Murder by Yew
by 
Suzanne Young
Synopsis
When local handyman Tom Greene dies, evidence points to Edna Davies, the last known person to serve him food and drink. Recently moved to southern Rhode Island, Edna has acquired herb and flower gardens, along with a number of hand-written journals from the house’s previous owner. While Edna admits to experimenting with various cookie recipes and tea concoctions, using ingredients from her backyard, she is certain she wouldn’t have used anything poisonous, even by accident.
Convinced that the police suspect her of Tom’s death, Edna cannot sit and wait to be arrested. Fearing to lose her reputation and the retirement life she and her husband have worked towards for years, Edna must find the real murderer. New to the community, she doesn’t know where to begin except with the victim’s grandson, a five-year-old boy with a speech problem whom she’s forbidden to approach. Shunned by the townsfolk, questioned by the police, and threatened by thieves, Edna taps into strengths she never before realized she possessed. Her search takes her back forty years to when two of Tom’s high school classmates ran away from the town.
Convinced that the police suspect her of Tom’s death, Edna cannot sit and wait to be arrested. Fearing to lose her reputation and the retirement life she and her husband have worked towards for years, Edna must find the real murderer. New to the community, she doesn’t know where to begin except with the victim’s grandson, a five-year-old boy with a speech problem whom she’s forbidden to approach. Shunned by the townsfolk, questioned by the police, and threatened by thieves, Edna taps into strengths she never before realized she possessed. Her search takes her back forty years to when two of Tom’s high school classmates ran away from the town.
Close Up
Genre
Classification
Fiction
Pages
244
Illustrations By
Patricia L. Foltz
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Inspiration
My parents are my inspiration, in part because of the diverse interests and activities they pursued.
Dedication
to Barbara G. and to the memory of George L.
Publisher
Mainly Murder Press
Publication Year
2009
ISBN-10
0615290108
ISBN-13
9780615290102
Buy Online At...
amazon.com
Excerpt (posted with permission by author)
“Why do you suppose she grew so many poisonous plants and shrubs in her yard, Benjamin?”
Balanced on the upper steps of a painter’s ladder, Edna Davies clipped away at the yew tree, one of a pair that stood sentry on either side of the front door of her recently purchased house.
Benjamin idly twitched his tail, quickly lapped three times at the ginger fur of his shoulder, then settled back to nap on the sun-warmed granite stoop.
Unperturbed by the cat’s silence, Edna continued to babble in rhythm to the clack of her large pruning shears. “I might underSTAND . . . if they were inDIGenous . . . to this AREA.”
She knew that some species, like foxglove or the lily-of-the-valley that spread almost weed-like beneath the equally toxic rhododendron bushes, were native to the northeastern United States. But certainly, castor beans thrived in tropical climates and the oleander and jack-in-the-pulpit were more common to the South. How Mrs. Rabichek, the property’s previous owner and the “she” in question, got these plants to grow so far north was a mystery Edna was determined to solve.
Balanced on the upper steps of a painter’s ladder, Edna Davies clipped away at the yew tree, one of a pair that stood sentry on either side of the front door of her recently purchased house.
Benjamin idly twitched his tail, quickly lapped three times at the ginger fur of his shoulder, then settled back to nap on the sun-warmed granite stoop.
Unperturbed by the cat’s silence, Edna continued to babble in rhythm to the clack of her large pruning shears. “I might underSTAND . . . if they were inDIGenous . . . to this AREA.”
She knew that some species, like foxglove or the lily-of-the-valley that spread almost weed-like beneath the equally toxic rhododendron bushes, were native to the northeastern United States. But certainly, castor beans thrived in tropical climates and the oleander and jack-in-the-pulpit were more common to the South. How Mrs. Rabichek, the property’s previous owner and the “she” in question, got these plants to grow so far north was a mystery Edna was determined to solve.