Scarecrow Musaicum Murder Mysteries

A murder mystery thought to have been solved ages ago comes back with a bang when an unidentified body of a man is found at the Dover Beach with severe head injuries. Excerpt: "Elsie and Inskipp watched them disappear. "There, but for the grace of God—" murmured Inskipp unctuously. "I don't think any one should be as ugly as those two are," said Elsie. She spoke meditatively, objectively. She was an artist, and, incidentally, a very pretty girl. And as though to give her another look at them, the brother and sister suddenly reappeared, walking briskly towards them. As usual, Florence Rackstraw was in the lead. She was very tall. Her head was too large for her bony body, and seemed to be all face, a face the colour of mottled mahogany. Her hair, straight as that of a mouse, was looped in two curtains over her ears and gathered into a tight little bun on her long, scraggy neck. Her eyes protruded. Her chin retreated. Her nose was hooked. Her mouth consisted of two thin, pale lines that slanted up to one side."

This time the detective must save his friend Bat Scanlon who is neck-deep with the Chinese underworld! Detective Ashton-Kirk is a charismatic detective who solves crime for fun and has partners in Pendleton and Fulton. Just like his famous predecessor Sherlock Holmes, Ashton-Kirk is a consulting sleuth with knowledge of diverse and eclectic fields. Excerpt: "Impatiently, Ashton-Kirk threw down the last of the morning newspapers. "Commonplace," said he. "And sordid. I am inclined to agree with De Quincey's 'Toad-in-the-Hole' that the age of great criminals has passed."

Briefly departing from her Doctor Fenimore stories, Robin Hathaway brings readers Dr. Jo Banks, a young female doctor practicing in Manhattan. When a little patient dies, Banks blames herself. Unable to face her life, she runs---leaving her lover, driving away from New York and through New Jersey without a destination on the highway or in her life. She stops at a motel, and that evening is called upon to treat a woman taken suddenly ill. The episode leads the motel owner to present Jo with a deal. Neither he nor the other motel owners can afford to keep a doctor on hand, but it is sometimes difficult to get one to come out from the nearest city. What they need is a cooperative house doctor---someone who can quickly get to any of the nearby motels. How about it? Jo takes the deal---without knowing that it will involve her in a series of gruesome murders of itinerant farm workers. Full of the wit, charm, and lively settings that have made Hathaway's Doctor Fenimore series so popular, Scarecrow is sure to please.

On the same day as the murder of Leroy Place and his family a tornado rips through the small community of Wesley's Crossing. Soon after sightings of a walking scarecrow are reported. Redmond Sheenan is the prime suspect seeing how he's been recently released from prison after serving twelve years for a murder he still swears he did not commit and has always blamed Leroy Place for. The small rural dirt road community is further up in arms when more and more of Wesley's Crossings residents turn up dead. Redmond's only allies are his parents, his sister in law Cynthia and Marlayna Rogers. When things cross from bizarre to deadly with each scarecrow sighting Cynthia, Marlayna, and Redmond must find out who is behind these ghastly killings before they become caught in the killers web. Little do they know that they are all apart of his deadly plan and trying to figure out who is who when the good guys keep turning out to be the bad guys will keep you on edge until the very surprising end.

Jack McEvoy, hero of Connelly's breakthrough novel THE POET, returns in this major milestone in crime publishing