The Woodpecker Always Pecks Twice

A red-bellied woodpecker may lead to a yellow-bellied killer . . .

One morning when unwilling early bird Amy Simms grabs her binoculars for a closer look at the woodpecker who’s been waking her up, she can't believe her eyes. Across Ruby Lake, through a curtain of rain, she sees a body being tossed out of an upstairs window at the old McKutcheon place.

Or at least she thinks she does. The police chief finds no body—only a discarded dressmaker's dummy—and complains that Amy sent him on a wild-...