SWAN SONG
by Jo A. Hiestand
Ex-police detective Michael McLaren had no intention of delving into another cold case murder. And certainly had no intention of making his inquiries a new career. But when his fiancée dangles the intriguing aspects of the unsolved murder of local folk musician Kent Harrison before McLaren, he snaps at the bait.
A popular music teacher at Grange Hall Performing Arts College, Kent Harrison had been, perhaps, more popular as a musician -- a minstrel in the vein of 16th and 17th century troubadours. Though singing periodically with Dave Morley, a music shop clerk dying to make his name, money, and the big time, Kent usually appeared as a solo act. Especially during the Minstrels Court, an 8-day medieval event at Tutbury Castle. It was there that Kent, albeit unknowingly, last appeared and gave his swan song to his fans.
McLaren first questions Kent’s ex-wife. Was she still bitter over their divorce last year? Or had a possible argument escalated into murder? Other suspects soon crop up: Kent’s neighbor, a local herbalist, Kent’s fiancée, a covetous colleague…even the curator of another castle who tried to lure Kent into performing there. Through the maze of unearthing the truth about Kent’s murder McLaren must also rescue someone near and dear to him, kidnapped to scare McLaren off the investigation. It’s a hard task when a web of jealousy, anger and lies permeates both cases.
Read Chapter 1 to find out more!
"Swan Song is another victory for Jo Hiestand. Well constructed, this murder mystery has all the twists and turns of a really good novel whilst managing to catch the very essence of Tutbury Castle and the area.
Jo even manages to capture the competitive edge that can exist between Curators -- sometimes!"
- Lesley Smith, Curator, Tutbury Castle
"With Swan Song, Jo Hiestand once again moves closer to the front of the class in the British mystery field. Her Michael McLaren seems to occupy an area between the glens of M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth and the labyrinth plots rippling through Louise Penny's Three Pines Village.
McLaren's stubborn but relentless nature, coupled with the twisting and turning human landscape, create exactly what this genre calls for when mixed with a charming English setting.
Then add multiple motivations to some well drawn suspects and wrap them around fun subjects--music, castles and fairs--to create the perfect anglophile confection."
- Edward King, owner of Big Sleep Books, St. Louis MO