What do the murders of three men in 1944 have to do with the murder of a farmer
sixty years later? Perhaps nothing, but why the similarity to the earlier murders? This is exactly what Marcie Ducasse, assistant editor of Roaming New England magazine keeps asking herself. In the first two mysteries of this series, The Crying Girl and Grave Justice, editor Amanda Vickers leads and Marcie follows, however, author Glen Albert Edisch puts athletic, quick-witted Marcie front-and-center in his third mystery, Ghosts From the Past. Amanda is stuck in the office in Maine whle Marcie is "roaming" in Vermont looking for stories for the "Weird Happenings" section of the magazine. An elderly farmer has written to Marcie to tell her about the ghosts in his barn, as three men were hung there in 1944 during World War II, but back then no one could figure out how or why. When Marcie arrives at the farm, she immediately realizes that the elderly farmer, Sel Hayes, is a few bales shy of a load. Sel claims he has evidence to prove who killed the men sixty years ago, but he wants to be paid a great deal more than Marcie can offer. Back at her hotel, Marcie goes over her notes while preparing for dinner that she shares with a boyish freelance journalist named Kevin Murray. The next morning, Sel Hayes turns up dead and Marcie is questioned as she was the last person to see Sel alive. Marcie realizes that she and Kevin are working the same story, so they band together to investigate Sel's murder. By piecing together what happened sixty years ago, Marcie and Ken paint a picture of why Sel Hayes was killed, but the answer to who killed him eludes them until the very end. By putting the "ghosts from the past" to rest, they are able to figure out the present. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that this cozy little mystery is a fun and quick read. The characters are worth caring about and are multi-dimensional. Although it is not necessary to read the first two books in the series to understand the action, it would be worthwhile to do so. I sincerely hope the Ebisch continues this series and gives us more views into the lives of Amanda Vickers and Marcie Ducasse.
sixty years later? Perhaps nothing, but why the similarity to the earlier murders? This is exactly what Marcie Ducasse, assistant editor of Roaming New England magazine keeps asking herself. In the first two mysteries of this series, The Crying Girl and Grave Justice, editor Amanda Vickers leads and Marcie follows, however, author Glen Albert Edisch puts athletic, quick-witted Marcie front-and-center in his third mystery, Ghosts From the Past. Amanda is stuck in the office in Maine whle Marcie is "roaming" in Vermont looking for stories for the "Weird Happenings" section of the magazine. An elderly farmer has written to Marcie to tell her about the ghosts in his barn, as three men were hung there in 1944 during World War II, but back then no one could figure out how or why. When Marcie arrives at the farm, she immediately realizes that the elderly farmer, Sel Hayes, is a few bales shy of a load. Sel claims he has evidence to prove who killed the men sixty years ago, but he wants to be paid a great deal more than Marcie can offer. Back at her hotel, Marcie goes over her notes while preparing for dinner that she shares with a boyish freelance journalist named Kevin Murray. The next morning, Sel Hayes turns up dead and Marcie is questioned as she was the last person to see Sel alive. Marcie realizes that she and Kevin are working the same story, so they band together to investigate Sel's murder. By piecing together what happened sixty years ago, Marcie and Ken paint a picture of why Sel Hayes was killed, but the answer to who killed him eludes them until the very end. By putting the "ghosts from the past" to rest, they are able to figure out the present. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that this cozy little mystery is a fun and quick read. The characters are worth caring about and are multi-dimensional. Although it is not necessary to read the first two books in the series to understand the action, it would be worthwhile to do so. I sincerely hope the Ebisch continues this series and gives us more views into the lives of Amanda Vickers and Marcie Ducasse.
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