Murder at the Pub: Black Horse Inn Mystery Series, #2

By Lucinda D. Davis

Small town life can be murder!

Mo and Alex Murray are running from a life altering tragedy, but after buying and renovating the historic Black Horse Inn they soon realize that small town life can be full of mystery and murder!

The town of Hampton is enjoying a new found prosperity and popularity, but when a group of gardeners arrive bringing with them a testy old biddy with a simmering secret, a Pandora's box of unresolved issues and revenge from the past is opened: the affable pub owner with a secret can't get out of town fast enough, somebody sees a photo they were never meant to see, and a recently released jailbird is about to make amends, or seek revenge for his sins two decades ago. What will he choose to do?

Can former policewoman Mo, and the delectable Sheriff Luther King figure out how these diverse worlds have collided in their sleepy town; will the inn ghost, Alice help or hinder; and who did the witch-like Mad Polly and her massive dog Max really see during one of her midnight woodland walkabouts?

Welcome to Hampton, the postcard pretty town at the end of a country road that seems to go nowhere. And, look carefully; you might just catch the glimmer of a ghost over your right shoulder!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucinda D. Davis
• Release date: Jan 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781540110480

Lucinda D. Davis

About the Author Lucinda D. Davis has been reading and loving mystery stories since she was old enough to haunt the narrow rows of books at the small Quebec, Canada village library where she spent her summers. After decades of penning ad copy, marketing, and writing for horse sport magazines, she decided to do what people had been telling her to do for years: write some books! She presently lives in a small hamlet on the beautiful Rideau Canal in Ontario, Canada. Her living room view looks out over the locks and waterways. This idyllic setting replete with friends, and more than a few interesting characters inspired her Boddington Bay series of short 'coffee break' cozy mysteries. Her longer Coppin's Lock series brings England to the Canadian countryside! The stories introduce readers to a trendy town in Ontario, Canada that could have been plucked from the English landscape, quirky characters included! Take the essential and quintessential British tea shop, pub and antique shop, throw in two female sleuths, add a Police Chief left shaking his head and you've got the ideal cozy mystery. While the girls may roam from home from time to time, their hearts are firmly set in Coppin's Locks! Visit her website at http://www.lucindadavisauthor.com and Like her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Lucinda-D-Davis-637648859641784/

Book preview

Chapter 1

Bill Sykes, owner and manager of The Traveler’s Rest Pub, sighed in contentment. His 10:30 a.m. tea was the perfect temperature, there were no bills in his pile of mail, and business had picked up considerably since Mo Murray and her husband Alex had renovated and re-opened The Black Horse Inn just up the road. He opened his ‘Hampton Echo,’ the small weekly newspaper, perused the sports page, and finally stopped at the news section. Within seconds his teacup lay empty and cracked on the floor, and his heart rate had shot up like a rocket. He turned around in his swivel chair and looked at the calendar on the wall behind him. His worst nightmare had come true. He never thought that this day would come. He ran upstairs to his bedroom, tossed some clothes into a small bag, and grabbed a wad of money from the safe. Then without a word to his barman Tony, he crept out the back door of the pub, jumped in his black Ford truck and left town in a cloud of dust.  

Tall, stocky Tony Rogers was pub barman and bouncer all in one. He created cocktails, recommended dinner wines, and was a good discreet listener until he caught the whiff of an impending fight. Then he was over the bar in seconds to quell the drunk or disorderly. He’d worked for Bill for five years and knew the business and the bar inside out. He also knew Bill and his regimented habits so at 12:00 noon he began to check his watch. Bill had a schedule that he stuck to day after day without fail, but today he was thirty minutes late for lunch. Tony picked up the phone at the bar between pulling two small beers for local spinsters Joan and Jean Carter, nicknamed the Slow Sisters for obvious reasons. Antonio, he said to the cook, you seen Sykes? He’s supposed to take over at lunch so I can get a bite? He’s never late.

Antonio Legrande slopped vegetables, gravy, and mashed potatoes onto a plate loaded with roast beef, the pub specialty.  Nope. Too busy, he mumbled abruptly in a thick accent and hung up. Antonio, once a well known chef in a Michelin Five Star restaurant Paris in had toppled from glory thanks to a scandal. He’d come to the U.S.A. to start anew, but the only job he could get was cooking for the late Clarissa Smythe-Browne. Now he was making ends meet by helping out at the pub, and helping with weddings at the local golf club. His sense of pride at having to work at these less than stellar locations had turned him into a three-hundred-pound bitter, angry man. His appeased his anger by frequent sips from the cooking wine and sherry he kept close at hand.

Tony sighed and turned back to the customers. By 1:00 p.m. he was getting concerned, but by 2:00 p.m. his hand was on the phone dialing Hampton’s Sheriff Luther King.

Probably just decided he needed a break, suggested Luther as he stood his six-foot-four frame up in his small office.

Luther, you know Bill as well as I do. He has a schedule that hasn’t changed in years. I checked his office; his tea cup is tipped over and his car is gone.

Luther sighed. Tony was right. Bill Sykes prided himself on running a tight ship, maintaining order and tidiness, and keeping to a schedule. I’ll come over in the morning. I’m sure there is a good explanation. Just do me a favor and close and lock the office door.

Tony was hoping for a faster reaction but had to be content. I’ll see you at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow here at the pub, he suggested, wearily hanging up the phone and looking around for Fred Hamilton his replacement.

Two streets away Mad Polly, Hampton’s eccentric postmistress and small grocery store owner, finished closing her shop. She fashioned her long, gray hair into a messy bun, placed a pointy black hat on top of it and gathered her flowing skirts.  The word ‘witch’ came to mind when outsiders first saw her. She checked her watch.  5:15 p.m. Odd, she mused, patting her massive German Shepherd Max on the head, what was staid and predictable Bill Sykes doing careening down Hampton’s main street in his truck a few hours back?  She opened the store’s back door, locked it, and walked the ten feet to her house. But, she thought, when the time was right,