Death On The Bay: Ed Taylor Mystery Novella, #2

By Bob Moats

In this book 2 of the Ed Taylor Mysteries, Ed is asked to investigate the drowning of a young girl. He finds that she was a victim of a human trrafficking ring, and was seen in the company of two shady characters. Ed obtains the mugshots of men arrested for being in the ring. The local sherrifs are on the case now and together Ed and the sherrifs stage a raid to arrest the men. Ed has finally moved from Southest Michigan to the village where he he grew up in notrhtern Michigan  to continue his investigation business. This book is a novella, shorter than a novel but longer than a short storyvb.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Moats
• Release date: May 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201450939

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

Chapter 1

My Uncle Max was cremated and put in an ornate brass urn paid for by the insurance money my mom had received this week. She had a simple, but pleasant wake for Max at her house. All of his friends came to eulogize Max’s life. I sat with Alex as she and I listened to all the well-wishers sending him off to his Heavenly life.

The wake ended and all the people were fed. Mom had worked all night to prepare the food and it was gone quickly. Alex and I helped clean up the mess left by everyone. My Aunt Vivian was washing dishes and complaining. Those people just came for a free meal, she said. Half of them didn’t even know Max like we did.

Now Vivian, it was all for Max, and even if they didn’t know him well, at least they came to pay their respects, Mom said.

Alex and I went out on the porch and sat on the glider. It was just turning dark and the stars were shining bright. There weren’t a lot of lights in the area to block out the sky and we could see the nebula in the distance.

I would have liked to have met your Uncle Max. From what the people said he seemed nice, Alex said.

I remember him and his sense of humor. He didn’t deserve to be murdered, I said. We sat in silence as Alex took my hand. What’s Larry doing? I asked.

My son is old enough to be left home alone. Now that I don’t have to worry about my ex coming around, I know Larry is safe.

I thought about how I had shot and killed her ex. She was feeling better about not having to look over her shoulder for him to sneak up on her. Her wounds from the beating he gave her had healed, and a little make-up covered the bruises.

She put her head on my shoulder and sighed. My life has changed so much in the last week. I feel blessed to have you in my life now.

We’ll just have to see where this is going to go. I still have to get back to my job in Ann Arbor. Being 260 miles away makes it hard to establish a relationship.  

Have you given any thoughts about transferring to Traverse City and moving back here?

It’s something I’ll have to think about, I said.

Aunt Vivian came out the front door and smiled at us. "I hope to see