploring the tropics in Cairns, Australia, where she currently lives, or traveling the world.

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  Books by Cheryl Bradshaw

  Sloane Monroe Series

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  Silent as the Grave (Prequel, Book 0)

  When the body of Rebecca Barlow is found floating in the lake, private investigator Sloane Monroe takes on her very first homicide.

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  Black Diamond Death (Book 1)

  Charlotte Halliwell has a secret. But before revealing it to her sister, she's found dead.

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  Murder in Mind (Book 2)

  A woman is found murdered, the serial killer's trademark "S" carved into her wrist.

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  I Have a Secret (Book 3)

  Doug Ward has been running from his past for twenty years. But after his fourth whisky of the night, he doesn't want to keep quiet, not anymore.

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  Stranger in Town (Book 4)

  A frantic mother runs down the aisles, searching for her missing daughter. But little Olivia is already gone.

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  Bed of Bones (Book 5) (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Sometimes even the deepest, darkest secrets find their way to the surface.

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  Flirting with Danger (Book 5.5) A Sloane Monroe Short Story

  A fancy hotel. A weekend getaway. For Sloane Monroe, rest has finally arrived, until the lights go out, a woman screams, and Sloane's nightmare begins.

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  Hush Now Baby (Book 6) (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Serena Westwood tiptoes to her baby’s crib and looks inside, startled to find her newborn son is gone.

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  Dead of Night (Book 6.5) A Sloane Monroe Short Story

  After her mother-in-law is fatally stabbed, Wren is seen fleeing with the bloody knife. Is Wren the killer, or is a dark, scandalous family secret to blame?

  * * *

  Gone Daddy Gone (Book 7) (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  A man lurks behind Shelby in the park. Who is he? And why does he have a gun?

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  Smoke & Mirrors (Book 8) (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Grace Ashby wakes to the sound of a horrifying scream. She races down the hallway, finding her mother's lifeless body on the floor in a pool of blood. Her mother's boyfriend Hugh is hunched over her, but is Hugh really her mother's killer?

  * * *

  Sloane Monroe Stories: Deadly Sins

  * * *

  Deadly Sins: Sloth (Book 1)

  Darryl has been shot, and a mysterious woman is sprawled out on the floor in his hallway. She's dead too. Who is she? And why have they both been murdered?

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  Deadly Sins: Wrath (Book 2)

  Headlights flash through Maddie’s car's back windshield, someone following close behind. When her car careens into a nearby tree, the chase comes to an end. But for Maddie, the end is just the beginning.

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  Deadly Sins: Lust (Book 3)

  Marissa Calhoun sits alone on a beach-like swimming hole nestled on Australia's foreshore. Tonight, the lagoon is hers and hers alone. Or is it?

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  Deadly Sins: Greed (Book 4)

  It was just another day for mob boss Giovanni Luciana until he took his car for a drive.

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  Deadly Sins: Envy (Book 5)

  A cryptic message. A missing niece. And only twenty-four hours to pay.

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  Sloane & Maddie, Peril Awaits (Co-Authored with Janet Fix)

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  The Silent Boy (Book 1)

  In the hallway of a local tavern, six-year-old Louie Alvarez waits for his mother to take him home. A scream rips through the air, followed by the sound of a gun being fired. Louie freezes, then turns, with a single thought on his mind: RUN.

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  Georgiana Germaine Series

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  Little Girl Lost (Book 1)

  For the past two years, former detective Georgiana "Gigi" Germaine has been living off the grid, until today, when she hears some disturbing news that shakes her.

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  Little Lost Secrets (Book 2)

  When bones are discovered inside the walls during a home renovation, Georgiana uncovers a secret that’s linked to her father’s untimely death thirty years earlier.

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  Little Broken Things (Book 3)

  Twenty-year-old Olivia Spencer sits at her desk in her mother’s bookshop, dreaming about her upcoming wedding. The store may be closed, but she’s not alone, and her dream is about to become her worst nightmare.

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  Little White Lies (Book 4)

  Pippa Holliday thought she’d finally made it in Hollywood, until she realized sometimes dreams have a deadly ending.

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  Addison Lockhart Series

  * * *

  Grayson Manor Haunting (Book 1)

  When Addison Lockhart inherits Grayson Manor after her mother's untimely death, she unlocks a secret that's been kept hidden for over fifty years.

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  Rosecliff Manor Haunting (Book 2)

  Addison Lockhart jolts awake. The dream had seemed so real. Eleven-year-old twins Vivian and Grace were so full of life, but they couldn’t be. They’ve been dead for over forty years.

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  Blackthorn Manor Haunting (Book 3)

  Addison Lockhart leans over the manor's window, gasping when she feels a hand on her back. She grabs the windowsill to brace herself, but it's too late--she's already falling.

  * * *

  Belle Manor Haunting (Book 4)

  A vehicle barrels through the stop sign, slamming into the car Addison Lockhart is inside before fleeing the scene. Who is the driver of the other car? And what secrets within the walls of Belle Manor will provide the answer?

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  Till Death do us Part Novella Series

  * * *

  Whispers of Murder (Book 1)

  It was Isabelle Donnelly's wedding day, a moment in time that should have been the happiest in her life...until it ended in murder.

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  Echoes of Murder (Book 2)

  When two women are found dead at the same wedding, medical examiner Reagan Davenport will stop at nothing to discover the identity of the killer.

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  Stand-Alone Novels

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  Eye for Revenge (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Quinn Montgomery wakes to find herself in the hospital. Her childhood best friend Evie is dead, and Evie's four-year-old son witnessed it all. Traumatized over what he saw, he hasn't spoken.

  * * *

  The Perfect Lie

  When true-crime writer Alexandria Weston is found murdered on the last stop of her book tour, fellow writer Joss Jax steps in to investigate.

  * * *

  Hickory Dickory Dead (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Maisie Fezziwig wakes to a harrowing scream outside. Curious, she walks outside to investigate, and Maisie stumbles on a grisly murder that will change her life forever.

  * * *

  Roadkill (USA Today Bestselling Book)

  Suburban housewife Juliette Granger has been living a secret life ... a life that's about to turn deadly for everyone she loves.