I arrived in Pittsfield by mid-afternoon and stood for a moment in front of a double-wide mobile home in Lake Onota Village. The sun was warm. The lawn was well manicured, adorned with a wood carving of a woman bent over her flowers, showing the world her polka-dotted bloomers. I walked to the door, leaning on my cane, looking and listening for signs of life. I rang the bell. A small dog barked. A voice cried, “Shut up, Rex.”
An elderly woman dressed in a sweatsuit and a bathrobe opened the door as far as the chain would allow. “Yes?” Her face was creased like a piece of paper that had been crumpled and then flattened again. The smell of cigarette smoke fell through the door.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Church. I’m Adrian Tannhauser. We spoke on the phone.”
She squinted at me through thick-rimmed glasses. “Do you have any identification, guy? Somethin’ that says you’re a private cop?”
I hooked my cane over my arm and held my license up to the crack in the door.
“Looks good enough, I guess,” she said. “I wouldn’t know if it was legit or not anyway.” She dropped the chain and opened the door. “Come in.”
—Andrew C. Peterson, from Unraveling, coming from Foxburg & Stern Books, September 15, 2026.
* * *
Mrs. Church ended up being way more fun to write than I ever intended. It’s always great when the characters speak to you, telling you that they have more to say or leading the conversation in a much different direction than you originally intended.
But why did Adrian have to speak with her? You’ll find out when you read Unraveling!
Print copy coming soon! Preorder your copy of the e-book here:
—Charles M. Schulz, January 4, 1979
