The Skirt Man

by Shelly Reuben

Overview

Every small town has an eccentric or two, and Killdeer, New York, is no exception. Morgan Mason attracts more than a few stares when he drives through town on his ramshackle tractor wearing a skirt. His sister is mortified, his neighbor resents the Skirt Man’s interference, and a local preservationist is horrified by Morgan’s huge satellite dish.

These minor small-town annoyances become more serious – and deadly – when the Skirt Man is killed in a tragic house fire during a benefit ballet performance starring Meredith Bly. Meredith’s father, State Trooper Sebastian Bly, and her uncle, Fire Marshal Billy Nightingale, are called in to investigate what some say is a case of spontaneous human combustion. Charred wood and chair remnants at the fire scene lead Sebastian and Billy to uncover clues that reveal hidden conflicts and a shocking discovery that will change the lives of everyone in Killdeer.

Bringing back the brave and imaginative family team from Tabula Rasa, author and fire investigator Shelly Reuben fans the flames of small-town passion and breathes life into an unusual local hero.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780966286885
Publisher:	Bernard Street Books
Publication date:	08/24/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	714 KB

About the Author

Shelly Reuben is the author of Tabula Rasa, Origin & Cause, Spent Matches, the Edgar-nominated Julian Solo, and Weeping. She is a licensed private detective and a certified fire investigator who has been investigating fires and arson for more than twenty years. She lives in New York.

Read an Excerpt

The Skirt Man

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By Reuben, Shelly

Harcourt

Copyright © 2006 Reuben, Shelly
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0151010781

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In retrospect, it is amazing how many lives he touched.
Of course, "Skirt Man" wasn't his real name. His real name was Morgan Mason. But nobody ever called him that. And you can't blame them. What else would you call an old farmer who stuttered and drove his tractor into town a few times a week with his dog yapping along at his side wearing a skirt?

The man.
Not the dog.

My husband and I live on Willow Keep Road, which is less than two miles from the Skirt Man's farm. Small towns being what they are, though, Morgan Mason did his shopping in Killdeer, I did mine in Fawn Creek, and our twain had never met.

Not, at least, until . . .
Oh, so many things seemed to happen at once.

There was my job at the newspaper and my boss trying to retire. There was the benefit to raise funds for the town hall and our daughter, Merry, coming home to dance. There were those adorable Dillenbeck boys deciding to run the Skirt Man for mayor and then both of them falling in love with Merry at once. There was Creedmore Snowdon's campaign to turn Killdeer into Disneyland. And there was poor Rose Gimbel secretly playing Robin Hood; Lillian Roadigger's incomprehensible mood swings; Lewis Furth trying to start a range war; and that horrible Domingo Nogales Ramirez doing what he did to the old Hobby HillsHorse Farm.

And, of course, there was the murder.

The journalist in me wants to start at the beginning of all these events and proceed logically to the end. But the involved citizen in me who knew, liked, loved, or loathed so many of the participants can't figure out where the beginning is.

So, I'll just close my eyes, take a deep breath, try to pin the tail somewhere on this donkey, and hope that I don't stab myself in the eye.

Copyright 2006 by Shelly Reuben

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.

Continues...

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Excerpted from The Skirt Man by Reuben, Shelly Copyright © 2006 by Reuben, Shelly. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR TABULA RASA
"I was gripped to the end. The fires are brilliant and the secret is dark. Shelly Reuben is an expert witness and a dynamic writer."
-PETER LOVESEY, Diamond Dagger Award winner and author of THE HOUSE SITTER

"Tabula Rasa is a stunning novel. It shocks and revolts you, and then restores your faith in humanity. Reuben not only writes of fire, but with fire."
-DOROTHY SALISBURY DAVIS, Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and author of A GENTLE MURDERER

From the Publisher