Murder By Moonlight

Have you read the newest Ned McNeil cozy mystery? Murder by Moonlight is available on Amazon.com. Here’s an excerpt:

Had hours passed since I realized I was trapped? It felt like a century. Exhausted, I realized that beating on the wall and yelling wasn’t going to help. I was in a cocoon of earth and probably my voice didn’t go past this prison. Forcing myself to take long, slow breaths, I repeated Psalm 91, the protection Psalm. My phone! In my panic, I hadn’t remembered that it was in my pocket.

            Shaking, I flipped it open. The light from the dial wasn’t much, but it was so welcome. I punched in Cade’s number and listened. Nothing. Not even a dial tone. Either my prison’s walls were too thick or there was no service in the area. With lots of thickly wooded hills, this last was entirely possible.

            According to the phone, I’d been here for only about fifteen minutes. Maybe Cade didn’t even know I was missing yet. 

            The panic mode returned as I realized he might have no idea I needed help. Darkness closed in against me, a weight, heavy and silent. Buried. I was buried and no one knew where I was. My mind whirled and my heart hammered against my ribs. I screamed and listened to the mocking echo.

            Then, I don’t know if it was audible or just in my mind, but I heard a voice. It was my dad’s voice. I heard it as clearly as I had all those years ago. He and Mom and I had gone camping in the woods, and Dad and I decided to explore a near-by cave. While we were inside, in pitch blackness except for my father’s flashlight, suddenly, the batteries gave out. The blackness inside that cave felt thick enough to cut with a knife, like that which surrounded me now. I remember yelling, “Dad, where are you?”

            Then, I heard his deep, quiet voice saying, “Nettie, Nettie, I’m here. It’s all right. There’s another flashlight inside my jacket. Just hold my hand. We’ll follow the light. There’s a way out and we’ll find it.”

            There’s a way out and we’ll find it. That’s what he said and I believed him. I took his big, strong hand and we retraced our steps to the mouth of the cave. After that experience, I vowed never to go inside the earth again.

            I drew a shuddering breath. The air was stale and warm, but it was air. My heartbeat began to slow down. There’s a way out, Dad had said. Surely, I could find a way out of this prison too.