The Prairie Grass Murders (A Sylvia and Willie Mystery) [Kindle Edition]

Patricia Stoltey (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sylvia Thorn, circuit court judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, takes an unexpected trip to Sangamon City, Illinois, when her older brother, Willie Grisseljon, is confined to a county hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. A Vietnam veteran with a few lingering side effects from the war, Willie was on vacation, exploring the countryside where he and Sylvia had grown up. There he found a body, and when he tried to report his discovery to a deputy sheriff, he was locked up as a vagrant with delusions.

Willie is released from the hospital when Sylvia arrives. She is reluctantly drawn into the mystery when Willie insists on revisiting the site where the body is hidden. When the two also discover a local businessman is missing, they make the connection and notify the sheriff.

Soon, the two discover clues about the murdered farm manager and his wife, a tenant farmer, concealed Indian artifacts, and uprooted prairie grass plots that may help the sheriff solve the crime. But Sylvia runs into trouble when she's caught nosing around the old homestead. She hides, but overhears a second murder take place.

She escapes one gun-toting suspect, only to join up with Willie and confront another. Relieved when the sheriff releases them to return to Florida, Sylvia doesn't realize at first that she and her brother are still in danger. A mysterious new neighbor with a menacing bodyguard, and new information Sylvia finds in her legal system database, provide her with the incentive to pursue a search for the truth. Sylvia must use her contacts with the Illinois sheriff and Florida security personnel, as well as Willie's intuitive skills, to remove the threat to herself and her family and provide the missing links to state and federal authorities.

About the Author

Patricia Stoltey grew up on a farm in central Illinois and has also lived in Oklahoma, Indiana, the south of France, and Florida. A retired accounts payable manager, she currently resides in Colorado with her husband. Patricia s short stories have appeared in Mountain Scribe Anthology and Cacophony.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 388 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004FGMT0Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,766 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I grew up on a farm in central Illinois and have also lived in Oklahoma (windy), Indiana (like Illinois), the south of France (such fun), and Florida (wet). I used to be an accounts payable manager and worked for a wonderful grocery chain in Indiana, another in Florida, and finally, an office supply corporation based in Florida.

Now retired, I live in Colorado with my husband and periodically fly off to visit kids who managed to locate in four different parts of the country. I hate to admit it, but 2010 will mark the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation. Yes, we're planning a reunion. Why is that more scary than facing a pool of alligators?

When I'm not writing, I read. And when I'm not reading, I do a lot of writing- and reading-related activities like starting new critique groups. I love television and movies, too, and was one of those Adam Lambert fans from the 2009 American Idol season. I'm a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Northern Colorado Writers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, February 21, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prairie Grass Murders (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Paperback)

"At the edge of the pile, near the ground, a black shape poked through the green and brown vegetation. Willie ignored the buzzard and climbed further up the bank to get a better look. He finds a shoe, a man's black leather shoe!"

Willie, our protagonist's brother, visiting near his home town in Illinois for a vacation, is taken by a deputy to a mental hospital for evaluation after Willie finds a dead body. He calls his sister, Circuit Judge Sylvia Thorn, in Florida, who immediately flies to Illinois to aid her brother and to find out what has occurred. She arrives to find, what looks like a cover-up by a deputy in the sheriff's department.

Willie is released from the hospital and when he and his sister return to the original location, they are unable to find the body in the newly plowed under soil.

She appeals to the sheriff, only to find out that he is an old crush from her high school days, which adds to her tension and excitement. He promises to investigate his deputy, the missing body and keep her and her brother posted.

What transpires is a series of events to keep you very eager to read what might happen next.

They discover that there is a missing businessman who was involved in property sales in the area--and they put two and two together. What follows is a stimulating story that contains kidnapping, shots fired, assaults and the discovery that the sheriff is not all that he should be.

The author's first book is an enjoyable, challenging, topical novel. Although you might have figured out early who the evildoers are, you will, no doubt, continue on to discover the real purpose behind the crimes committed.

Patricia Stoltey's book is an enjoyable tale of intended land-grabs, murder and intrigue, and, perhaps, a pleasant diversion from you own trials and tribulations.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful whodunit, February 23, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prairie Grass Murders (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Paperback)

Palm Beach County, Florida Circuit Judge Sylvia Thorn takes a leave of absence when her brother Willie Grisseljon calls that he has been incarcerated in an Illinois psychiatric ward of a hospital. Willie, a Viet Nam vet, who came home from the war with some mental issues, was vacationing by walking around where he and his sister grew up when Deputy Sheriff Morris took him to the hospital while keeping his identification.

Willie tells his sister upon her arrival that he found a corpse while hiking before he was busted. Sylvia and Willie go to the locale only to have Morris send them away. This time they visit Sheriff Trace Parker, Sylvia's high school sweetheart, who they take to the crime scene where the body of farm manager Clay Taylor is found. As Willie does his odd investigation based on people observations and Trace does the official inquiry, Sylvia is caught in between both as she is in the wrong place at the wrong time when a second homicide occurs.

Willie is a unique protagonist whose way of seeing things turns the PRAIRIE GRASS MURDERERS into a wonderful whodunit. Sylvia serves as the solid lead player who along with Clay works the crime from a more standard procedure. The murder mystery is clever and the second chance romance deftly handled, but the freshness resides with fascinating Willie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great First Shot, August 23, 2007

By 

chef Bill "chef Bill" (Fort Collins CO USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Prairie Grass Murders (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Paperback)

This is an excellant first mystery novel by a new author. The plot moves quickly within interesting twists & turns. I think she has set this for a series of books with an interesting set of key characters.