Mystery, LGBTQ
Date Published: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Emory Rome is back in A Light to Kill By, the third book in the Mourning Dove Mysteries series – a follow-up to the international bestsellers Murder on the Lake of Fire and Death Opens a Window.
Moments after construction tycoon Blair Geister’s death, a mysterious wandering light kills someone else on her Southern estate. Is the avenging spirit of the millionairess on a killing spree, or are other forces threatening those in her inner circle? As the will is read, suspicion and jealousy arise, and fingers point to the heirs of her fortune. Private investigator Emory Rome and his Mourning Dove partners accept an invitation to stay at Geisterhaus and unravel its secrets before more lives are lost.
As he struggles with the consequences of his last case, Emory must unravel the inexplicable death of a federal employee in a Knoxville high-rise. But while the reticent investigator is mired in a deep pool of suspects – from an old mountain witch to the powerful Tennessee Valley Authority – he misses a greater danger creeping from the shadows. The man in the ski mask returns to reveal himself, and the shocking crime of someone close is unearthed.
I know who the killer is.
Juniper Crane’s yawn morphed into a gasp as
she watched the masked ripper slash the throat of a young girl, silencing her
screams.
Great, I’m never going to be able to sleep now.
The fiftyish woman with flowing brown hair
reached for the joint in the Dollywood souvenir ashtray on her nightstand. She
relit it and sucked the flame down to her coral-painted nails before returning
it to the ashtray. Her exhaled smoke drifted up to the light smog lurking
beneath the ceiling of her bedroom – one of the smallest at the Geisterhaus
estate.
I need to turn this off. Grabbing the remote next to the ashtray, she instead set the sleep
timer for the TV mounted on the wall. As the masked villain chased down another
victim, Juniper sunk deeper into the gray flannel sheets of her bed and closed
her hazel eyes. The movie’s staccato score tensed her grip on the downy quilt
clutched at her neck until the violin flourishes distorted into static.
“What happened?” Juniper unclenched her eyes
and saw the screen go blank. “Is the cable out?” The middle of the screen
bulged out. “Oh my lord!” She jerked up in bed. “What is that?”
A volleyball-sized sphere of white light
bubbled out from the screen and separated from the TV. Dozens of tiny tendrils
reached out from the orb at random points along its surface, giving it the
appearance of a miniature sun.
Juniper screamed and kicked out of the sheets,
backing herself into the headboard.
Her bedroom door burst open, and a dark-haired
man in flannel pajamas bolted inside. “Ms. Crane, what’s…” Tommy Addison’s
voice trailed off when he saw the reason for her fear. “What the hell is that?”
The orb floated across the room toward the
door, and Tommy approached it, extending his hand.
“Tommy, what are you doing?” Juniper jumped
off the opposite side of the bed. “Don’t touch it!” Her warning came too late.
Two tendrils reached out to Tommy’s
fingertips, and an enormous POP! followed a flash of
light.
The force of the explosion shoved Juniper’s
back against the wall before dropping her to the floor. Ears ringing, she
pushed herself up enough to peek over the bed. It’s gone.
“Tommy?” She rose to her feet and shuffled
over the hardwood floors, looking around the room. “Tommy, where are you?”
Once on the other side of the bed, she spotted
a body in the hallway just beyond her open bedroom door. “Tommy!”
The man’s body settled into stillness, and his
vacant eyes locked onto the ceiling – although Juniper felt them watching her
as she rushed to his side.
“No, no, no, no.” Juniper cupped her mouth as
tears dripped from her cheeks. She retrieved her phone and called 9-1-1. While
imploring the operator for help, she hurried up two flights of stairs to her
employer’s closed bedroom door. “Ms. Geister!” Her knuckles thumped against the
solid oak. “Ms. Geister, it’s an emergency!” Hearing no response, she turned
the copper knob and rushed inside.
“Ms. Geister!” Juniper shook the shoulder of
the unresponsive woman lying on her side within the gold bedframe, and yet she
didn’t respond. She clicked on the nightstand lamp and pulled the sleeping
woman’s shoulder to roll her onto her back.
As Blair Geister’s head turned on the
overstuffed pillow, a final breath whistled through her gritted teeth.
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