When the body of Maggie McFarland, an 86-year old widow, is found among the rubble of the once-famous, landmark Artemis Hotel, leveled by fire nearly seventy years ago, residents of Roscoe are shocked. However, it is not the location where Maggie is found, but rather the manner of her demise that has everyone puzzled. For it isn't a heart attack that has felled her; nor has she suffered a stroke, or taken a fatal fall from a porch. Her life has not ended so uneventfully. Maggie has been killed by a bullet to the heart, fired from a pistol at close range. Who would possibly want to kill this kind, gentle woman, known throughout the area as one of the best trout fly tiers within a hundred miles of the famed Beaverkill River? That is the mystery that confronts Matt Davis in Broken Promises, one of the most baffling cases of his career.
Genre: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police ProceduralPublished in 2013, Broken Promises is currently ranked #3651 among mysteries, police procedurals in the Kindle book store.
“I’m here!” she shouts at last, a broad smile spreading across her face. “I’m so sorry I’m late—”
The man turns and starts toward her, but Maggie doesn’t recognize him. As he moves forward, he trips, and suddenly there is a flash of light and a loud crack like a tree being struck by lightning. Maggie feels a dull thud, then a burning pain in the center of her chest; and in just seconds, nothing. She never hears the words the man screams, his voice filled with anguish. “Oh, my God! What have I done?” The man shoves the still-smoking pistol into his coat pocket and rushes toward her, stumbling over the piles of rubble, but it is too late.
Bending over the old woman’s motionless body, the man lifts her bony wrist and feels for a pulse, some sign of life. But there is none. He falls to the ground beside her, sobbing uncontrollably, his narrow shoulders heaving, as he mindlessly strokes the thin white hair atop her ancient head. At last, he gathers his composure, wipes the tears from his eyes with a handkerchief, and then rises. His heart is filled with remorse, but right now he has no time to grieve. He is hell-bent upon disappearing as quickly as he can. He thinks briefly of calling the police, but if he does call—even from an anonymous pay phone—it would only result in his spending the rest of his life behind bars—and it surely won’t bring the woman back. Ultimately, he decides against it. Looking about to be sure no one has seen him, he moves carefully out of the ruins of the hotel, makes his way deliberately down the broken concrete stairs, and disappears into the night, his mission abandoned and forgotten.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Nathalie Pegoli and Alessandra Elisa Paganin
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Bernarda Rojas Valenzuela
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