Grave Robbers: A Jake Wyler Mystery, #3

By Bob Moats

Jake Wyler owned a cemetery and now had new problems. It seems grave robbers were targeting graves in a nearby cemetery and Jake was informed to be on the watch for his cemetery. That was the start of numerous mysteries, such as hidden money being found in strange places along with jewelry and stolen goods. Seems the former owner of the cemetery was not an honest man, and Jake was inheriting his spoils. This is the third book of the Jake Wyler Mysteries. This book is a novella, shorter than a novel but longer than a short story. 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Moats
• Release date: Jan 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386730781

Bob Moats

Detroit area resident, Bob Moats, has been writing short stories and plays for as long as he can remember. He has lost most of his original stories, typed or handwritten, in the numerous moves he has made from his hometown of Fraser, Michigan to Northern Michigan, to Las Vegas and back to Fraser, where he now lives. Moats became one of the causalities of unemployment a year ago, and had time on his hands to finally pursue a life long dream of writing a full blown crime novel. Thus was born the first book, "Classmate Murders".What followed was a series of seven books starting with "The Classmate Murders" which introduces the main character, Jim Richards, who has to admit he has become a senior citizen, reluctantly. Richards, one day, receives an email from a childhood sweetheart asking for his help, but by the time he reaches her, she has been murdered. His life turns around and he is pulled into numerous murders of women from his high school who he hasn't seen in forty years. Along with a friend of his, Buck, a big, mustached biker, they go off to track down the killer before he can get to one former classmate, Penny Wickens, a TV talk show host who Jim has just fallen for while protecting her. The killer is also murdering the women right out from under police protection, driving homicide detective Will Trapper crazy, and he slowly depends on Jim to help. There's humor, suspense, wild chases across suburban Detroit with cops, classic cars and motorcycle clubs; murder, mayhem, a good amount of romance and a twist ending.Jim and his crime fighters, continue in the other books, traveling to Las Vegas twice, back to Detroit and out to New York to solve murders involving dominatrix; mistresses; Bridezillas; magic and strip clubs.Book titles: Classmate Murders; Vegas Showgirl Murders; Dominatrix Murders; Mistress Murders; Bridezilla Murders; Magic Murders; Strip Club Murders and Made-for-TV Murders.

Book preview

This book is licensed for your personal use only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of pure fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For information and address:

Magic 1 Productions

P.O. Box 524, Fraser MI 48026-0524

Website: http://murdernovels.com

Cover design by Bob Moats

Stock photo www.fotosearch.com

Extra special thanks to:

To Susan Haughton, for editing my chapters.

TO THE PROOF READERS, Amy Morningstar, Cindy Valstad, Carolyn Linington and Al Norris for proofing the final copy and hopefully catching all those annoying little errors that slip through.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE people who purchased this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it for my faithful readers.

THE BOB MOATS FAMILY of Readers is listed in the back of the book.

Author’s Note

Warning. This book contains some spoilers that gives away plots from previous books of this series, so if you haven’t read those books be aware this book may reveal previous plot lines. Read the first books first to enjoy this one.

Synopsis

Jake Wyler owned a cemetery and now had new problems. It seems grave robbers were targeting graves in a nearby cemetery and Jake was informed to be on the watch for his cemetery. That was the start of numerous mysteries, such as hidden money being found in strange places along with jewelry and stolen goods. Seems the former owner of the cemetery was not an honest man, and Jake was inheriting his spoils. This is the third book of the Jake Wyler Mysteries. This book is a novella, shorter than a novel but longer than a short story.

Chapter 1

Early one quiet morning , as I rested on the porch glider, I was looking out over my cemetery when I saw a car driving up. It was Becky and Paul.

She parked on the side of the house and got out, coming to me. Must be nice to just veg out on the porch, not a care in the world, she said, as Paul waved, then headed to the shed.

Who said I didn’t have a care in the world? I do care about a lot of things. Like what am I going to have Paul do now that winter is rearing its ugly head and the grass has stopped growing? If we don’t get snow, will he shovel dirt?

Okay, the problems of being an employer, keeping employees busy. This house still needs a lot of work and Paul is very handy. Put him to work in the house.

I’ve already thought about that. I wrote down a list of things that need to be repaired in the house, I was planning on showing Paul what I listed. There are enough things to keep him busy for the winter.

She sat on the glider and started swinging. I just went along with the movement, although I didn’t really want to swing. I saw a truck pull in so I put my foot down to stop the swinging. Becky almost fell out of the glider.

Please, warn me before you stop the glider, she said. I laughed and stood, going down the stairs to the road. It was the excavating people coming to dig a new hole for a body to be buried.

The front door of the house opened and Sheila came out holding the paperwork for the plot. She came down and handed me the papers.

Thank you, Sheila, I said and she smiled going back up the porch. She stopped by Becky, I could hear them talking.

How are you doing with the job of caring for the cemetery office? Becky asked her.

Oh, I love it. I’ve also fixed up my room with some furniture that Jake helped me pick out. He even got me a small TV so I have something to watch in the evening. How are you doing in your retirement?

I’m enjoying it. I get to sleep in when I can sleep. When you get older it seems you need less sleep. I hate waking up at five in the morning.

Something I have to look forward to, I guess, Sheila said and went back in the building.

I studied the paper for the plot to be dug and waved to David, the operator of the machine that would open a hole. He drove down the road following me to the plot to dig.

Good morning, Mr. Wyler, David said as he climbed out of the truck cab.

David, call me Jake, please. Mr. Wyler is buried out there, I said pointing to the area where my father was buried.

"Sure, Jake. Good to see business is picking up. This is the fourth hole I’ve dug for you this month.

Everyone dies eventually and they end up in a cemetery. Except those that are murdered by a Mob, they get a shallow grave somewhere, I said, with a grin. I pointed to the spot to dig and he said he’d get on it. He went to his truck, climbed in the cab to start it up, then turned the big shovel towards the gravesite. I watched for a little bit as he dug the dirt, then went back to the house.

Becky wasn’t on the porch, so I figured she was inside. I watched Paul coming up the road from the shed. He got to me and said. I winterized the lawnmower and weedwacker since the grass stopped growing. They’ll survive the cold now.

Good, I have something for you to do during the winter, I said.

Shoveling snow? he said with a grin.

No, something warmer. Follow me. I went up the stairs to the front door. I was glad to be back in the house as the temperature was dropping outside