Cover Reveal-Missing: The Lady Said No by Jacquie Biggar #mystery #ChandlerCounty #mgtab

Today is the official cover day for my upcoming contribution to the Chandler County World

Missing: The Lady Said No!

 

Description:

There’s something for everyone in Chandler County.

Chandler County is a small county nestled between Lexington and Louisville Kentucky. There are two small towns within Chandler County, Chandlerville and Bourbonville.

Chandler County is 311 square miles with a population of just under 7,000 but it boasts an active government, flourishing businesses, resident’s eager to make their way in the world and an entrepreneurial spirit abounds.

 

Two Festivals each year are held in Chandler County.

 

In May the Derby Festival celebrates the many entrepreneurs, horse ranchers and employees who work so hard all year long to make their mark on the Derby, one of the largest horse races in the country.

Visitors come from all over the world to celebrate the Derby Festival with the town’s folk and to escape the overcrowding of the two main cities burgeoning with visitors. With the festival excitement and visitors comes its own set of troubles.

There’s a Derby Hat contest, stick pony head races for the kids and the adults, Shetland pony races, Taste the Derby contest featuring favorite foods from the area, and a fashion show. Mint Juleps are poured with abandon and mayhem seems to follow that. Saturday evening, after the Derby hosts a concert in the park in which a headliner band entertains the crowd.

 

Derby History

While credit for the term Triple Crown has often been ascribed to Charles Hatton, a columnist for Daily Racing Form, who started using the term after Gallant Fox won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 1930, it really was The Times that began the regular use of Triple Crown

The American classics are the Belmont Stakes (1867), the Preakness Stakes(1873), and the Kentucky Derby (1875), which make up the American Triple Crown. Since the establishment of the British and American Triple Crown series, scores of countries have instituted their own (less prestigious) Triple Crowns of elite races.

Welcome to the Chandler County World!

 

My story takes place in 1953. My hero, Augustus Grant is fashioned after one of my all-time favorite detectives, Columbo.

Gus has just been called in to investigate the death of a prominent member of the horse racing community. But, when he arrives things get complicated. It turns out, the girl he left behind in order to pursue his career is the prime suspect.

 

 

 

 

The Race is on to find a Killer in the heart of Kentucky horse country

Detective Augustus Grant is faced with his most baffling case to date. Well-respected race horse breeder, John Jorgenson, is murdered in his den days before the Kentucky Derby and the list of suspects is growing.

Complicating matters, Gus’ ex-girlfriend is the last person to have seen the victim alive.

Rebecca Hayes owes the Jorgenson family her loyalty. They gave her a new life after a disastrous affair leaves her alone and pregnant.

With all the evidence pointing in Becky’s direction, will Gus do his duty?

Or follow his heart?

Buy Link: Amazon

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Excerpt from Missing: The Lady Said No

April 16, 1953

Augustus Grant drove slowly down the paved drive lined with towering oaks waving gently in the early spring breeze. A split rail fence kept him company, the boards gleaming with a fresh coat of whitewash. In the distance, he could see some fine-looking horses munching on the blue-green grass Kentucky was famous for, not that he was any judge of horseflesh. A couple of foals, their chestnut coats gleaming in the early morning sun, broke away from the herd, kicking and jumping like skittish deer.

He stopped and rolled down his window, sticking his nose in the air to catch a whiff of how the other half lived. Money. He smelled money. If there was one thing the aristocracy knew, it was how to live in style.

Case in point; the mansion had just come into view. A Georgian red brick structure, three stories tall, with four thick white columns supporting the upper balcony, and enough windows to keep a cleaner busy for a year. It was truly awe-inspiring. Much different from his little two-room bungalow in town, that’s for sure.

Gus pulled up behind the sheriff’s car and nodded to the officer guarding the front door. Sheriff Tromley wasn’t going to be happy to see him. He tended to be territorial over his cases, but the chief had insisted, so here he was.

He took his time, gathering the leather briefcase that had been a gift from his ex-wife, his keys, a spare pen, and his trench coat in case the weather turned, rolled up the window and opened the door. Except now his hands were full and he couldn’t get out of the car. It took a few moments, some cringing when he inadvertently hit the horn with his elbow, but Gus finally managed to exit his Buick.

“Need any help, sir?” The young officer glanced doubtfully at the steep staircase leading up to the double entrance doors, then at him as though he were an old man in need of a walker.

Gus straightened his tie, darn near giving himself a shiner with the corner of the briefcase, and shook his head. “I can manage, thank you. Mind telling me where the sheriff is?”

“Out back, sir. Talking to the widow.”

That made sense. It was an established fact that in eighty-eight percent of murder cases, the killer was someone who knew the victim. He waited until the officer pointed which direction he should go, then Gus trudged down the walk, reviewing the case in his head.

Dead male, approximately forty-five years of age, found on the floor in his den with a pair of shears sticking out of his chest. The Jorgenson family were fourth generation horse breeders, and even had a colt who had won two of three legs in the Triple Crown. Gus had heard the horse was making the Jorgenson family more money now as a stud than he had racing. Nice way to retire.

He rounded the corner of the house, avoided the giant rose bush reaching out to grab his clothes, and sought out the elusive sheriff. There he was, on the other side of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, complete with waterfall. A gazebo provided both shelter and privacy from the house, but Gus could see just fine. And what he saw pulled him up short.

The sheriff had his arms wrapped around a woman who barely cleared his chest, her raven locks spilling down the back of her crimson red robe as she tilted her head to gaze into his eyes.

Augustus cleared his throat and the woman jumped, freeing herself from the sheriff’s embrace. Tromley glared across the distance, hands fisted at his sides, while the woman, Gus was sure it was the widow Jorgenson from the description he’d been given, spun away, tightening the belt on her bathrobe. As he neared, she picked up a pack of cigarettes with trembling fingers and lit a smoke. She took a long drag and exhaled, a blue cloud forming a nimbus around her head.

“What are you doing here, Detective?” The sheriff crossed his arms over a barrel chest and scowled.

“Well, sir,” Gus started, then tripped over a step and almost went sprawling. “The, ah, chief asked me to come out and offer a hand. He’s worried what the press is going to do with this one. Mr. Jorgenson is…” The woman let out a soft cry. “I mean was, sorry Ma’am.” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Jorgenson was a prominent member of the Lexington community.”

“We’re aware of John’s standing in the community, Detective Grant,” the sheriff said impatiently. “There’s no need for you to be here. I just finished my interview with Mrs. Jorgenson and will have a report filed by this afternoon. It was clearly an accidental death. These things happen.” He glanced at the widow and his expression softened. “Trudy has been through enough. She found her husband in the den.” His gaze hardened as it returned to Gus. “I’m sure you’ll understand if she needs some space right now to gather herself.”

Gus hesitated, then nodded to the missus. “Sorry for your loss, ma’am. Take all the time you need. Mind if I step inside, maybe have a look at the crime scene? Question your staff?” He ignored the sheriff’s soft curse. “It’s just that it’s the chief’s orders and all. I won’t be long…” He waited while she made eye contact with the sheriff, and when she began to shake her head, he added, “Or I could start with you, ma’am, if you would prefer?”

“Grant,” the sheriff warned.

Mrs. Jorgenson sighed and stubbed out her cigarette on an elegant cut-crystal ashtray in the center of the table. “It seems you’re determined, Detective. Go ahead then, question my staff. But don’t get in their way. They have jobs to do, same as you.” She sank into a deeply piled armchair and crossed slender legs, making no effort to stop the robe from sliding open dangerously high on her thigh. And of course she caught him looking. A feline smile temporarily chased the shadows from her eyes. “Anything else, Detective?”

A cold shower maybe?

Gus cleared his throat and fumbled with his briefcase. “Uh, no, thank you, ma’am. Appreciated.”

He turned and stumbled down the same dang step he’d tripped on earlier. He couldn’t imagine any man voluntarily giving her up, but you never knew what happened behind closed doors. He’d have a quick look-see, talk to a couple staff members, and be on his way. Case closed.

Except—it kind of bothered him. Shouldn’t she be a little more heartbroken at the loss of her husband? Shock triggered different reactions depending on the person, of course, but she’d seemed more worried about the staff getting their jobs done than getting to the truth. And what was going on between her and the sheriff?

He glanced surreptitiously over his shoulder and caught what seemed to be a heated exchange between the widow and the lawman. Obviously, they weren’t strangers. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, he’d have to say they had a history. Question was; how recent?

 

 

Available April 25, 2017

 

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