The Unfriendly Woods

This is an excerpt from the latest Ned McNeil cozy, Murder By Moonlight. Usually, Ned enjoyed a walk through autumn woods, but today something went painfully wrong. I sang as I drove, windows rolled down. Ulysses didn’t object, so I took that as a sign of approval. My mind was on the events of the […]

What Would You Do?

What Would You Do?

Two hours later, we were dirty, tired, and discouraged. “I’m willing to call it a day,” I said, flopping down on the floor beside Ulysses who was lying down by the door.             “Same here,” Pat said. “I need a bath.”             Jackie looked around at the ruins of the living room. “There’s too much […]

A Listening Ear and Good Advice

Clues: a partial message on a scrap of wallpaper, a ghostly figure on the stairs, a book of curious poems, a murderer who had done a disappearing act. Sleep was hard to come by that night. My dreams were riddled with ghosts and scraps of paper which kept floating just beyond my grasp. When a […]

Conclusion, Shadow on a Rock

It took a week before Jase Marshall was able to appear before the court. Miss Georgia was all a-tremble as she, Jenny, Tommy, and James Stone arrived in the packed courtroom. Lathe met the little group at the door and escorted them up to a front seat. Jase sat in a hard-backed chair turned to […]

Chapter 4, Shadow on the Rock

Looking back on that night later, Miss Georgia was never quite sure how she and Jase Marshall made it through. She remembered spreading a sheet on the sofa and coaxing and lifting and supporting the wounded man until he plopped down with a loud sigh. She cut off his shirt where blood had dried and […]

Shadow–An Unexpected Visit

Miss Georgia knocked on the Stone’s door and heard muttered exclamations inside. She was sure neither James Stone nor his wife was expecting anybody to drop by this late. James opened the door in overalls, shirt, and bare feet. It seemed strange not to see him dressed to the nines, as he usually was. She […]