Cherry Bites (19 page)

The Rain Barrel Baby

ISBN 0921833-83-0

Inspector Frank Foote’s normally quiet neighbourhood, Norwood Flats, is greening into summer when a dead baby is discovered in his neighbour’s rain barrel. The tiny body has evidently been in the rain barrel for some time, and there are no obvious leads in the case. Frank’s seen a lot of crime scenes, but this one is a little too close to home.

Meanwhile, Gus Olsen, who made the gruesome discovery, is a little worried about the mysterious woman who has been cruising Claremont Avenue in her Lincoln Town Car. He’s been meaning to talk to Frank about her, but he doesn’t want to bother the inspector, who already has his hands full trying to take care of his three children while their mother dries out in an addiction treatment centre.

Frank is a good father, he tries to be a good husband, and he hopes he is a good cop. But, like all of us, Frank has a few old secrets that he is ashamed of. And before this summer ends, Frank will have to confront his past.

The Geranium Girls

ISBN 0921833-83-0

Beryl Kyte, a letter carrier who lives in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of the Norwood Flats, goes out for a hike one beautiful spring Saturday and literally trips over a body in the woods of St. Vital Park. It’s a dead woman with mushrooms sprouting in her mouth. A badly shaken Beryl is questioned and escorted home.

It isn’t long, however, before another body turns up and then another. As she follows the horrific discoveries in the local newspaper, Beryl thinks she sees a pattern emerging. She hadn’t been of much help to the police in the case of the first dead woman—she’d only tripped over the body, after all— but when things begin happening around her own home, she wishes they could be of some help to her. But she can’t even make the call, for the crimes taking place in her yard—someone has been deadheading her lobelia and someone has put a pretty little collar on her cat—will just make the police think she’s crazy. Except maybe that nice Inspector Frank Foote.