A Body in the Backyard (24 page)
“And Dr. Bass followed him there. No one was around, after all—the whole town was at the funeral. It was the perfect time to get rid of Lee Woosley. Dusty had even conveniently left him a shovel outside to beat him over the head with. Then he really just had to stay out of the way and act as he normally did. Except he couldn’t resist coming back to see if he’d accidentally left some clue behind or if he’d been discovered. Elaine snapped a picture of him in the area.”
Miles said, “I can definitely see him doing all of that. But I don’t understand what he was doing throwing eggs at your house. And messing around with your things.”
“I think Dr. Bass was trying to shake me up and rattle me so much that I would stop nosing around in the case. Peggy even mentioned that he ran with a crowd in high school that liked playing pranks—rolling trees and egging houses and that kind of thing. As far as his breaking into my house, I think there were a couple of different things he was trying to do. He has to drive right past my house to get from his house to his office. He obviously must have noticed Puddin putting the key away at some point and took it…probably thinking that he might need to silence me for good at some point.”
“Makes sense. But you told me that someone had been inside your house during the daytime. And Dr. Bass works during the day.”
“He does. But you told me he’d taken a couple of days off and you’d had to go to your dentist in Simonton. One of those days was when my house was broken into. I’d guess he was also trying to figure out what progress I was making on the case—he knew I was investigating. He might have looked for notebooks where I wrote about the murders or for a journal. To top it all off, he put things in weird places while he was in here just to make me doubt myself,” said Myrtle.
“Good thing it didn’t work,” said Miles.
Myrtle didn’t answer. She didn’t want to admit that Dr. Bass had made her start wondering if she was losing her memory.
Miles gave a satisfied sigh. “This is actually a very satisfactory end to the case, Myrtle. Justice for everyone. Lee Woosley paid for Charles’s life with his own. Hugh Bass has been arrested and will pay for murdering Lee and for operating a dental office without a license. Everything is back to normal again.”
As Dr. Bass was driven away, Myrtle had to agree.
Actually, thought Myrtle the next morning, everything was
better
than normal. She put her feet up on an ottoman as Puddin demurely cleaned her house, putting some real elbow grease into the process for once.
Dusty was mowing the grass…
again
. Although it really didn’t need it. He’d even trimmed her bushes this morning.
Crazy Dan and Wanda had returned, and Crazy Dan was deftly replacing the locks on Myrtle’s doors. Wanda had already reminded her to turn her motion detector lights back on.
The icing on the cake had really come when Miles’s Aunt Connie insisted on giving Myrtle the reward for information on her son’s death. Myrtle had put up some modest attempts at turning down the check, but had rapidly been convinced she needed to take it. She used some of the money to buy a new camera for Elaine.
Myrtle’s front-page story for the
Bradley Bugle
, covering the attempted attack on her life and the arrest of the killer was a spectacular success and a top-selling issue for the newspaper. It even got picked up on the AP wire. Elaine’s picture of Dr. Bass talking with Lee Woosley accompanied the story and gave it the finishing touch it needed.
Red was talking to a contractor about putting a privacy fence in her backyard. He decided he needed to prevent her yard from becoming a popular crime spot in the future. The privacy fence meant that Erma would no longer be gaping at her when Myrtle was trying to have a quiet moment outside.
Best of all might have been the moment, a few minutes ago; when Miles knocked on her door…bearing a smile, his tape of the latest
Tomorrow’s Promise
, and a brand-new Viking gnome.
####
About the Author
Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin Books/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries (2012) for Penguin Books/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series. She blogs at Mystery Writing is Murder, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Elizabeth’s latest book is Quilt or Innocence and her next book, Knot What it Seams releases February 5. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently.
Elizabeth shares writing-related links on Twitter as @elizabethscraig and posts on craft and the publishing industry on her blog, Mystery Writing is Murder. She and Mike Fleming of Hiveword also manage the Writer's Knowledge Base--a free search engine to help writers find resources.
As the mother of two, Elizabeth writes on the run as she juggles volunteering, referees play dates, drives carpools, and is dragged along as a hostage/chaperone on field trips.
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110013798243316588134/posts
Twitter: @elizabethscraig
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethspanncraig#!/elizabethspanncraig
Blog: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.ca/
Other books by Elizabeth S. Craig:
The Memphis Barbeque Mysteries:
Delicious and Suspicious
(written as Riley Adams):
Publishers Weekly
: "A sassy first in a new series from Adams."
New York Times
bestselling author, Laura Childs: “A stick-to-your-ribs whodunit.”
Finger Lickin’ Dead
(as Riley Adams): When an anonymous food critic blasts several local restaurants—including Aunt Pat’s—Lulu Taylor and her customers are biting mad, especially when they learn that Eppie Currian is the pen name of their friend Evelyn’s cheating boyfriend. When “Eppie” gets his own fatal review, the list of suspects is longer than the list of specials at the best BBQ place in Memphis. Krista Davis, national bestselling author of
The Diva Cooks a Goose
: “A saucy Southern mystery!”
Hickory Smoked Homicide
(as Riley Adams): Since she runs the hottest BBQ joint in town, Lulu knows just about everyone in Memphis. But one person she'd rather not know is Tristan Pembroke, a snooty pageant coach with a mean streak longer than the line outside Lulu's restaurant. When she finds Tristan's dead body stuffed in a closet at a party, the police are suspicious--especially since Lulu's developed a taste for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Caught in a situation stickier than molasses, Lulu must clear her name--or risk getting fried. “BBQ, beauty pageants, and murder – wow! I was in Southern-heaven with this one! I just love the down-home earthiness of main character Lulu Taylor – her sassiness and no-nonsense attitude makes her the perfect “momma” figure for this series, and she keeps her friends and family in line!” Sharon Galligar Chance–Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews.
The Southern Quilting Mysteries (as Elizabeth Craig for Penguin/NAL)
First book–
Quilt or Innocence
.
As the newest member of the Village Quilters Guild, Beatrice has a lot of gossip to catch up on—especially with the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop about to close. It seems that Judith, the landlord everyone loves to hate, wants to raise the rent, despite being a quilter herself
But when Judith is found dead, the harmless gossip becomes an intricate patchwork of mischievous motives. And it’s up to Beatrice’s expert eye to decipher the pattern and catch the killer, before her life gets sewn up for good.
Knot What it Seams
(releasing Feb. 5, 2013.)
Dwindling membership has the Village Quilters hanging by a thread, and group leader Meadow Downey is desperate to recruit some new folks. With Beatrice’s blessing, she attempts to weave frequent quilt show judge Jo Paxton into their fold. As the town’s irascible mail carrier, Jo delivers trouble wherever she goes. And with all that mail at her fingertips, she knows everyone’s business. Soon Beatrice wonders if they’ve made the right choice.
After a car accident sends Jo to meet her maker, it’s discovered someone tampered with her brakes. Meadow believes someone’s out to eradicate the Village Quilters, but Beatrice isn’t so sure. Now she and her fellow quilters will have to piece together the clues or a deadly killer might strike again
The Myrtle Clover Mysteries:
Pretty is as Pretty Dies
: No one in Bradley, North Carolina, is exactly crying into their sweet tea over the murder of Parke Stockard. Certainly not retired schoolteacher Myrtle Clover. Upon discovering the corpse, Myrtle is struck-not with grief, but a brilliant idea! Solving the crime would prove to everyone (especially her son Red, the police chief) that this octogenarian isn’t ready to be put out to pasture just yet.
The victim, a pretty but pushy town developer, had deep pockets and few friends. Even when another murder takes place, proud Myrtle forges on, armed only with a heavy cane, a venomous tongue, and a widower sidekick. The Publishers Weekly review: “The amusing first in a new cozy series from Craig…Myrtle’s wacky personality is a delight.”
Progressive Dinner Deadly
: Octogenarian Myrtle Clover isn't thrilled when her book club morphs into a supper club. But things get a little more interesting when a body is discovered during the 3rd course. Can Myrtle's sleuthing smoke out the killer before her goose is cooked?
A Body in the Backyard
: It’s just an ordinary day for octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover—until her yardman discovers a dead body planted in her backyard. This death isn’t cut and dried—the victim was bashed in the head with one of Myrtle’s garden gnomes.
Myrtle’s friend Miles recognizes the body and identifies him as Charles Clayborne… reluctantly admitting he’s a cousin. Charles wasn’t the sort of relative you bragged about—he was a garden variety sleaze, which is very likely why he ended up murdered. As Myrtle starts digging up dirt to nip the killings in the bud, someone’s focused on scaring her off the case. Myrtle vows to find the murderer…before she’s pushing up daisies, herself.
Table of Contents