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The Overlook Murder
A Wintergreen Mystery
by Patrick Kelly
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Cozy Mystery/Police Procedural
2nd in Series
Setting – Virginia
Chaparral Press LLC
• Number of Pages 320
It’s a short walk to the overlook but a long way down.
The rich entrepreneur Damian Susskind has recently survived a heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery. Suddenly aware of his own mortality, Damian summons his family and friends to Wintergreen to share the latest plans for his will. Unfortunately for Damian, one of those in attendance bears him malicious intent, and by the end of the day, Damian is dead.
Retired police detective Bill O’Shea is asked to help the short-staffed Wintergreen police department investigate an accidental death. Forensic evidence soon convinces Bill that this was no accident. There is plenty of motive to go around and more than a few suspects–the difficulty is tying a single killer to the crime. Will Bill and his friends solve the case, or will a Wintergreen murderer go free?
If you love beautiful mountain settings, a charming cast, and intriguing plot twists, you’re going to love the Wintergreen Mystery Series!
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Meeting the First Suspect
Cindy drove Bill down Laurel Springs Drive to a point where a uniformed officer directed traffic around a growing number of vehicles parked on the side of the road. Two Wintergreen police squad cars were already there, along with Evan Hale’s Land Rover, a Ford Escape, and Alex Sharp’s pickup. Cindy stopped her SUV briefly, and Bill hopped out. Interim Chief Alex Sharp had just arrived, and the two men met at the trailhead.
The Old Appalachian Trail branched from the road in a southwesterly direction. Speckles of sunlight broke through the forest canopy high above them. The air smelled lightly of decaying leaves from prior seasons. Lichen-patched boulders the size of cars and tiny houses lay on the mountainside, discarded carelessly by an ice age’s retreating glaciers.
Obviously anxious, Alex set a quick pace on the trail. He wore khakis and a light jacket, making Bill feel self-conscious in his catering outfit. The trail followed the contour of the mountain on a generally upward slope. The overlook was a little more than half a mile from the road, and they covered the distance in ten minutes. As they drew nearer, sunlight from the right brightened the forest.
Damian Susskind’s guests—Tanya Stafford, Lacey Akin, and Evan Hale—stood in a quiet cluster forty feet from the overlook with an officer named Rodríguez. Their faces were drawn. Lacey looked pale.
Alex waved Rodríguez over.
“What’s the story, José?” said Alex.
José pointed to where the trail continued south. “Officers Gentry and Hill went to search for a way to the bottom to see what can be done. EMS is on the way—should get here soon.” José consulted notes on his phone. “It’s not exactly clear what happened. The victim fell off the cliff—they all agree on that. But they were not together when he fell. The man—Hale—was standing back in the woods with Lacey Akin. Everyone agrees that Tanya Stafford and Susskind were out there on the rock.”
An offshoot from the main trail broke through the trees and met the solid rock at the mountain’s edge. The overlook itself was a ledge that ended abruptly in the open air. It stood alone now and peaceful, as if to proclaim its innocence—gravity deserved the blame. Wind blew up the mountainside and rustled the treetops.
“Here’s the real problem,” said José. “According to Lacey Akin, Tanya Stafford pushed Susskind off the cliff.”
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About Patrick Kelly
Pat Kelly was raised in Yorktown, Virginia, graduated from UVA, and left the state to pursue a corporate career. After settling in Texas, Pat married Susie, and together they raised two daughters in the awesome city of Austin. With the girls now grown and gone, Pat has pursued a lifelong love of writing stories.
Pat has written eight novels–books one and two in the Wintergreen Mystery Series, the Joe Robbins Series of five suspense thrillers, and one standalone novel of historical fiction (The Sheila Stories)
Pat is the winner of a Beverly Hills Book Award and a silver medalist for the Wishing Shelf Book Awards for adult fiction. He serves as Membership Chair of the Heart of Texas Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
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Hi Laura,
Thank you so much for sharing an excerpt from The Overlook Murder with your readers today. I love chatting with readers and will stop back by later to answer any questions from yours. Thank again! Patrick Kelly
Beautiful cover! I enjoyed the peek inside
Thank you, Cathy. Sleepy Fox Studio designed the cover, and I think she did a terrific job. The image used resembles closely the overlook in Wintergreen where the victim in the story meets his demise. By sheer coincidence, I hiked up to that overlook today to take some guests to check out the view. Fortunately, the trail was corpse free. Ha!
All the best, Patrick Kelly
This sounds like a great read.
My favourite kind of mystery when family gather for a will and someone dies.