Deer John Joe - Serial Cozy - Chapter 7

The plot thickens in Hooperville, Minnesota. Looks like Mike Cleary might be closin' in on the killer. He'd better catch him fast, or I think Harry might just take him out himself. Enjoy!

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Chapter Seven

            Mary Agnes stood in the center of her largest meadow.  Behind her, baking in the hot sun and sending off a sweet, fruity smell, was a bucket full of freshly picked apples.  She had tethered Bobo to a tree nearby, and he was happily munching the tall, lush grass in the shade. 

            She stood as still as possible, her bony arms hanging at her sides, her nose stuck into the air, sniffing quietly.  After about ten minutes, she pursed her lips and whistled softly.  She stopped and listened for a minute, and then whistled again.  Then she sat cross-legged in the tall grass and placed the bucket against her crinkly, brown knees.  As she waited, she closed her eyes and reveled in the heated air beating down on her head.

            She barely heard them approach.  They were always careful.  Not fully trusting.  A moment later she felt the soft whoosh of warm breath as one of them reached a golden nose toward the bucket longingly.  Mary Agnes expelled air in a soft sigh, opened her eyes, and smiled as she reached into the bucket, carefully and slowly removing a small, imperfect apple with a tart aroma.  The boldest of the five deer reached her velvet muzzle toward Mary Agnes’ hand and gently pulled the sweet treat into her mouth.  Mary Agnes reveled in the first rush of pleasure that surged through her at the connection.  She would sit until the bucket was entirely empty.  And the deer had all been fed.

Deer John Joe - Serial Cozy - Chapter 6

Hey everybody! I hope you enjoy the sixth installment of Deer John Doe!

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Harry pulled his old Chevy truck up to the Luther’s door and shut it down. He waited for the engine to finish sputtering and then got out, pushing his old guy hat down on his head as a cool gust of wind raked across the treeless landscape. He glanced around the property, taking in the ragged looking laundry hanging on the line, and wrinkling his nose at the smell of hog manure that permeated the air.

He knocked on the scarred, white door and waited for sounds of a response inside. As he waited, he looked around. Far off in the distance, the tiny town of Hooperville emerged from the rolling terrain; its low, wood and brick buildings barely visible from the depths of the valley between the two largest hills. Running through the center of town, Oak River glistened in the fading sun and forged a path through the cornfields and farmlands that formed the endless countryside beyond Hooperville.

Harry leaned to peer through the window into the darkened house. He decided no one was home and turned back toward his truck. As he opened the door of the old Chevy, he heard sounds of activity coming from the barn.

Deer John Joe - Serial Cozy - Chapter 5

Hey everybody! Welcome to the fifth installment of my serial cozy, Deer John Doe. Enjoy!

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Mike Cleary opened his back door and scowled at Missy Luther. She was standing on his back step, pretty as you please, in nothing but black leather panties, bra, and tall boots, and she was carrying a long, black, evil looking whip coiled in one black gloved hand. “Hi Mikey.” She panted in her deep, unnaturally husky voice.

“What the hell. Are you crazy?” He reached to pull her in before his neighbors could see her standing there practically naked on his doorstep. Missy giggled and launched her leather-clad body into him, peering happily up into his storm cloud face with sparkling, blue eyes. “You are one crazy bitch, Missy Luther.”

“Ain’t I just, Mikey. You wanna do the dirty with me, handsome?” She wiggled her hips into his groin and his scowl faded away as he groaned and pulled her toward him. “Crazy bitch.” He murmured into her soft, sucking mouth.

Deer John Doe - Online Serial Cozy Mystery - Chapter 4

In this week's installment you get a taste of the intrigues and secrets that run rampant in any small town. Hooperville Minnesota is no exception. But in a town were two murders have already taken place, any secrets at all have a way of coming back to bite the town's inhabitants on the pale posterior globes.

Enjoy!

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Chapter Four

“Shot in the boobs with a shotgun.” Mathis Luther said with a bitter smile.

“I refuse to believe it!”

“Well you can refuse all you want, Missy, but that woman is sittin’ in refrigerated splendor in the county morgue in Wakomia.” Mathis said with a disdainful frown. “You’d better just git used to it. If you ask me, that’s just what that ol’ woman deserves for goin’ poachin’ on other folkses land.”

Missy Luther twisted her long, pale face into a battle frown to fend off her mother’s potent scowl. She could be just as disdainful as her momma, and twice as stubborn. “Auntie Lena would not have gone huntin’, ma, she promised me she wouldn’t.”

“Well dang girl, she lied!” Mathis slapped her pudgy red hand across one equally pudgy knee and laughed so hard she trickled a bit into her adult diaper. As she left to go change herself, Missy launched a flat, pink tongue toward her mother’s back. In a fit of temper, Missy stomped her size 10 feet; which were barely covered by size 9 sandals so that her long, pink toes spilled out onto the kitchen floor; across to the wall phone and pulled it off the hook.

Deer John Doe - Online Serial Cozy Mystery - Chapter 3

Harry Vanderlinde liked to fancy himself something of an amateur sleuth. Harry based this belief on the fact that he read an average of 10 mystery novels a week. As a result of this extensive delving into slueth-dom, Harry could always find a mystery in his ordinary, rural Midwestern existence. So of course it was a natural thing for Harry to find himself wandering around Mary Agnes Hawthorne’s barn later that same day. He took care to stay out of the firemen’s way, doffing his tattered, old-guy hat in their direction whenever they glanced at him or spoke. Only one time did they come close to throwing his nosy butt out, and then he distracted the young, overeager sheriff’s deputy with a story about a three-foot long pike he’d caught up north.

Harry knew most of the men scurrying around the remains of the fire. Small towns in rural Minnesota were not good places to try to hide out. Within minutes of something happening in Hooperville, everybody for miles around knew all about it.

Deer John Doe a Serial Mystery by Sam Cheever - Chapter Two

Bobo chomped happily on the tall grass outside the pasture fence. His tiny, square teeth pulled and gnashed the juicy, green stalks unceasingly, as if he knew it would take a full day’s work to keep his enormous round belly in its perfect, pony-like condition. His little head rose from the fragrant grass only once all morning, and that was when they carried the body out of the barn to deposit it into the waiting ambulance.

As his shiny, brown eyes watched the medics push a large, black-bagged bundle into the back of the truck with the flashing crown of lights, he pushed his head into the air and folded his lips away from his teeth, exposing the small, green tinted choppers and shaking his head in an effort to expel the smell of death coming to him on the warm breezes. He watched the ambulance pull away down the gravel driveway, and stared after it for a full five minutes before the insistence of his pony belly drew him back to the important job in front of him.

Deer John Doe a Serial Mystery by Sam Cheever

Years ago I started a cozy mystery entitled Deer John Doe. I didn't complete the book because I moved on to other genres and never came back to it. I thought it might be fun to share the book as a serial novel and complete it as I go.

Deer John Doe is about a series of unexplained mysteries that occur on the property of a cantankerous and opinionated Octogenarian named Mary Agnes Hawthorne. Mary Agnes loves the dozens of deer that have taken refuge on her property and they trust her enough to take apples out of her hands. But the local hunters know there are a lot of deer on her land and, despite the No Trespassing signs, they just can't seem to resist sneaking in and bagging a few for themselves. When hunters start showing up dead, Mary Agnes seems the obvious suspect. Fortunately for her, Harry Vanderlinde, her nosy, 80 year old neighbor, isn't content to accept the obvious, and he's not gonna stop digging until he clears his lifelong friend's name. If he can stay out of the killer's cross-hairs long enough to do it!

The following is the first installment. I'll add another installment once or twice a week, depending on how much time I have. I hope you enjoy my fun, little story!