Encore to Murder: An Ed McAvoy Mystery (Paperback)

~ Bill Stackhouse (Author)
Key Phrases: guest wing, reception building, match point, Veronica Loring, John Desmond, Peekamoose Heights (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Due to a shattered leg from a drug dealer's bullet, homicide detective Ed McAvoy has retired from the Detroit Police Force and become the police chief of Peekamoose Heights, N.Y., a quaint Catskills resort town, in this genial if overly contrived prequel to Stackhouse's first novel, Stream of Death (2001). After Veronica Loring is found dead in her Jaguar XJS at the bottom of a cliff one snowy night, McAvoy soon decides that the beautiful ex-model turned fashion executive was murdered. McAvoy, who directs amateur plays in his spare time, uses a suitably theatrical if cumbersome device to trap the killer. In addition to some nicely drawn local characters (many of them related to the police chief), Stackhouse delivers five prime suspects-Veronica's business partner, Jennifer Rooney; Veronica's brother, David; Jack Dunbar, a design associate in their firm; Jack's wife, Kim; and competing fashion designer Roger St. Ives. Alas, by the final curtain, when the murderer stands unmasked, many readers will feel that the author hasn't played fair.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

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 Encore to Murder, the suspenseful prequel to Stream of Death, a former fashion model runs her car off a cliff at the Ashokan Pass on the outskirts of Peekamoose Heights in New York’s Catskills—or has it been made to look that way? What McAvoy suspects and what he can prove are two different things. But the retired big-city homicide detective, and now newly-hired village Chief of Police, has a few tricks up his sleeve that may lead him to that proof.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (November 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595256244
• ISBN-13: 978-0595256242
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,800,089 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's murder even in the Village of Peekamoose Heights, NY, February 10, 2003

By	Dawn Dowdle "mysteryloverscorner.com reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Veronica Loring -- ex-model, fashion designer, and co-owner of a fashion design house -- is killed. Her murder is staged to look like she was speeding again and lost control sending her car through the retaining wall and down the mountainside.

This book is a prequel to Stream of Death in this series. Ed McAvoy is Chief of Police in the Village of Peekamoose Heights, NY. He has come here to get away from the big city. Sgt. Jim Culpepper is 2nd in command in the police department.

Jennifer Rooney is Veronica Loring's long-time friend and current partner. She assists Ed McAvoy in finding the killer.

The scenes in Veronica's house after her funeral are the best. Bill Stackhouse did a great job of setting this up and surprising the reader at the end.

Bill Stackhouse's description of Lucille McAvoy, Ed's sister-in-law, is so well written you can actually see her and hear her. From his description, I doubt most of us would enjoy talking to her and this really comes across.

The plot in this book is so well written you don't anticipate it. This is the first book I've read by this author. It is great. I got very engrossed in the story.

I like how you know HOW the murder happens but don't have to know WHO did it.

I highly recommend this book. It is a must read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ENCORE TO MURDER, December 20, 2002

By	Susan Hartigan (Riverside, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

ENCORE TO MURDER is the kind of book you want to curl up with in front of a big fire and just lose yourself in. The story is fast-paced and has a plot that twists and turns just like the snow covered mountain roads of the Catskill Mountains where it takes place. I don't think it would be classified as a cozy, but it sure has that feel to it. A story that you find yourself lost in the minute you start reading, and can't take your eyes from until you read those last words.

ENCORE TO MURDER opens just like it says. Right smack dab in the middle of the murder of a beautiful ex-model. Not just a run of the mill ex-model, but an ex-super model.

Veronica Loring lay in front of the fireplace just as beautiful in death as she was in life. The killer now has to figure out how to get out of there and leave no clues. Methodically the killer scans the whole house and makes sure everything is in place. Finally deciding on a way to make Veronica's death appear as an accident, the murderer goes about placing Veronica's body, perfectly, in her own car, and making it appear to be a road accident. It would have worked, except....................

Ed McAvoy is a former Detroit homicide captain who has been put on medical retirement because of a drug dealers lucky shot that hit him in the leg. Although he still sports a slight limp, and some pain during cold, wet weather, he feels he is much too young to be sitting around in a rocking chair, and is now the Police Chief of Peekamoose Heights, in New York. Peekamoose is a small community in the Catskills Mountains, where everyone knows everyone. Just the quiet little place a guy can still do what he does best and not have to fight major crime everyday.

Ed soon finds that no matter what size the community is he still will have to call upon his skills in order to figure out just what has happened to Veronica Loring. There are a
multitude of suspects, and in order to find out just which one did this, he has decided upon an idea that might just flush out the killer. However he needs help from the mayor, the doctor in charge, as well as Veronica's very best friend Jennifer. Together they just might solve the case.

ENCORE TO MURDER is a story full of mystery, suspense, and with a cast of characters that keep the story moving fast. Through the characters you get to know the victim and learn about her flaws as well as her many wonderful characteristics. Even in death, Mr. Stackhouse, brings her alive.

I also particularly liked the way Mr. Stackhouse brought the killers thoughts into the story. Without giving away a clue as to "who done it" he put the killer right into the scenes and let you read his/her thoughts concerning what was going on at that moment. It not only allowed you to see where the killer was going at that time, but also gave you chills just knowing that he/she was right there in the same scene as his/her victims.

ENCORE TO MURDER is a cozy mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am really looking forward to more from Mr. Stackhouse. His Ed McAvoy series is a hit and will go on as long as Mr. Stackhouse allows it to, which I hope is for a very long time. I recommend that you go out and purchase ENCORE TO MURDER, get comfortable in a cozy chair, and just sit back and enjoy. It certainly is a wonderful way to spend a cold and blustery winter night.