JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY
As she crept onto Route 2, Jane thought about the events at Walden Spring.
Bill Finnerty was dead. What was he doing on the golf course in the middle of the night? Did he go there willingly, or was he taken? Did he arrive at the golf course dead or alive? Most important, who killed him?
Maurice had pointed out the obvious suspect, Mike Witkowski. Mike and Bill were bitter rivals, and everyone in the community had heard Mike threaten Bill.
Jane wondered how Mike reacted when Paul took away the key to the game room. She should have asked Paul. In the literal heat of the moment, she hadn’t thought of it.
Paul Peavey lied to the police about seeing Bill after dinner. A lie that had been quickly uncovered. Why had he been so reluctant to confront Bill about the tee times in the first place? And why, as Regina pointed out, had Paul brought Jane in to do his dirty work?
Karl Flagler found the body and made no bones about hating Bill. Jane had been shocked by the admission. People so rarely spoke ill of the dead. But if Karl had killed Bill, would he have admitted hating him so easily?
These were the people Jane could think of who had tangled with Bill Finnerty in her short time in the community. They, along with a couple of ghosts, were the most likely people to have killed him. . . .
Books by Barbara Ross
Maine Clambake Mysteries
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ICED UNDER
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EGG NOG MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis)
YULE LOG MURDER
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HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER
(with Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis)
Jane Darrowfield Mysteries
JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY
Barbara Ross
KENSINGTON BOOKS
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY Also by Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Acknowledgments
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2019 by Barbara Ross
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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ISBN: 978-1-4967-2449-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-1995-9 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-4967-1995-6 (ebook)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
This book is dedicated to Lea Wait and Bob Thomas. Friends, indeed.
Chapter One
Friday, August 3
“You’re a hard person to get ahold of.”
The face of the young man sitting on the other side of her desk swam into view. Jane’s glasses were new. The cheery optometrist had assured her she could shift easily from gazing out her back window