Mystery at the Fair Page 17

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  Her next book, set in the Jean Hays series, is called Mystery in the Woods and will be out near the end of May, 2016. See the excerpt below.

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  Excerpt from Book 2 in the Jean Hays Series: Mystery in the Woods

  Jean Hays was doing what she came to Arizona for, hiking. The fall colors in Arizona were muted, for the most part. Yellow dominated the central mountain's fall color scheme unless you hiked down into a canyon. Then, the hiker saw all the colors of an Eastern autumn day. Fallen leaves rustled underfoot and the smell was pure autumn—dusty, leafy, and woodsy. The sky was cloudless and she didn't have a name for the color, but it was only seen in October.

  Her hiking partner was her best friend, Karen Carver. They'd first met when Jean joined the Hise County Fair board. Karen was a Superintendent at the fair in charge of Homemaking Arts. They'd hit it off right away. The Fair was over for the year. It was time to enjoy the countryside.

  The stream bed they'd been following had a trickle of water in it. It caught the sky above and reflected that glorious blue. Red and yellow maple leaves floated along with the water. They were a little over two miles into the hike when they came to a small pool. Jean called a break. Karen slipped her pack from her back and pulled out a well used Girl Scout sit-upon.

  "Looks like you've had that awhile," Jean said when she saw Karen spread it on a fallen tree trunk.

  "I have." She sat down and pulled a granola bar from her pocket. "It was my daughter, Peggy's. It's still good, so I use it. I don't know if she even remembers I still have it." She looked at what Jean was pulling out of her pack. "What's that?"

  "I cut up a foam floating mat to fit in the back of my pack. It's the perfect size, good protection from wet, cold," she examined a snag on the trunk and moved down a few inches, "and sharp things." She pulled a baggie of Sungold cherry tomatoes out of the pack. "The last of the garden cherries from my neighbor, want some?" Jean held out the bag.

  Karen took four and popped one in her mouth. "Oh my, those are so good."

  Jean pulled a water bottle from her pack's outside pocket and drank. Her eyes focused on something on the opposite side of the pool. "That doesn't look natural."

  She walked around the pool and scrambled part way up the canyon's side to a tree. "It's a duffle bag," she called down to Karen. "It's a big duffle."

  "Who'd carry a duffle bag on a hike?" Karen wondered.

  Jean tugged at it. It came loose from where it had lodged against the tree and rolled down the slope. The rotten canvas, discolored and moldy, split open when it hit a rock. Jean slipped down the hill and looked inside. "Oh my, God." She danced away from the bag, back around the pool and stood panting beside Karen, now standing.

  "What's wrong?"

  Jean stared at the bag. "It's a body."

  Mystery in the Woods is due out the end of May 2016.