The Overlook Murder: A Wintergreen Mystery
by Patrick Kelly
About The Overlook Murder
The Overlook Murder: A Wintergreen Mystery
Cozy Mystery/Police Procedural
2nd in Series
Setting – Virginia
Chaparral Press LLC (May 14, 2022)
Paperback : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 1734239247
ISBN-13 : 978-1734239249
Digital ASIN : B09ZSTSWCD
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!
Excerpt from The Overlook Murder by Patrick Kelly
How Not to Hand-feed a Groundhog
Earlier that morning when Bill peered over his balcony railing, Mr. Chips was nowhere to be found. Perhaps the groundhog had slept in. After the interview with Frieda Chang, Bill ambled down to his condo building to get his car. Once he passed Cindy’s building, he glanced right toward the ridge’s edge and spied Mr. Chips nibbling on greens near his burrow entrance.
Bill waved. “Wait there, Mr. Chips. Be right back.”
Inside his condo, Bill picked up a bright red beefsteak tomato and then hustled outside again. Having set the goal of getting a little closer to Mr. Chips every day, Bill now hoped to cross the ten-foot line. He held the tomato high and jiggled it to capture the groundhog’s attention. Mr. Chips stood straight and dropped the greens.
Bill then repeated the routine he had established. Slow steps toward the target. No sudden moves. Everything was going according to plan. Twenty feet. Fifteen feet. Ten feet. Bill’s heartbeat accelerated.
But suddenly, Mr. Chips stood straight and turned his head as if to listen for something. Bill frowned.
“Take it easy, Mr. Chips. I have a nice fat fruit here, but you only get it when you let me come a few feet closer.”
It was as if Bill had said nothing at all. Mr. Chips turned his head farther to the side and lifted his nose to sniff. What in the heck? Mr. Chips pulled his head back, and then his whole body jerked. In the next instant, the groundhog rushed to his burrow entrance and disappeared.
“Dang it,” said Bill. He stomped toward the entrance and leaned over to snarl. “What is your problem? You were happy to wait yesterday. Don’t think I’ll drop this tomato for you to eat at your leisure. These things aren’t free, you know. This is a two-way street.”
But then Bill heard a noise coming from beyond the drop-off of the hill. The grasses on the slope rustled. He sensed movement and got the unmistakable impression that another life-form approached. Then, a dark furry form rose above the slope not ten feet away. His heart pounded, and his eyes bulged.
Holy Peter, Paul, and Mary! It’s a bear!
Bill dropped the tomato and fell on his butt in the grass.
But the bear kept coming. The mammal moved leisurely, one huge paw in front of the other. The black omnivore would reach Bill in a few instants.
Bill crab-walked backward, his eyes glued to the bear. The bear sniffed Mr. Chips’s burrow entrance, pawed at it once, and noticed the tomato. Bill kept scrambling, his arms and legs a blur. The bear sat on its haunch, grabbed the tomato with both hands, and lifted it for a close inspection. Bill managed to stand and continued to increase his margin of safety. After sniffing the fruit, the bear decided it made for a suitable snack, and the tomato disappeared down the bear’s gullet in the next instant.
Wait a minute. Bill knew that bear. The same varmint had stolen his coffee and danish a few months earlier. Bill didn’t harbor any ill will, although he was glad the bear had settled for Mr. Chips’s tomato. On that other occasion, Bill’s neighbor, Mrs. Spooner, had laughed at Bill and delighted at the bear’s presence. She even had a name for the bear. What was it?
Ms. Betsy.
Bill waved. “H-hey, Ms. Betsy.”
In answer to his greeting, Ms. Betsy rose and walked toward him.
“You can stay there if you want to,” said Bill.
Nothing doing. Ms. Betsy had places to go, and Bill stood in her path. He hustled to the sidewalk and then up the steps toward his building. Fortunately, Ms. Betsy paid him no mind. She sniffed his car door but apparently detected nothing of interest. After examining two other vehicles in the lot, she made her way into the woods and was soon gone from view.
Inside his condo, Bill poured a glass of water and sat at his dining table to wait for his heart to settle. Good lord. He lived in a wilderness area. What had ever possessed him to leave the safe confines of a civilized city? But in the next moment, he knew the answer. No matter how hard humans tried to create artificial structures of beauty, the results paled compared to what lay a few strides from his door. City dwellers scurried about in a frantic search for their next thrill. Better to take a walk in the woods.
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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Thank you for hosting me today and for including a humorous excerpt from The Overlook Murder. With a name like Patrick Kelly, you might guess that I have Irish Ancestry too.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish are known for being storytellers, and I was lucky enough to inherit that trait from my father and great-aunt. I love chatting with readers and will circle back later to answer any questions about the Wintergreen Mysteries or writing or what I think of the Cliffs of Moher.
Thanks again, Patrick Kelly
My pleasure! Guess it is called the gift of gab! Good luck with the book!
DeleteOh yes, my name is Kathleen Kelly!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Kathleen Kelly, you can't get more Irish than that. My father's roots were in South Philadelphia. What about you?
ReplyDeleteI am in Wisconsin, but my father was from Philly also. Not sure where though. He cam from a large family and his siblings are all gone but there are their children there. My grandmother came from Ireland as a child.
DeleteLet's raise a glass to our fathers and all of the fine Kellys who have lived in Philly. Thanks again for hosting me!
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