death is Equestrian
a john holmes johnson mystery
by
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A happy man rode out of the paddock at 2:30 Wednesday, May 6. Napoleon was frisky, reflecting the eagerness of his rider. They rode east as usual, on the High Ridge Trail. At the river, the large coal-black animal shook his head and snorted nervously.
Jean-Jacque looked all around but saw nothing. They rode on.
"I like John Holmes Johnson, Napoleon. You would like him too. He has a mare named Ladyblue. He loves her as I love you, my old friend." He patted the strong, thick neck.
Two hundred feet above and perhaps forty-five feet behind them, a figure on a gray horse kept pace with their progress. When Napoleaon stopped to drink from Maiden Creek, the figure moved slowly and stealthily forward a few feet, stopped and dismounted.
The sudden sharp crack of a rifle caused a cascade of birds taking flight all at once and squirrels scolded angrily. With a sudden jerk the black horse went down.
Even as the horse fell, the man felt a blow between his shoulder blades and knew he was dead. "I'm coming, Catherine," he whispered. His last thought was for his beautiful black stallion and the Frenchman's eyes overflowed with tears.
He was dead.
Minutes later, a gray mare approached but balked at the presence of death. Her rider slid off, walked to the still breathing Napoleon and shot him in the head. Remounting, he disappeared into the trees southeast of the ridge.
Silence shrouded the death scene as birds resettled onto branches and squirrels went back to their business. The stream moved on, taking with it a narrow red rivilet of blood.
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About the Book
April 1940, a bus ride from Toronto, Canada to Kansas City, Missouri by a man named Rene, sets in motion events destined to become a fiasco involving the Holmes Detective Agency and a Frenchman of Samantha Webb's acquaintance.
April 1942, the agency is hired to unravel the threads of the mysterious events plaguing the Frenchman. The retired French policeman is invigorated with a surge of new life when he is invited to join the agency staff. Before it can become a reality, death interferes.
A web of entanglement sweeps across the path of John Holmes and Samantha like a wild fire in a forest.
Even the stable of their friends, the Solomons, is nearly destroyed by a crazed man seeking revenge on a dead woman.
The death count rises slowly.
About the Author
M. L. Spurgeon has felt a special empathy for children who have been forsaken by those who should have loved them, those who have special needs, or who have no one that really seems to care about them. It stems, no doubt, from the experience of losing her father when she was nine, an unsatisfactory experience with a step-father, followed by the loss of her mother with her unborn baby. At that trying time in her life, she was at the tender age of eleven, the oldest of four children and very observant of the feelings of others. These experiences influenced her entire life in the way she perceived children.