Murder at the Book Fair

Murder at the

Book Fair

Steve Demaree

Copyright
ã
2014

Steve Demaree

All Rights Reserved

This
book is dedicated to the two people I love the most and whose love I deserve
the least, my wife Nell and my daughter Kelly. May God continue to bless me
with their presence in my life.

This
book is also dedicated to those people who I see each year at the Kentucky Book
Fair; those on the committee, volunteers, and those who stop by my table each
year to get the new books I have written. If you are not yet a Facebook friend,
send me a request to become friends.

May
each of them and each of you enjoy this book.

Bought by Maraya21

Kickass.so/1337x.org/h33t.to/thepiratebay.se

The
cover photo was provided by professional photographer Gene Burch of
Frankfort
,
Kentucky
.

The
cover layout was provided by Jimmy Gibbs.

Books by Steve Demaree

Dekker Cozy Mystery Series

52 Steps to Murder

Murder in the Winter

Murder In The Library

Murder at Breakfast?

Murder at the High School
Reunion

Murder at the Art & Craft Fair

Murder in Gatlinburg

Murder at the Book Fair

Off the Beaten Path Mystery Series

Murder in the Dark

Murder Among Friends

A Bridge to Murder

Other Mysteries

A Smoky Mountain Mystery

Aylesford Plac
e
Series

Pink Flamingoed

Neighborhood Hi Jinx

Croquet, Anyone?

Non-Fiction

Lexington
& Me

Reflecting Upon God’s Word

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

When Lou and I decided to attend
the Kentucky Book Fair I didn't know that I would be asked to solve a murder. A
few weeks earlier, I didn't even know there was  such a thing as the Kentucky
Book Fair, let alone that it was the top author event in the state. I thought
authors only signed by themselves, and those events only happened in bookstores 
in large cities, like
New
York
and
Los Angeles
. But a lot of other things
happened after Lou and I retired, but before we attended the Kentucky Book
Fair. So I'll tell you about those and share more about the Kentucky Book Fair
and the murder later.

+++

Lou and I had gotten used to not
be homicide detectives anymore. Retirement for Cy Dekker and Lou Murdock didn't
mean we spent all of our time relaxing in a recliner with our feet propped up.
After Lou and I returned home from our retirement vacation in Gatlinburg we
discovered a golf course like the one where we played in the mountains, and we
played on this new golf course once a week. While this one wasn't on the side
of a hill, there were similarities between the two courses. Both had greens and
holes. Retirement had invigorated us. Sometimes we played thirty-six holes and
never rented a cart. We walked the entire course. We attributed it to the fact
that we were in better shape since we started exercising and watching what we
ate. Our friends attributed it to the fact that they had never found a
miniature golf course that rented carts. The new course where we started
playing is unique. At least I think it is. Each numbered hole had two actual
holes. The one you wanted to hit your ball into, and the one your ball always
found. The course was indoors, so we could play even if there was a foot of
snow on the ground, which there hadn't been so far, since in our neck of the
woods snow only falls in the winter.

+++

It was the first part of June when
Lou and I returned from Gatlinburg, and it was the last Saturday in June when
our good friends from the Hilldale Police Department, Heather Ambrose and Dan
Davis tied the knot. The Hilldale Police Department was more accommodating to
the people who worked there than a lot of employers are, because they let
soon-to-be husband and wife, Dan and Heather, replace us as the homicide
division.

Lou and I weren't about to miss
their wedding, and from the looks of the turnout, neither was anyone else who
worked for the police department. I didn't take Jennifer to the wedding,
because I didn't want her to get any ideas about marriage, plus I planned to
kiss the bride. As Lou and I went through the receiving line at the reception,
Heather reached out and planted a big kiss on my lips before I could initiate
the proceedings, then whispered in my ear that if I'd been quicker on the draw
I might be standing beside her. I laughed, because I knew she was kidding, but
I enjoyed the kiss just the same.

Dan and Heather didn't let anyone
know where they were going on their honeymoon, but on the day they returned
home I checked Facebook to find a picture of Dan and Heather on the beach in
Maui
. Heather looked quite nice in her
bikini. Dan was just so-so in his trunks. I thought of using Photoshop to
replace Dan's head with mine, printing the picture, turning it into a 2x3'
poster, and taking it to Heather to get her to sign it for me. Of course I had
no idea how to do any of those things except get the autograph.

+++

Enjoying miniature golf was fun,
but not as much fun as another change that happened in my life. My next-door
neighbor had given up on hitting on me, at least for a while, and had gone on
an extended vacation. Word was that Heloise and Hortense Humphert's father had
paid for a six-month vacation for his ugly daughters, in hope that both of them
could find someone who would marry them. If I had thought of it, I would have
suggested that they go to a deserted south seas island and keep sending out
bottles with notes until a couple of guys showed up, or one guy showed up and
the two sisters could battle to the death to claim him. I wasn't sure if
Heloise's mutt, Twinkle Toes, went with them. I just knew that I wasn't about
to offer to board her for half a year. Luckily, I was away the day she left, so
she didn't have a chance to come over and kiss me goodbye and give me
Legionnaires' disease, and so far I haven't gotten any postcards or Facebook
posts showing Heloise in a bikini beside the
Dead Sea
.

When I heard that she left, I
didn't party every day for a week, but I felt like it. I finally felt like I
could go out in my yard without being accosted. I still refrain from winter
campouts, partially because we hadn't experienced a winter since my neighbor
left, and partially because I knew that God didn't mean for anyone to spend
extended time outdoors unless the temperature was between 65-80 degrees. One
day I even went out and bought a hammock and had Mark my yard boy string it
between two trees. Also I bought a small table just the right size to hold a
glass of lemonade and a suitable snack. I could even multitask there, swaying
in the wind while reading my latest purchase from the Scene of the Crime
Mystery Bookstore. All I needed was to find a robot that could make lemonade
and deliver it to me in the backyard.  I was sure if I found one I wouldn't be
able to afford it. Maybe I could rent it out when I didn't need my food and
drink delivered.

I had contemplated having a
community garden for Lou and me. Since Lou lives in an apartment building he is
limited to window box gardening. At least we've talked about planting a small
garden in the spring, and maybe planting a few flowers, too. Nothing elaborate
on the vegetables. Maybe 2x6 feet. And I would make Lou Vice President in
Charge of Tilling and Weeding.

We had thought about volunteering,
too, but we didn't know where to volunteer. Neither of us is very good at much
of anything. If most people want a murder solved they turn to the police. Only
if they are unhappy with the police department's results do they turn to the
former police. And both of us are enjoying retirement, so we haven't hung out a
shingle and become private detectives. Besides, what if some woman hired us to
find out if her husband was cheating on her and he shot one of us when we
caught him? And I'm  not interested in being hired to find lost puppies.

Lou and I had settled comfortably
into retirement, and a little at a time I was finding things to do to wile away
my time. I'd gone back to watching some of my DVD collection, which consisted
of comedy TV shows of the 1950's and 1960's. Lou had returned to working jigsaw
and crossword puzzles, but reading was still our main activity. We had even
taken up a hobby of sorts. One with some exercise involved, something we never
would have thought of a couple of years ago.

Quite by accident, as we were
driving by a park one day, we noticed a group of people who were playing
horseshoes without horseshoes. At least it looked something like horseshoes.
They were tossing something underhanded, and it wasn't  a hand grenade. There
was no explosion on impact.

Curious, we got out to see what
the people were doing. Thus was our introduction to cornhole. Instead of a
horseshoe and a stake, people threw bags of corn or pellets and tried to slide
them onto a raised platform and slide each one down into a hole in that hunk of
wood, plastic, or fiberglass. Those people even let Lou and me try it. It
looked easy enough, so I walked up and took the bag to demonstrate my prowess.