Read a Sneak Peek of the Latest Riley Thorn Hijinks by Lucy Score — and See the Cover! (Exclusive)

'The Body in the Backyard' brings back the quirky clairvoyant detective and her detective boyfriend Nick Santiago, plus a cast of delightfully zany characters

New York Times chart-topping and USA Today bestselling author Lucy Score is back with a new installment in her Riley Thorn rom-com mystery series. The Body in the Backyard, out July 16 from Bloom Books, hits close to home for our heroine and the zany cast of characters surrounding her.

For the author, who sets her series in her home state of Pennsylvania, inspiration came from her surroundings.

“Mr. Lucy worked for a PI when we first started dating. On one of our earliest dates, he took me to a junkyard where he had to clean out personal effects in a wrecked car that had been sitting out in the elements for months," she explains. "I remember rummaging through the glove box and thinking, ‘This would make a good scene in a book!’ It took quite a few years, but that scene turned into the Riley Thorn series.”

In the latest installment, Riley's ex-husband careens back into her life begging for help, and her private investigator boyfriend Nick Santiago doesn't want to get involved.

When Nick's octogenarian business partner, Mrs. Penny, overrules him and a dead body shows up to drive home the fact that Riley's ex might really be in danger, it's all hands on deck. While Nick and Riley try to figure out the culprit, chaos arrives on their doorstep.

Check out an exclusive excerpt from Riley's latest clairvoyant escapades below.

Related: PEOPLE’s Best Books to Read in March 2024: Charles Spencer’s Harrowing Memoir and Lisa Ko’s Long-Awaited Second Novel

Riley watched from the kitchen as a uniformed cop unspooled the yellow crime scene tape in the backyard and the coroner’s gurney wheeled into view.

“I was just saying how I would be an excellent game show host because I’m so handsome and charming when the power went out,” Griffin explained to the officer. He and Bella were sitting at the glass and chrome kitchen table. He held an ice pack to his forehead, and Bella was delicately sipping on one of her creepy placenta smoothies.

“And I was doing my facial exercises so I don’t get wrinkles,” Bella added, demonstrating by scrunching her face like a prune.

“Okaaaaay,” Mabel said.

“Here we are again. You, me, and another dead body. I’m starting to think we’re cursed,” Riley whispered to Nick as he helped himself to a cup of coffee.

“Are you kidding? Thorn, if that DB turns out to be who I think it is, we just scored. Big time.”

She frowned. “Who is it?”

“I can’t be sure, but the back of his head looks a hell of a lot like Gentry.”

Riley instinctively looked out the window toward the fence. “Lyle Larstein?”

“Looks to me like the neighborhood sleep-deprived weirdo was cutting the power and managed to electrocute himself.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

“Hence the block of wood and the bolt cutter thingies,” Riley said.

“Exactly. He was at the top of our list of suspects, and he just did us the favor of taking himself out. This is what we call an open-and-shut case. You and I are gonna celebrate by hooking up that TV tonight, installing a dead bolt on our bedroom door, having sex and then watching movies.”

“That sounds perfect. Maybe we could add paying some bills in there somewhere?” Riley suggested.

Weber stepped inside from the backyard, his no-nonsense footsteps echoing on the tile. He removed his latex gloves and pointed at them. “You two, with me,” he ordered.

“You two, with me,” Nick mimicked under his breath.

“Play nice,” Riley hissed.

“I don’t know how.”

They followed the detective out the glass doors and onto the patio.

“Why do I keep finding you at my crime scenes, Santiago?” Weber demanded, gesturing for them to sit down at the slate-topped table.

“If you were better at your job, maybe I wouldn’t get there first every time,” Nick shot back, pulling out a chair for Riley.

“Hey, maybe we could save the habitual pissing contest for later,” she suggested as she sat. Nick took the chair next to her. Weber took a look around them at the manicured lawn, the stone patio, and the unmissable 12-foot-tall Griffin. Someone had taken the initiative to drape a blue tarp over the statue’s nether regions. He shook his head and pulled out a third chair.

“All right, you two. How do you just so happen to be on the scene of another unattended death?”

“Just lucky I guess,” Nick said.

Related: Romantasy 101: Here's Where to Start Reading the Hottest Genre of 2024 (Exclusive)

“Mrs. Penny was here with Griffin. She called us,” Riley said.

“What was an 80-year-old troublemaker doing here, and why did she call you?”

“Don’t blame us for doing our jobs,” Nick snarled. “Gentry went to the cops first, and your boys in blue dismissed the threats.”

“The threat at the time was…” Weber paused to consult his notes. “A ‘mean note’ in his bedroom and a chest waxing accident.”

“Well, maybe if you had taken it seriously, we wouldn’t be standing over a dead f---ing body,” Nick said.

“I didn’t take the report. I’m homicide.”

“Right, because what’s the fun in preventing murders when you can investigate them?"

They both came halfway out of their chairs. Riley waved her hands between them. “I really can’t tell how much of this is actual animosity and how much is old habit. But we’re in the middle of a crime scene, so let’s at least pretend to be professionals.”

Adapted from THE BODY IN THE BACKYARD, a Riley Thorn novel, Copyright © 2024 by Lucy Score.

Used with permission of Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks. New York, NY. All rights reserved.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.