BESTSELLERS & BEST FRIENDS
My book publishing blog, with murder mysteries woven through it.
If this is your first visit, be sure to start with “1. Let’s do it!”
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So here’s what was happening while I blogged about Grossology and three women in a bar.
Remember I was thinking about motive? And that there was no apparent motive for the murder of the booksellers. Except when it came to the killing of Barbara at Grapes of Wrath.
Her ex-husband, Bill Franks, had motive. With her death, Bill got back his beloved Grapes of Wrath bookstore. Along with its celebrity customers. And the free lunches, dinners, and drinks from all the visiting sales reps. And free flights to publishing conferences and the nice hotels, good meals, and welcomed drinks that go with those.
And my stupid map? I kept looking at it. And it slowly dawned on me. Once off the first ferry in the morning, it would be a day trip from Martha’s Vineyard to the New Hampshire bookstore. Same with the Maine bookstore. And a simple overnighter for the Ligonier bookstore.
The thing is, if Bill just killed his wife, he’d obviously be a suspect. But if she was just another in a string of bookseller killings....
Assume Bill was reading this blog (quite likely). So he’d know about James Doyle being pissed-off at me all those years ago. He could rig the killings to make it look like a crazed Doyle was doing them.
Better yet, Bill would legitimize that angle by causing me to post about the killings on this blog. How? I blogged that I was headed out to my beloved hometown bookstore. And Bill rightly assumed I’d drop in on the town’s one bookstore.
I walked right into it. I went full-in on the James Doyle angle. I even promoted it. God, I’m such a jerk!
Also, my posting about the New England road trips with Alan probably suggested to Bill the killings in New Hampshire and Maine. Damn me, damn me, damn me!
Sigh, if only Bill, as George Gibson mentioned, would have pursued those children’s books he wanted to write.
I was going to post about all this in real time. You know, allow Bill to read what I figured out. Then I’d jump on my publishing soap box and scream out something like, “Bill! You can’t stop me! I’m a publisher! I can’t be threatened! Just like with the case of my killer buddies from college, us book publishers will pursue the dissemination of truth!”
And all six of my blog readers would say, “Wow, Jess. So impressive!”
But reality kicked in. If I was right, Bill was nuts and dangerous. And I do have a family. I think back to how Freeman’s dog was killed, and his car torched.
So I phoned good old Ligonier Police Chief Jim, told him that I had AGAIN solved the killings (remember that I also solved it when confidently declaring that James Doyle was the killer). Surely among the police in Ligonier, New Hampshire, Martha’s Vineyard, and Maine they’d find common fingerprints or DNA that would match up with Bill.
And that’s what happened over the last couple of days.
Bill was taken into custody at his store. James Taylor was there at the time. As police escorted the hand-cuffed bookseller out of the store, Bill screamed “I’m innocent!” Nodding his head toward Taylor, Bill yelled, “He’ll write a song about this. You’ll be in big trouble.”
I’d like to use a bunch of exclamation points about how I SOLVED IT!!!!!!
But a lot of good that’ll do those murdered booksellers. Damn me and the crap this stupid blog causes.
Tomorrow: The End