Will the Real Ned McNeil Stand Up?

Ned McNeil is the main gal in three cozy mysteries concerning a historical house and moonlight. She doesn’t actively go looking for trouble, but it always finds her. She has courage but she also has her share of doubts and fears. I think you’ll like her. I do.

Ned is the shortened version of Nettie Elizabeth Duncan. Duncan is her maiden name. Her school friends started calling her Ned many years ago. She spent the first twelve years of her life in Ednalee, Oklahoma. Then, tragedy struck the Duncan family. 

Uncle Javin was accused of killing a man. His family believed him innocent but even Uncle Javin himself thought he must have done it. As a result, he was sent away to prison for forty years. Forty years! Small towns have their share of gossips and armchair detectives. People talked. To get away from all the whispers and sadness, the Duncan family moved to Atlanta.

Life happened. Ned grew up and married, her husband died, her parents died, and she got a letter from Uncle Javin. After forty years, he had been released from prison and returned to his home, the big, old house that town folk called Granger Mansion. The letter was strange. Ned’s uncle sounded like he was worried. He asked her to come home. She got a second letter and Uncle Javin mentioned his fear again. He asked Ned to hurry.

Quitting her job, throwing into her Ford Escape all the material possessions that would fit, she started the journey back to Oklahoma. She looked forward to seeing her uncle. He was her last living relative and she wanted to go home.

Snow was falling thick and fast that December night when Ned pulled up to the gate of Granger Mansion. Strangely, the house looked dark. Where were the welcoming lights? Where was Uncle Javin? And, what was the mystery he mentioned in his letter? As she opened the front door and stepped inside the house, a strange feeling of danger surrounded her. Something was terribly wrong.

Moonlight Can Be Murder

By the Fright of the Silvery Moon

Excerpt from the third Ned McNeil mystery, Moonstruck and Murderous, soon to be released:

We turned off the main road onto the Carvers’ private drive. Soon, the mansion appeared over a knoll. The sun hung low in the west, lighting and warming the old bricks to a mellow glow. It was a charming, lovely scene. So, why did I feel a shiver of apprehension as I looked at it?

Pat gave voice to my feelings. “It’s a gorgeous place, but I wouldn’t live here if you paid me.”

Jackie frowned at her. “What a thing to say! I’d love to call this place home! Why, I can almost see ladies in hoop skirts, carriages coming and going.”

Pat turned to me. “Did you say Miss Evangeline believes in ghosts?”

Jackie playfully swatted Pat’s hand. “Don’t start that ‘ghost’ business! You don’t have to imagine anything. The whole estate is fabulous just as it is in reality.”

“You’re right,” Pat agreed. “I don’t know why I said what I did. It was just a sensation, gone now.”

I parked and we got out of the car.