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Moonlight Gardener
Moonlight Gardener
Moonlight Gardener
Ebook33 pages18 minutes

Moonlight Gardener

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A small-town sheriff investigates a bizarre disappearance in this Edgar Award–winning short story

Nobody could blame Charley Crompton for wanting to kill his wife. For years, she’s made his life hell, but poor old Charley has always been too meek to stand up for himself. One night they have a terrible fight, loud enough for Mrs. Williams next door to hear every word, and the argument is followed by eerie silence. The next thing Mrs. Williams knows, Charley is digging up the peach tree in his backyard and burying it again. When Mrs. Crompton doesn’t reappear, Mrs. Williams has only one thought on her mind: Mrs. Crompton has been murdered.

When the local sheriff knocks on the Cromptons’ door, Charley answers holding a bloody ax. As the circumstantial evidence piles up, the police are forced to decide: Is Charley Crompton a cold-blooded killer? Or has he simply lost his mind?
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 7, 2015
ISBN9781504006767
Moonlight Gardener
Author

Robert L. Fish

Robert L. Fish, the youngest of three children, was born on August 21, 1912, in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the local schools in Cleveland and went to Case University (now Case Western Reserve), from which he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. He married Mamie Kates, also from Cleveland, and together they have two daughters. Fish worked as a civil engineer, traveling and moving throughout the United States. In 1953 he was asked to set up a plastics factory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and his family moved to Brazil, where they remained for nine years. He played golf and bridge in the little spare time he had. One rainy weekend in the late 1950s, when the weather prohibited him from playing golf, he sat down and wrote a short story that he submitted to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. When the story was accepted, Fish continued to write short stories. In 1962 he returned to the United States; he took one year to write full time and then returned to engineering and writing. His first novel, The Fugitive, won an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. When his health prevented him from pursuing both careers, Fish retired from engineering and spent his time writing. His published works include more than forty books and countless short stories. Mute Witness was made into a movie starring Steve McQueen. Fish died February 23, 1981, at his home in Connecticut. Each year at the annual Mystery Writers of America dinner, a memorial award is presented in his name for the best first short story. This is a fitting tribute, as Fish was always eager to assist young writers with their craft.

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    Book preview

    Moonlight Gardener - Robert L. Fish

    Moonlight Gardener

    Robert L. Fish

    Moonlight Gardener

    And the fights! Oh, the fights! Ah, the fights! Mrs. Williams said piously, leaning forward, her ungainly flowered hat almost toppling, her small china-blue eyes intent upon the young sergeant’s unrevealing face. "Awful! Awful! She paused significantly. Especially the terrible one they had the night before last—Wednesday, it was, she said, and paused again, almost breathlessly. The night she disappeared," she added meaningfully.

    Disappeared. The sergeant started to write the word down on his lined pad and then stopped halfway to end it in a wiggly squiggle, culminated in an almost vicious dot. He wished, not for the first time, that he had chosen a different line of endeavor for his life’s work; he had a strong feeling he knew what was coming.

    Disappeared. That’s what I said, Mrs. Williams said sharply. She hasn’t been seen since—and that’s disappearance, isn’t it? The edge of poorly concealed disdain tinged her voice. "And then that man trying to tell me, when I

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