Mr. Fenton

By Chester Thompson

The real-life character of Mr. Fenton was originally on our radio broadcast that spanned four years on KLKY radio out of Prescott Valley, Arizona. The character Fenton was based on a real-life and very smart raven.

Mr. Fenton is a detective fiction story that puts you in the unusual world of a great and most unusual detective and on some of his investigations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546250319

Chester Thompson

Chester Thompson was born on January 18th, 1945 at Amarillo, Texas on poultry ranch owned by his grandfather and father. His parents were told that he would die before he reached age two, but by age two he was very much alive. When he was two his grandmother died and his parents left Amarillo to move to Philadelphia to be near his mother’s family. However when he was in the third grade the family doctor told hismother that she and his younger brother Tom, needed to move to a dryer climate. So the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Chester entered the fourth grade when school started and attended school in Phoenix until he graduated from high school. He began his writing career doing reports on animals during his fifth grade and sixth grade school years. He was turned onto mystery books at the Maricopa county library branch in his Phoenix neighborhood while in the sixth grade. Being an avid reader he read many books on several topics. Detective and mystery books were among them. Books like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and Franklin W. Dixon’s ‘The Hardy Boys’ to name a few. Today at nearly 74 Chester enjoys writing on various topics but especially detective mystery. Mr. Fenton and ‘The Halloween Moon Case’ is just such a book.

Book preview

© 2018 Chester Thompson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/06/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-5032-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-5031-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

The Case Of The Missing Coins

A Case Of Murder

The Rare Book Case

The Detective Is Missing

The Missing Files Case

The Adventure In Phoenix

More Of Fenton’s Story

The ‘Is It Murder’ Case

This book is dedicated to all those

who love to read books especially detective and mystery books.

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In 1986 I graduated from college and entered the army. My name is George Hamilton and in May 2015, I retired from the United States army with the rank of major. Since I didn’t have a family I decided to return to my home town of Phoenix Arizona. I had been away from the valley for so long that my home town was now a big city. The one thing I have always disliked was big cities. So I decided to write or call several newspapers for subscriptions in order to relocate to a small pleasant town in which I might enjoy living. It wasn’t until the Prescott Courier came in the mail on a Saturday in July that I found a possible place to live. After lunch I sat in my favorite chair and began to read through the courier when I noticed a classified advertisement for a roommate to share a large house all expenses paid. The more I read it the more interesting it became. The ad read,

Wanted gentleman roommate to share a very large house, all expenses paid. Only non smokers need apply and references will be required. You must be ready to answer personal questions. Applicants must read, write and speak Spanish as well as English. Retired gentlemen need only to apply.

The name of the advertiser was Fenton and a phone number was given for interested parties to call. Having a nature leaning toward the curious, I went directly to the hotel phone and called the number in the ad. The person who answered my call sounded like an elderly man when he said,

Hello this is Fenton. I gave him my name, told him the reason for my call and asked if he might still be looking for someone to share his house with. His answer was,

Yes I am still interviewing applicants. If you wish to be interviewed come to Prescott tomorrow, rent aroom for two nights and come to the address I will give you. When you get to my house you will be interviewed by my housekeeper, Mrs. Covey.

As I wrote down the address to his house, I began to see the mystery in his very odd instructions. Why would anyone rich enough to hire servants want a roommate? Why would a person offer all expenses paid for a roommate who must speak, read and write in Spanish and English? His name Fenton certainly wasn’t Spanish. Was Fenton his first name or his last name? Why would a person have a servant do the interviewing instead of doing it himself? These and many other thoughts came to my mind but by dinner time I made up my mind to go to Prescott. I was so curious about this unusual advertisement that I had to go and check out this mystery even if I decided not to move in with Mr. Fenton.

The next morning I drove up to northern Arizona and the town of Prescott. I took a room at the Hassayampa hotel in downtown Prescott. I found the hotel very nice and the food excellent. After lunch I went on a walk around the court house square where they were having an art and crafts display and sale. After looking in several store windows around the square I walked over to the post office to buy a paper. When I returned to my room I called to let Mr. Fenton know that I was in Prescott and to set a time for our interview the next day. The time he set was 9:45 on Monday, July 14th, 2015, a date that as it turned out I would never forget. I spent the late afternoon reading the courier paper. When I was done reading I had a bowl green chili and two flour tortillas at El Charro restaurant. I took a short walk to check out the Prescott Library. I discovered that the library was very well arranged with a good number of books. After finishing my exploration of the library I returned once again to my hotel where I readied myself for bed. Such was my first day and night in the Arizona town of Prescott.

After breakfast the next morning, I left the hotel in search of Mr. Fenton’s house. I followed the instructions given to me the night before and walked past the Yavapai county court house and headed toward the address on south Marina Street that Fenton gave me over the phone. The house was an excellent Victorian two story with a detached garage. The yard was big with a beautiful lawn fenced with a white picket fence. There were four big trees in the front yard and roses were growing along the picket fence. A huge red climbing rose grew on the entire left side of the house. The house was painted white and had a very nice front porch with a wood porch swing on it. I could see a red brick chimney on the other side of the house and another red rose climbing next to it. I stepped up on the porch and knocked on the door.

A woman of 50 or so answered and introduced herself as Mrs. Covey the housekeeper. I told her my name and why I came to see Mr. Fenton then she showed me into the library. She directed me to a chair in front of a very old desk. Then she sat in the chair behind the desk and asked my age. After hearing my answer she asked several more questions. Such as did I speak, read and write in Spanish. Then she asked if I would like to have some iced tea, leaving me alone while she went to get our drinks. I stood up and walked over to have a look at the books on the floor to ceiling bookshelves that covered every wall in the room. Looking around the room I saw two doors other than the one I came in. The room had two large windows, four easy chairs, a recliner, and a beautiful wood library table in the center of the room. In the only wall space without a bookcase was a large possibly 100 gallon aquarium. That’s when I saw the wooden parrot perch with a huge black raven on it by one of the open windows.

I walked over and said Hello but the big ebony bird just looked away. Just then Mrs. Covey came in with our tea and a plate with home made cookies on it. We sat once again by the desk and she continued with her questions. She asked if I were married and did I have a family. Then she asked what kind of work did I do and if I was retired. I explained that I never married, my parents were both dead and my only living relative was my brother in the military and stationed in Germany. I told her that I just retired from the army as a major and had no plans to work other than on my hobbies. Her last question was to ask what my hobbies were. I explained that my two hobbies were gardening