Cheryl Miller Thurston

Death By Accordion Cheryl Miller Thurston

Ella Polansky is as hip as a kindergarten teacher can be. No apple or alphabet sweaters for her. Ever. And when she plays a gig with her accordion, she sometimes steps to the microphone in red boots and tight jeans to add some percussive beatboxing.

But Ella loses her cool when someone pushes her beloved accordion off a balcony and kills the unpopular director of a local musical theater production. Who is the logical suspect? Ella, of course, and she's not happy about it. Somehow she has to persuade handsome Detective Dan Sherman that she's innocent, get her teaching job back, and rescue her kindergartners from the mean substitute teacher they all hate. Oh, and she also needs to figure out how to help her best friend, who is accidentally pregnant by a conceited male model with bad grammar and absolutely no potential as a father. Ella enlists the help of friends, family and the doting older men in a polka band (yes, a polka band) to discover the truth and clear her name.