Mourning Dove Mysteries, Book 2
Mystery
Date Published: October 19, 2018
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Emory Rome is back in DEATH OPENS A WINDOW, Book 2 of the Mourning Dove Mysteries and the follow-up to the national bestseller MURDER ON THE LAKE OF FIRE.
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.
About the Author
Bestselling mystery and science fiction author Mikel J. Wilson draws on his Southern roots for the Mourning Dove Mysteries, a series of novels featuring bizarre murders in the Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee. Building on the success of the first book in the series, Wilson continues his “no guns or knives” philosophy for murder as he delves deeper into the lives of the characters and their evolving dynamics.
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Short Excerpt from Death Opens a Window
AT THIRTY-TWO STORIES, the Godfrey Tower jutted from the
Knoxville skyline like a shark fin in the Tennessee River. Unseen through the
frameless exterior walls of silvery, reflective glass, a young woman on the twenty-ninth
floor sat with a phone held to her ear, pretending to be on a business call as
she stared out the floor-to-ceiling window behind her desk. While her
colleagues busied themselves on phones or computers at the dozens of cubicles
throughout the large, open office space, Angie was not contributing to the
organization’s productivity.
If she had looked down and across
the street, the attractive brunette would’ve seen the unremarkable roof of the
area’s next-tallest building fourteen floors below her. Instead she focused on
the unobstructed view of downtown and the hazy, snow-peaked mountains beyond.
She imagined herself hiking below the snowline with her new lumbersexual
boyfriend and lying with him on a blanket before a tantric campfire. Angie could
almost hear the crackling wood, until she realized the sound was coming from
behind her.
She turned her chair around to see
her boss tapping her desk with his pen. The hoary goat of a man stared her
down, his pinched eyes straining to scold her through spotted glasses. “You’re
having a rather one-sided conversation.”
Angie held up a silencing finger to
her boss and made up something to say to her imaginary caller. “Thank you so
much for your feedback, Mr. Watkins. We always appreciate hearing about good
customer service, and I’ll be sure to pass along your kudos. Okay. Take care
now.” She hung up the phone and greeted her boss with a smile. “I’m sorry, but
I didn’t hear what you said.” She mimed a talking mouth with her hand. “He was
talking my ear off.”
Mr. Ramsey, however, did not return
her smile. In fact, a look of horror sprinted across his face as something
behind her snatched his attention. Before Angie could turn around to see what
it was, she heard a great shattering, followed by the pelting of glass on her
back and right cheek.
A dark-haired man in a brown suit
flew through the window headfirst and thudded face-up onto the floor beside
her. The impact against the man’s back shoved the air from his lungs. He
gurgled as he struggled to regain his breath – although no one could hear it
over the screams of Angie and several of her co-workers. Shards of glass
protruded from his head and neck, one at the base of an erratic fountain of
blood that sprang from his carotid artery.
Angie, now shocked into silence,
tore her eyes from the dying man and toward the broken window through which she
had daydreamed just a moment earlier. Oblivious to the blood trickling from the
small cuts on her own face, she took a step toward the large hole the man’s
body had punched into the glass wall. She poked her head outside and looked all
around.
Her boss grabbed her and pulled her
away from the precarious opening. “Angie, what are you doing? It’s not safe!”
The young woman turned a confused
face to him. “Where did he come from?”
