But Now I See

by Bill Stackhouse

Overview

Even with a left leg shattered by a drug dealer's bullet and a medical retirement from the Detroit Police Force, former homicide captain Ed McAvoy feels he's too young to be put out to pasture. Accepting the job as Police Chief of Peekamoose Heights, in New York's Catskills, he figures it will be sort of like running a country club. After all, how much crime can there be in a quiet, little village?

McAvoy soon discovers that his skills as a homicide detective will not atrophy from lack of use in Peekamoose Heights. Murder, as it turns out, is an equal-opportunity crime that not only resides in large bustling cities like Detroit, but in sleepy Catskill villages like Peekamoose Heights as well.

In 'But Now I See,' the eighth Ed McAvoy Mystery, Porky Jarvis, co-owner of The Plough & Whistle Pub in Peekamoose Heights, has been selected as one of the guest chefs for the 'Gastronomy and Great Estates on the Hudson' tour—a nine-day roundtrip cruise from New York City to Kinderhook to visit the historic mansions that dot the Hudson River shoreline, sandwiched between two two-day sightseeing excursions in Manhattan.

Figuring that he has earned a long overdue vacation, McAvoy signs up for the tour along with Porky's sister, Stevie Henderson, even though, due to a previous commitment on Porky's part, Porky and Stevie, and therefore McAvoy will have to leave the tour after dinner on Day #5.

Although not bringing his firearm with him, it's a good thing the Peekamoose Heights Chief of Police didn't forget to pack his investigative skills.

When one of the members of the tour group is murdered, the Ulster County Sheriff tasks the former Detroit Police Force Homicide Captain with discovering who did it. Not so simple a task. First, McAvoy must figure out if the victim was, indeed, the intended target or simply collateral damage in a botched attempt at the assassination of someone else.

Many questions. Few answers. And a secret group, monitoring McAvoy's every move, who would like to keep it that way.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940185787861
Publisher:	Bill Stackhouse
Publication date:	02/15/2023
Series:	The Ed McAvoy Mystery Series , #8
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	581 KB

About the Author

Mystery writer, playwright, and part-time actor Bill Stackhouse has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and a Master’s degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.

At Ford Motor Company and later, as Director of Quality Assurance & Training at a large automotive parts supplier, Bill became involved in the development of instructional manuals and training films. In the throes of a mid-life crisis, he decided to pursue the most enjoyable aspect of his job on a full-time basis—writing.
Bill’s scriptwriting credits include training films and promotional videos for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to name just a few. He has also written numerous radio and TV commercials.

Branching out from technical writing into the arts, four of Bill’s seven stage plays (The Best Laid Plans, The Early Bird, To Serve and Protect, and A Tradition of Service) have won contests—a local, a statewide, a regional, and a national.

In addition to playwriting, Bill has directed many productions for various community theatres. For a very brief time, he even had a theatre company of his own.

After filling his gas tank at a truck stop on I-65, Bill entered the station and slipped on the wet floor. While in a dazed state, he thought he heard the ghost of John Barrymore say, “If you offer it, they will come.” Thinking that the late, great actor was referring to theatre, Bill promptly formed Road Show with the Vagabond Players and set out to tour six mid-size cities in Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee.

After an initial 5-play season, meager attendance, and a debt of many, many dollars, RSVP folded. Only then did Bill realize that the voice he had heard was not that of John Barrymore’s ghost, but that of Bubba Barrymore, the fry-cook at the truck stop. Bubba, of course, had not been talking about theatre, but about tractor pulls and monster truck rallies.

Only rarely does Bill wake up anymore in the middle of the night, haunted by the sound of one hand clapping.