Murder at Canterbury Faire: A Dr. Emily Goldman Mystery
Sharon Freeman Laborde
Author Bio
Sharon Freeman Laborde is a native of Alabama, a retired public educator, writer and editor. She is the author of two novels: A Year in the Heartland (Happenstance Books 2007) and the newly released Murder at Canterbury Faire: A Dr. Emily Goldman Mystery (Cahaba Press 2014). She has had a long and rewarding career in both inner city and rural high schools where she shared her love of literature and art with her students. Her career in secondary education was primarily in Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri. Sharon graduated from Alabama College (University of Montevallo) in 1969 where she earned a BA with a double major in Art and English. She also holds a MS Ed. in Secondary English and Educational Administration from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Since her retirement she divides her time between her homes in Birmingham and Eureka Springs, Arkansas where she is active in environmental issues, organic gardening and the arts. She is also interested in historic preservation. Her home in northwest Arkansas is located on the White River near Beaver Lake and the Victorian Village of Eureka Springs. Currently, she is at work on a second Dr. Emily Goldman mystery. She is the mother of two grown children.
Description
Dr. Emily Goldman, professor of Anglo Saxon and Medieval literature at Merryvale College, a small southern school in central Alabama, is looking forward to another successful year of the Canterbury Fair. A longtime tradition, the reenactment of Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales always draws a large crowd to campus where fun and frivolity are the order of the day. This year, however, the Faire takes a sinister turn when the new Chairman of the English Department, Dr. Basil Bowen, is murdered.
Dressed in medieval costumes and mounted on horseback, the “Pilgrims to Canterbury” have just completed their ride through campus when Dr. Bowen, who is to play the part of the Host, falls from his horse and is taken away by ambulance to the local hospital where he later dies. Foul play is suspected.
Shocked by the events of the day, Dr. Goldman once again becomes an advisor to the police as the crime is investigated. Working behind the scenes with Jess Thornton, a sexy campus cop, and Sheriff Kevin Mitchell of the county police department, Dr. Emily is driven to find the killer and clear the name of her student protégé, Jud Sharp. Their investigation is hampered, however, by too many suspects and not enough physical evidence.
From a small college in Virginia to Oxford University in England, inquiries are made by the police that broaden the mystery and the number of possible suspects in Dr. Bowen’s death. Elise Bowen, the professor’s wife, seems to have a strong motive and has a bitter argument with him in public on the morning of the Faire. His wife, however, is not the only one to bear a grudge. From students to faculty members in the English Department, the list of possible suspects grows. In the end, it is Dr. Goldman’s insight into human nature and her powers of observation that help lead Jess Thornton and Sherriff Mitchell to an understanding of the method used to murder Dr. Bowen and the identity of the killer.
Murder at Canterbury Faire introduces a new heroine to lovers of mystery and classical literature. They will fall in love with Dr. Goldman and her adored Scottie, Maxwell of Dumfries—better known as Max. As she explains to her brilliant protégé: “Jud, there is nothing you can tell me that will shock me. You may think that I’ve led a fairly sheltered life, but remember I’m a scholar of literature and history. I know all about man’s inhumanity to man.” But even Dr. Emily is shocked when the motivation and the identity of the murderer are finally revealed.
Book excerpt
At first all she could hear was the jingling of the tiny silver bells adorning the bridles of the horses; but as her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see the long line of pilgrims dressed in garments of medieval finery as they emerged from the mist. Their faces, cloaked against the early morning chill, were hidden as the fog swirled around the legs of the horses and the bodies of the riders. As the procession became clearer in the unearthly light, she recognized the host, Harry Bailey, as he led the travelers on their journey toward Canterbury Cathedral and the tomb of the blessed Saint Thomas à Becket. It seemed that he was about to speak, to perhaps encourage them to begin to tell their tales; but suddenly his face contorted in a hideous grimace and, clutching his chest, he fell from his horse onto the soft wet ground. Through the mist she could see him lying on his back, his eyes staring heavenward; and she began to scream.
She was breathing rapidly, and her heart was thumping in her chest as she threw off the bedcovers. Slowly she sat up on the edge of the bed searching for her slippers on the floor where she always placed them. “What a horrible dream,” she said aloud, rubbing her eyes. She had been jolted awake, either from the shock of the nightmare or from the muffled sound she had made in her sleep as she saw the body hit the ground. The dream had been vivid with every detail so realistic she was still shaken. She suddenly realized the terrifying image she could see so clearly in her mind bore a marked resemblance to the new head of the English Department, Dr. Basil Bowen. She glanced at her alarm clock on her bedside table and had another shock.
Dr. Emily Goldman, Chaucer scholar and professor of English at Merryvale College, had actually overslept! She was going to be late for her eight o’clock class; and that was something that was unthinkable, something that had never occurred in her long tenure at the college. Why had she indulged in that additional glass of wine last night? She knew from experience that wine did not agree with her in the evening, and yet she had been tempted to indulge in just one more glass of a very nice Merlot.
Predictably she had awakened at 2:00 a.m. and had tossed and turned for at least an hour, maybe more, before drifting back to what must have been an uneasy sleep. When the dream jolted her awake, she realized she had been hitting the snooze button on her alarm and now she was running behind schedule. Totally disgusted with herself, her morning routine turned upside down, she prepared for the day as rapidly as possible.
“Maxwell of Dumfries, it seems to me you could at least bark when you hear the alarm,” she chided her spoiled Scottie, known to one and all as Max.
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