“Mmmmm—I think it sounds like a good start.”
“Me too.” He turned to Grace, giving her a long, lingering kiss.
“So where is this place—this small town where you grew up, which caused you to decide you wanted to live your later years in another small town? I don’t believe we’ve ever talked about that, since someone wasn’t actually talking.” She looked at Jeff, watching his lips turn into a slow-moving smile.
“Grace, would you call me a superstitious person, someone who believes in signs?”
Grace thought for a moment. “Noooo…you seem like the hard-boiled, pragmatic city desk newspaper editor to me. You always have ‘a plan.’ Are you saying you have a side I don’t know about?”
“Could be. I’d love to take you back home to all those places I told you about, and especially the small town in Indiana where I grew up.” He turned to her, a real grin on his face.
“And what small town might that be?” she asked.
“It’s a little town in Indiana called…Endurance.”
Acknowledgments
I have grown to love these characters and the small town of Endurance over the past five years as I’ve been hearing their voices and setting their words on the page. It is with great reluctance that I bring their story to an end, trusting that Grace and TJ will remain close friends, Grace and Jeff will live their happily ever after plans, and Lettie and Del will be a part of that happily ever after too.
My deepest gratitude goes to two people who helped make this book, as well as the others, possible: my editor, Lourdes Venard, who offered guidance and advice throughout the editing process; and the best beta reader, proofreader, and friend an author could have, Hallie Lemon, retired English professor at Western Illinois University.
Readers may wonder about the creation of the school administrators and teachers in this book where Grace returns to Endurance High School. Despite teaching in a public high school for thirty-four years, I did not base any of my creations on colleagues I knew while I was teaching. They are all figments of my imagination. Grace’s former students, however, have some semblance of reality in my past teaching life. That material was too good to pass up.
During the writing of this novel, I received expert advice from many people to whom I owe a debt of thanks. Detective Suzy Owens, of the Ames Police Department in Iowa, and Bruce Morath, chief deputy at the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, gave me advice about police procedure.
Several administrators and teachers have helped along the way with information about recent changes in public schools and the operation of school boards. Jay Melton, principal of Monmouth-Roseville High School, District 238; and Galesburg District 205 teachers Jim Jacobs, Don Trinite, and Bobbi Uddin gave me valuable advice about changes in education laws.
When my laptop developed a serious dysfunction, Ben Bennett of Alpha Omega came to my rescue. He made sure my manuscript was backed up in case I experienced an unexpected computer death. Thank you, Ben. Whew!
And finally, I need to give a shout-out to the many residents, locations, and historical references in the small town of Monmouth, Illinois. They provide me daily with a rich trove of material on which to base my imaginary small town of Endurance.
Other Books Available by Susan Van Kirk
The Endurance Mysteries
Three May Keep a Secret
Endurance Mystery # 1
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
—Benjamin Franklin
Grace Kimball, recently retired teacher in the small town of Endurance, is haunted by a dark, past event, an experience so terrifying she has never been able to put it behind her.
When shoddy journalist, Brenda Norris, is murdered in a suspicious fire, Grace is hired by the newspaper editor, Jeff Maitlin, to fill in for Brenda, researching the town’s history. Unfortunately, that past hides dark secrets. When yet a second murder occurs, Grace’s friend, TJ Sweeney, a homicide detective, races against time to find a killer. Even Grace’s life will be threatened by her worst nightmare.
Against a backdrop of the town’s 175th founder’s celebration, Grace and Jeff find an undeniable attraction for each other. But can she trust this mystery man with no past?
Praise for Three May Keep a Secret
“Readers will love meeting the residents of Endurance, Illinois. Grace Kimball and her intrepid friends court disaster as they investigate who is keeping a dark secret.”
—Terry Shames, National Bestselling author of the Samuel Craddock mysteries
“Van Kirk’s appealing mystery debut…introduces recently retired Grace Kimball. Cozy fans will find a lot to like.”
—Publishers Weekly Review
“Van Kirk’s debut novel, following a memoir of her own days as a teacher, offers a promising new heroine who’s clever, observant and smart enough to admit when she’s been fooled.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Available from Five Star Publishing (Cengage) in hard cover, soft cover/large print, and e-book. Find it online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or at your nearest library.
The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney
An Endurance Novella
The Big Band Era—Dancing on the Rooftop—Romance in the Air—And Murder in the Shadows.
“…the dispatcher called to tell her it was time to move the bones…”
After solving a double homicide in the hot Midwest summer, Endurance police detective TJ Sweeney isn’t given long to rest. A construction crew has found human bones while digging a building foundation on the outskirts of town.
Sweeney’s investigation soon concludes this was a murder victim, but from many decades earlier. Trying to identify the remains and put a name to the killer takes the detective through a maze of dead ends and openings, twists, and turns.
And then it becomes personal…
The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney is available as an e-book from Amazon.com and the Kindle Store at Amazon.com.
Marry in Haste
Endurance Mystery # 2
“Marry in Haste, Repent at Leisure”
—Benjamin Franklin
It is 2012 in the small town of Endurance, and wealthy banker, Conrad Folger, is murdered and his wife, Emily, arrested. Emily Folger was one of Grace Kimball’s students in the past, and Grace knows Emily could never murder anyone. So, Grace joins Detective TJ Sweeney to investigate the murder, and they uncover a dark secret.
In 1893, Olivia Havelock, age seventeen, moves to Endurance to seek a husband. She finds one in Charles Lockwood, powerful and wealthy judge, but her diary reveals a terrifying story.
Two wives—two murders a century apart—and a shocking secret connects them. Marry in Haste is a story of the resilience of women, both in the past and the present.
Praise for Marry in Haste
“Her characters feel real, and her town of Endurance authentic and easily recognizable to those who have lived in small town America. Incisive and intriguing.”
—Anna Lee Huber, National Bestselling Author of the Lady Darby mysteries, the Gothic Myths series, and the Verity Kent Mysteries
“A retired teacher struggles to solve two murders committed decades apart. Van Kirk balances present and past crimes deftly in her second foray into detection.”
—Kirkus Reviews 10/2016
Available from Five Star Publishing (Cengage) in hard cover and e-book. Find it online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or at your nearest library.
About the Author
Susan Van Kirk was educated at Knox College and the University of Illinois. After college, she taught high school English for thirty-four years in the small town of Monmouth, Illinois. Some of Grace’s fictional memories are loosely based on that experience.
Van Kirk taught an additional ten years at Monmouth College. Her short story, “War and Remembrance,” was published by Teacher Magazine and became one of the chapters in her popular creative nonfiction memoir, The Education of a Teacher (Includ
ing Dirty Books and Pointed Looks).
Three May Keep a Secret was her first Endurance Mystery. An e-book novella about her detective followed, called The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney. The second Endurance mystery, Marry in Haste, was published in 2016. The title for Death Takes No Bribes, like each novel in her series, is based on a proverb by Benjamin Franklin.
Van Kirk is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Visit her website at www.susanvankirk.com, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter @susan_vankirk, or Pinterest (The Endurance Mysteries)
Death Takes No Bribes: An Endurance Mystery (Endurance Mysteries Book 3) Page 24