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| (Fictitious) home of Malcolm Sinclair. |
The setup:
Margie is found dead, beheaded, along a hedgerow in a farmer's field. Her death has something to do with the odd book club run by Malcolm Sinclair at his estate on the lake. Inv. Pepper Black is retracing Margie's steps and stops at the girl's job, McCormick's Boat Rental, the last place Margie was seen before she went to the book club. The owner said Margie seemed upset she couldn't find her book.
Now the snippet:
Steve extended the book to Pepper--Complete Poems, Ernest Hemingway. She opened the ragged cover and turned to the copyright page. The 1983 date justified the wear. She riffled the pages with her thumb until she arrived at a page with the corner turned over. There were markings in the margins. She read to herself the short verse called, Chapter Heading.
For we have thought the longer thoughts
And gone the shorter way.
And we have danced to devils’ tunes,
Shivering home to pray;
To serve one master in the night,
Another in the day.
Oh Margie, why didn’t you talk to someone? Whatever had been going on in her life she must have begun to realize she wasn’t herself—it was just a little too late.
****
If you've liked my posts of The Milk Carton Murders, you
should like this tale too. It was written to predate MCM and includes
Sheriff Nazzaro and Pepper Black as well as other characters, from MCM.
Check out the other Weekend Writing Warriors---where a sampling of a variety of great writers is only a click away!
Poor Margie! Hopefully Pepper can find her killer.
ReplyDeleteIt's finished! And where might we obtain a copy of this story?? :-)
ReplyDeleteI have to do the edit first and get it to my betas. :) Milk Carton Murders is much longer so I'll be editing that while I'm off for knee surgery.
DeleteWelcome back, Cindy!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more super snippets.
Thanks Kim!
DeleteVery intriguing! I wonder why that page was marked. You left me wanting to read more. :)
ReplyDeleteI really have to read the whole book. I'm hooked
ReplyDeleteHeart breaking. You had to bring this on to a sunny Sunday! But that's what life is all about. Take the good with the bad. Your writing combines both, my friend.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Charmaine. :) Hazzards of writing murder mysteries.
DeleteLots of sadness in this snippet, which helped make it so good. :)
ReplyDeleteSo sad. Beautiful scene - but sad. Tweeted.
ReplyDeleteSad, but intriguing. Want to learn more.
ReplyDeleteA sad but interesting wrinkle. You make these crime stories come so vividly to life!
ReplyDeleteThanks Veronica.
DeleteI'd say it was a lot too late rather than just a little! The poem adds an excellent element of menace and mystery.
ReplyDeleteI can't say that I knew Hemingway wrote poetry. Learn something every day, right?
ReplyDeleteBTW, Effing forgot to link my blog post to my WeWriWa (watch out, cat, or you’ll be replaced by Twiggles the dog!) but here it is.
Poor Margie. The poem is an excellent addition to the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! I'm curious to know why that passage in the book was marked.
ReplyDeleteAll the questions asked when the person can't answer... "Why didn't you say something' is a big one, and yet, you know they must have had their reasons.
ReplyDelete