Charlie Horse

By Alexandra Amor

Small town. Small mystery. Big heart.

Feeling betrayed by her family, Julia Thom has started her life over as a schoolteacher in a tiny Canadian frontier town. When her brightest pupil is accused of a crime he couldn’t have committed, and his dreams of becoming a doctor are ruined, Julia makes it her mission to clear his name.

As she gets close to solving the crime, an unexpected threat arises, and Julia will have to decide how much of her new life she’s willing to risk for someone she hardly knows.

Charlie Horse is the prequel novella in the Town Called Horse cozy mystery series. If you like strong female heroines who refuse to be told what to do, a focus on character development, and misfits who are finding their place in the world then you’ll love award-winning author Alexandra Amor’s heartfelt take on life in frontier British Columbia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexandra Amor
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021

Alexandra Amor

Alexandra Amor writes mystery novels about love, friendship and the search for truth. At the moment, she is working on the next book in her Freddie Lark mystery series.Alexandra began her writing career with an award-winning memoir about ten years she spent in a cult in the 1990s. She has written four animal adventures for middle-grade readers, set on a fictional island in the Salish Sea, several historical mysteries set in 1890 in frontier British Columbia, and a cozy romantic mystery.Every Monday she hosts It’s a Mystery, a podcast that connects mystery readers like you to exciting new mystery authors. Listen to the show on your favourite podcast app and find your next great read.

Book preview

Chapter One

October 1890

Julia could hear the pounding footsteps come up the wooden stairs but didn't have time to think about them before the schoolhouse door burst open and bounced against the wall in the coat alcove.

She was sitting at her desk, going over advanced math problems with her eldest student, Fergus Whelan. Fergus had aspirations for medical school and he was, without a doubt, the smartest child in her classroom. She never minded staying after the other students had escaped for the day, their sleepy eyes and fidgety legs transformed into a thundering herd as they flooded down the steps into the schoolyard.

Julia tried to avoid taking offense and ultimately it was Fergus who helped her to maintain some confidence in her unseasoned teaching abilities. He had asked her for extra help with his studies during the second week of classes and she had happily agreed. The position in the tiny town of Horse was her first teaching post, and she wasn't entirely sure the choice she'd made in July to apply for this job hadn't been a huge mistake. Fergus was like a sponge for knowledge and his joy at learning reminded her nearly every day why she had given up a comfortable life and a secure, albeit dreaded, future to come to a remote place in central British Columbia that no one had heard of. That she had also possibly destroyed her connection to her parents by doing so was something she tried to avoid thinking about. Not even the distraction of extra lessons with Fergus could help with that so she tucked it away in a part of her heart she rarely visited.

The man at the entrance to the school was Fergus’ father, Colin. He caught the door with his left hand as it rebounded toward him. He stood for a moment, glaring, staring straight at Julia and Fergus, who both had their heads raised like startled deer. The intruder was not tall, but was broad shouldered and strong looking. He wore the farmer's uniform of dark trousers with suspenders, buttoned shirt and work boots. His coat was flapping around his thighs and he neglected to remove the cap from his head. He held something in his right hand. It was his face, though, where some of the information Julia needed came from. His brows were pushed together and his eyes flashed. Julia had not seen someone so angry since she'd last seen her father.

Tell me it's not true! he roared, and stalked up the center aisle, past the pupils' benches, heading straight for Fergus.

The student was silent but stood his ground as his father approached.

Julia leapt out of her chair and rushed around her desk to intercept her guest, unsure of the man's intentions.

Mr. Whelan, she said, how can I help? What's happened?

She would have placed her body between Fergus and his father, but the stocky man reached his son first. As she rushed toward the pair the older man swatted the boy across the face with what he had clutched in his hand. The boy absorbed the blow competently, his head turning, and then stood still, like a tree in a storm. His eyes turned down toward his feet.

Colin Whelan threw what turned out to be a hat in the boy's face and then stood glaring at him from less than two feet away.

Is that yours? he demanded.

Julia bent down to pick up the hat. It was a soft cap with a short brim in the style almost all the boys in town wore.

Is it? Whelan demanded again, eyes still locked on his son's face.

The boy remained silent.

Mr. Whelan, perhaps you'd like to sit down so we can talk about whatever's bothering you.

Oh, I'm not bothered, Miss. But this lad will be in a moment.

His fists were clenching and unclenching and up close Julia could almost feel the wave of rage that rolled off him.

May I make you a cup of tea? she asked, trying to soothe him.

Whelan, who hadn't looked at Julia yet, turned and met her eyes. She almost backed up, but managed to hold her ground as Fergus had done.

We're not staying long enough for tea. Turning back to the boy, he said, Get your things. You're coming with me.

Julia looked at Fergus. He was deflated. He gathered his books and pencil from her desktop and piled them into a little stack so he could tuck them under his arm. He kept his eyes down, not looking at her. There was something in his posture that told Julia that this was his practiced way of dealing with his father; making himself small and compliant.

She saw that Fergus wasn't going to fight for himself so she would have to continue doing so. I'm sure we can work this out, Mr. Whelan, whatever's happened. Why don't you tell me about it.

But Whelan spun on his heels and turned back toward the schoolhouse door. It's worked out, lassie, he said. There's nothing to tell. I'll be taking Fergus off your hands.

Julia followed Whelan toward the door. She had met him once before, in the first week of the school year to discuss Fergus' school work and his prospects. The older man didn't believe in education and it had been a struggle to get him to agree to even let Fergus come to school. Colin Whelan thought his boy should be at home helping on the farm and in the orchards, as many of the local boys did. For a farm lad, getting more than a sixth grade education was the exception, not the rule. The man himself had probably never received more than that. As a result he didn't believe in it. Not even for his boy who was very bright. From the sound of Whelan's voice Julia feared that he wasn't just taking the boy home for the day. It sounded as though they wouldn't be coming back again, ever.

Julia tried again to reason with the furious bull stalking around her classroom. The children's desks looked like doll furniture in comparison to him.

Mr. Whelan. Please let me help. What's happened?

The man whirled and took two long strides toward Julia until he was standing with his nose almost pressed against hers. Nothing, lassie. I told you.

Once again Julia stood her ground. She could smell Whelan's breath and also the not unpleasant, slightly sweet smell of the pipe tobacco he smoked.

The boy's coming with me. And that's it for his education. It's done him absolutely no good and we need him on the farm.

But, please, Mr. Whelan, Fergus is such a bright boy and he'll go so far if we continue with his studies. Why just the other day...

Whelan interrupted her, leaning in so close that Julia had to fight to not pull her head back away from him. Did you not hear me, Miss Thom? He's leaving and he's not coming back. A schoolhouse is no place for a thief.

Chapter Two

Preoccupied, Julia closed the schoolhouse door behind her and descended the four steps to the ground, her long skirt brushing the wooden steps behind her. It was late afternoon but the heat still made her feel as though she was standing too close to a wood stove. The weather in the North Okanagan was so different from that on the west coast of British Columbia, where she'd grown up, that it was like she was in another country entirely. She had yet to experience her first winter, and by all accounts it would be even more challenging than the blazing hot few weeks of late summer she was experiencing. The few locals that she'd gotten to know in that short time had seemed to love frightening her with tales of snow that reached the eaves of