Synopsis
Written in the style of a classic British Mystery with a contemporary young American woman as the amateur sleuth. Entertaining. Keeps you guessing until the end.
From a small secluded village in Connecticut to the English Countryside, readers are taken on a roller coaster of events and quirky characters as amateur sleuth Emily Ryder tries to solve a murder that everyone thinks was an accident.
For tour guide Emily Ryder, the turning point came on that fateful early morning when her beloved mentor met an untimely death. It’s labeled as an accident and Trooper Dave Roberts is more interested in Emily than in any suspicions around Chris Cooper’s death. For Emily, if Chris hadn’t been the Village Planner and the only man standing in the way of the development of an apartment and entertainment complex in their quaint village of Lydfield, Connecticut, she might have believed it was an accident, but too many pieces didn’t fit.
As Emily heads across the pond for a scheduled tour of Lydfield’s sister village, Lydfield-in-the-Moor… she discovers that the murderer may be closer than she thought.
Excerpt
Then it grew still, save for Oliver’s sniffing survey of the spoils left by the turkeys.
Brushing himself off in the soupy mist, a stocky figure with a thick neck, pasty face, sagging raincoat, and dark, baggy trousers yelled out to no one in particular, “Hey, what is this? Can’t a guy even walk around for Pete sake?” She could have told him the turkeys were foraging and he’d overreacted. But she didn’t want to get into any drawn- out discussion about the ways of the wild. All she was after was a clue to what the guy was up to, getting hold of Oliver,
and returning to her agenda.
The second he noticed her, the man changed his tone. “Oh, how you doing? This your dog, I take it?”
Through the drizzle, Emily spotted a glittering, gold GDC emblem under his lapel.
“No,” said Emily. “He’s Will Farrow’s retriever.”
“Will Farrow? Right, you mean the fix-it guy, staying at the B&B while he patches it up?”
Though he was trying hard to be friendly, his voice had a raspy, cynical edge, and Emily didn’t appreciate the way he was looking her up and down. Judging from his cropped
gray hair and the deep creases in his face, she assumed he was in his early fifties. She also took him to be a point man for the development company. Otherwise, why would he be scouring around on his own, seemingly taking note of everything, checking out the lay of the land?
Stepping back onto higher ground, apparently self- conscious that Emily was a good two or three inches taller, the man reached into an inside pocket and took out a few printouts. In turn, Emily unfastened the collar of her windbreaker and pulled the hood over her head. All the while, Oliver looped around, sat and nuzzled his blocky head against Emily’s thigh, and looped around again.
“Ah.” The point man jabbed his finger at the top of one of the pages. “I got you covered. You’re the B&B owner’s daughter, used to play college soccer, but now you’re some kinda tour guide. Carting a few locals around spots overseas. How am I doing?”
Emily shot him a wary glance, but he went on unfazed. “So good, so maybe you could be of some use, seeing how your ol’ lady is off on some kinda busman’s holiday. And her place is in need of lots of maintenance, right? But in this market and as far as the fall-foliage thing goes, what can I say about it all going down the drain?”
“How do you know all this?”
“I just do, all right? So, for openers, we got mom holing up somewheres in the boonies and not something to bank on.”
“So, for openers, what are you driving at?”
Pocketing the printouts, he said, “Are you kidding me? Nailing down a right-of-way, what else? For the construction
site, right where we’re standing. The name so far is Lydfield Woods. Get it? Lydfield, Connecticut—Lydfield Woods. Hey, as long as we’re at it, I would appreciate your take on this.” “My take is, you’re wasting your time. You’d better go
back to the drawing board.”
“Obstacles, right. Exactly what I’ve been saying. Which brings us back to how far this thing is gonna have to go.”
The exchange broke off as Oliver dashed away into the mist. Seconds later, he returned with a gnarled branch gripped in his teeth. The point man ignored him, but Oliver went straight up to him and pawed at his trousers. The point man flung the stick far back into the woods in the opposite direction. Oliver’s ears perked up as he dashed off again.
“Right,” he said. “Something I should know before I make my move?”
“Meaning?”
“Come on, will ya? Cut the tap dance. I’m talking Chris Cooper, head of planning, who’s gonna cast the deciding vote. I’m talking the old roofer guy and conservationist. I’m talking the number one issue. What’s he trying to pull? What’s he suddenly got up his sleeve?”
Emily pulled back. This was a veiled threat aimed not at the Planning Commission per se, but at her mentor. Her surrogate father since her real dad skipped out. In a word, he was after her best friend.
“I’m talking blowing the whistle, okay? Is that plain enough for you?”
Emily readjusted her hood and brushed her damp hair away from her eyes. “Go on.”
Just then, Oliver returned with a new stick. Just as quickly, the man yanked it out of Oliver’s mouth and pitched it out of sight. The fog hung a tad lower, cloaking everything in the near distance. Clueless, Oliver took off, this time heading south toward the far reaches of the meadow where the ground sloped down again, falling away to the Village Green.
The point man’s eyes hardened as more droplets ran down his face. “Look, I appreciate how you’re jerking me around and how you don’t back down even though we’re alone up here. So seeing you’re about to go futzing off to England and we’re both pressed for time, how about getting off it while I maybe do something for you?”
Oliver returned stick-less as the drizzle picked up.
Tired of this game, Emily said, “Okay, mister, let’s have it.”
Guest Review by Katy
I love a good mystery and this certainly fit the bill! This book pulled me in right from the start and didn’t let go all the way through. I even shoved some work aside so I could finish it today but it was worth it. The story is about a woman named Emily Ryder, a tour guide who witnesses her friend fall to his death off of a roof one rainy morning. Emily urges the police to investigate the death as a murder because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fall but they don’t want to listen and want to close the case and label it an accident.
I really appreciated Emily as a character and her intelligence, intuitiveness and determination made me root for her throughout the novel. I loved that she trusted her instincts about the case and was willing to fight for what she believed in. The mystery was also very compelling. Unlike some mysteries I have read in the past, I really felt like the author put a lot of forethought into not only the motive and means of the killing but little clues that could be left along the way for the reader to potentially pick up on. I appreciate a mystery author that trusts the reader’s intelligence and ability to work things out on their own.
Not many books these days seem to leave me in a state of awe but this one has me not only wanting to re-read it again, but chomping a the bit for more by the same author! I’m very happy to see that this seems to be the beginning of a series. I’d highly recommend reading this book. If you love suspense, intrigue, great writing and a good mystery, then this is the book for you!
About the Author
Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor and, all told, has written over twenty-five plays in addition to his articles and novels.
A frequent contributor of articles on all facets of creative writing and acting, Shelly appears in numerous periodicals including Southern Writers Magazine where he is the film columnist. He is also a contributor to writers’ blogs and websites in the U.S. and the U.K.
His fiction includes Twilight of the Drifter, The Twinning Murders,and Lilac Moon. His Hollywood crime caper Tinseltown Riff was released in March 2013. His latest crime novel Murder Run was just released in August.
Among his works of non-fiction are the acclaimed The Actors Studio and texts on The Art and Craft of Screenwriting and writing for the stage. Shelly lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Giveaway
This giveaway is for one print copy or ebook copy of the book. Print is available to the U.S. only but ebook is available worldwide. This giveaway ends on November 30, 2018 at midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
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