A dead congressman lives a double life, one of which leads to Dan’s past.
Dan and Wally, led by Syd, find a man hanging in a tree on a rural stretch of road. This story takes the team on a wild ride that eventually leads back to Dan’s door. Who is this guy? Why is he dead? And how the heck does it have anything to do with Dan, who swears he’s never met the man? Now, Dan finds himself under suspicion for murder once again. He learns secrets long buried, revealing a painful truth. This case will leave a lasting impact on Dan’s life.
“Death Makes the Devil Dance” is the third novel in the Dan Williams and Syd mystery series.
If you like murder mysteries in a rural setting and canine characters who often outfox humans, all mixed with a bit of humor, you’ll enjoy this novel.
Buy “Death Makes the Devil Dance” on Amazon today!
Targeted Age Group:: adult
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I wanted to use the area where the book takes place again in a murder and needed a plausible start for the story in a rural area.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Characters are a composite of people I have met in my lifetime. I wanted to explore the deep relationships that develop between men who don't show a lot of emotion.
Book Sample
Chapter One
“Why are you trying to kill me?” Wally Williams’ voice hovered somewhere between a moan and a sigh. His eyes were closed, and his head laid back in exhaustion against the seat.
“Do I need just one reason?” his nephew Dan asked, looking over at him.
“Well, what do you call making a man my age help brand cattle starting at five AM?”
“I call it babysitting, to tell you the truth,” came the answer. “Besides, what do you always tell me about sympathy?”
“Yeah, I know. If I’m looking for it, it’s in the dictionary between shit and syphilis.” Wally closed his eyes and was lightly snoring within seconds.
Dan Williams and his Uncle Wally were driving north on Mt. Hamilton Road returning from helping Dan’s buddy Ham Parker round up his cattle for their shots and branding. They were tired and sore from the work. Dan knew he was going to be hurting tomorrow because he had not been on a horse for quite a while before today. Running his own machine shop in Patterson kept him pretty busy. Somehow, he had gotten assigned to steering the cattle from the pasture into the corral and then into the chutes, requiring him to be in the saddle for close to eight hours. Dan’s arms felt heavy on the steering wheel, and his legs were already tightening when he climbed into the cab of his Dodge 2500. He kept shifting in the seat, trying to find a part of his behind that wasn’t raw. Dan knew that he would be sleeping on his stomach tonight. He figured Wally would be sore from having to operate the squeeze gate that trapped the cows head long enough to shoot them with the vitamins, the required antibiotics, and brand any that needed it. Dan looked in the rearview mirror to see his dog in the back seat of the crew cab. She had worked as hard as they did, a blaze of brown, black, and white fur, herding the cattle in tandem with Dan.
Syd lay on the back seat with her head down, tired and happy after a day of herding the cows. Border collies and cattle dogs enjoy working more than just about anything, and failure to give them enough to do caused many a family to drop them off at shelters. Working dogs need a job.
As they passed the Lick Observatory at the peak of Mt. Hamilton, Dan was pretty sure Wally had dozed off soundly. Rounding a turn, Dan saw a newer model Mercedes SUV parked on the uphill shoulder of the road. It looked like it had been taken on some dirt roads based on the mud on its sides.
“That car’s been there since Monday?” Wally suddenly spoke, startling Dan and causing him to hit the brakes. Syd, who almost slid off the seat at the sudden deceleration, stood to get her balance and looked out the window.
“Jeez, Uncle, you scared the bejesus out of me,” Dan said, recovering. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Since when did you get so jittery?”
Dan slowed beside the parked SUV. “Well, I was thinking the same thing as you. This thing has been here a couple of days, and I was wondering if there was a body in the back of it or something.” He looked at his uncle and continued, “I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”
“Well, drive on then. It ain’t your business. Let the sheriff handle it.” Wally waved his arm in an arc indicating for Dan to move on.
Dan pulled in close and stopped beside the car, so Wally’s window was aligned with the back seat. “Can you see anything in it?”
Wally leaned out the window to get a better look when Syd suddenly barked and leaped out the open back window of the big Dodge diesel crew cab and scrambled across the Mercedes’ roof into the woods. “What the hell?” Wally exclaimed, jerking back through the window as if something were after him.
“Syd! Get back here!” Dan pulled in front of the big SUV, and got out of the truck, with Wally close behind him.
“Where’d she go?” Wally asked.
“She shot up that narrow path,” he said, pointing at a deer path heading up the hill.
“Did she see a squirrel or something?” Wally asked as he scurried to catch up.
Dan hopped the shallow drainage ditch and started up the trail. “Nah, when she sees a squirrel or something, she just sniffs the air. She might bark at most.”
The path was barely noticeable when driving by. Dan had to push branches out of his way to make it up the hill, careful not to let them whip back into Wally. He called for Syd occasionally, and they heard her bark a ways off. The banks on both sides of the path were steep but at least ten feet away as it continued upward. It rained a few days ago, and the ground still clung to the dampness in this shady area between the hills. Dan had gotten occasional whiffs of something rank beyond the musty smell of the damp decaying leaves stirred by their ascent. Dan was turned around to hand off a branch when he heard his uncle say, “Oh my God!” Wally’s face was pale as he looked ahead past Dan.
Afraid something happened to Syd, Dan spun back around and looked at a small flat spot barely big enough for the dog to stand sideways on under a sizable oak beside the path. Syd paused unharmed, but her tail was down and her ears lie back. She stared at something in a tree as if afraid. Dan followed her line of sight. It took a few seconds to register. An older oak grew from the far bank. It was the largest one in the area. Dan recoiled as he saw a man not ten feet away staring at him. At first he looked as if he were jumping from the tree. But his body language was all wrong for a man jumping. His hands hung limp at his side, and his head was tilted at an angle. He was suspended in midair, and he had no feet. The bottoms of both legs were severely mangled. The sudden shock of seeing him slowed Dan’s ability to process the picture and realize the man had been hanged.
Author Bio:
Michael has been writing poetry and short stories since he was in the third grade. He has had several articles published about his motorcycle adventures and been included in a regional anthology of poetry and stories. Michael enjoys exploring the complex relationships between family, friends and their pets. This is his third novel in the series, so please leave a review to let him know what you think. He lives in northern California with his wife and his best friend Cyrus, their cat.
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