A crime has been committed in 1880s Kentucky—and it’s up to you to figure out WHOdunit! Play the game for a chance to win one of THREE autographed copies of Sharlene MacLaren’s LOVING LIZA JANE.
Have you read the opening scene yet? If not, then see how it all started from Brook’s point of view. (Just click on the newest blog.) When you get to the bottom, you’ll find links to the other characters in the room who will also give you clues….now, let’s hear from—
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Audrey from CANTEEN DREAMS –1941 Nebraska
Audrey slumped against the rough wall of the schoolhouse. The damage was horrible. It looked like one of the bombs bombarding England had exploded outside, with the shockwave tossing books and desks about the small room. School should be an escape, a haven, for the children who attend. It would take effort to return this one to an appropriate state.
She listened to the others argue and wrapped her arms tightly around her. A shiver shook her frame. Didn’t they know there were more important things than arguing? She’d hoped the trip to KENTUCKY to visit Lainie while she trained with the other nurses would help her relax and forget the strife of war. Instead, she found herself in a strange time warp worthy of an Orson Welles’ broadcast.
Enough. Time to stop feeling sorry for herself and do something. Working at the North Platte Canteen had taught her the value of having a job to do during a crisis. While everyone else bickered, she’d figure out what had happened. How hard could it be? There were only six of them who could have destroyed the classroom. And she knew she hadn’t and doubted Liza would do something like this to her own classroom. That left four suspects. Maybe Audrey could put on her Thin Man hat and solve this murder faster than William Powell and Myrna Loy.
Pushing off of the wall, Audrey squared her shoulders and approached Cutter. He looked like he’d lived a hard life, but there was something about him… He might be an ally if he’d look her in the eyes rather than ogle her legs. Really, why was everybody so fascinated with her skirt? She could only imagine what they’d think if she plopped them in a cinema!
She stopped as something crunched under her feet. It sounded like dried leaves that had abandoned their trees, but looked nothing like the leaves she was used to in Nebraska. “Does anybody know what this is?”
Liza scurried over. “Why, those are tobacco leaves, and the students know better than to bring them in…though I had to send a few home at first.” She sighed. “I swept thoroughly before the storm, and these weren’t here then.”
Cutter stepped closer and crouched to examine them. As he did, Audrey noticed a pipe tucked in his pocket. Brother Julian swiped his hands together before shoving them behind his back. What was he brushing off? It looked an awful lot like the fragments on the floor.
Then there was the stiff lady, Brook wasn’t it? She carried herself like something prickly poked her under the chin. She wasn’t warm and cuddly and seemed determined to make anyone else the culprit…but Audrey had to agree with Jose. None of the women looked strong enough to hurl the desks around the room. She certainly couldn’t. And Jose…his shadowed eyes looked like they’d seen too much to cause intentional harm.
So who did?
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Visit these authors’ blogs for the next installments:Jose by Tricia Goyer
Cutter by M. L. Tyndall
Brother Julian by Molly Noble Bull
Liza Jane by Sharlene MacLaren
Have you figured out WHOdunit? Then go to the Christian Review of Books and send a ShoutMail with the name of the culprit and the six keywords with a subject line WHO?
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Audrey Stone is the main character in Cara’s debut novel, Canteen Dreams, which releases from Heartsong Presents in October. To learn more about Cara and all her books, please visit her blogs: http://carasmusings.blogspot.com and www.shoutlife.com/caraputman
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