Excerpt 1
Kay Langan stepped out on the front porch to pick up the newspaper. She took a deep breath of the cool spring air, fragrant with the scent of lilacs.  In the little park across the street, the lavender of the lilac bushes offered a contrast to the lovely white blossoms of the dogwood trees.
As Kay’s glance traveled to her neighbors’ red, yellow, and orange tulips, her spirits soared. Kay had always savored life, but now since her triple bypass heart surgery even more.
Kay picked up the newspaper and absent-mindedly slipped off its plastic covering. A large picture on the front page caught her eye. Recognizing the doctor in the picture, Kay stood motionless with shock as she read the banner headline: PROMINENT ST. LOUIS DOCTOR SHOT TO DEATH IN DOUBLE KILLING.
When she went indoors, Kay sat down quickly in a chair, her face chalk-white, her eyes staring in disbelief.
“Kay, what is it? Don’t you feel well?” her husband asked anxiously. He took the newspaper Kay held out for him to read. As he scanned the front page, Dr. Langan exclaimed, “This is terrible!”
Kay began to weep softly. “He saved my life,” she sobbed. “Now someone has taken his life from him.”
As Dr. Langan read the first few paragraphs of the story, he murmured, “This is incredible.”
“Why would anyone kill such a wonderful doctor?” asked Kay.
Dr. Langan didn’t answer. He had been on the staff at Mercy Hospital fifteen years before his retirement. He knew that the dead man was a wonderful doctor. Dr. Langan also knew that the great doctor was a strange person in many respects. His surgery won the admiration of his colleagues, but they were often puzzled by his personal actions. He had many friends, but his complex personality made him a man of mystery.
Excerpt 2
Carol wanted Victoria to play the piano for the Sing-Along, but she had disappeared. One nurse said Victoria had gone upstairs to get the special tickets for the Mystery Box drawing.
Carol asked Mary Emerson to be the pianist. Mary launched into the lilting refrain of Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie, and the nurses sang with gusto.
At the end of the song, Carol observed Gloria Lindsay slipping out the door leading to the parking lot. Carol looked at the clock. It was 9:59 p.m.
After about six more songs, Carol wanted to have the drawing for the Mystery Box. It is certainly taking Victoria a long time to get those tickets, Carol thought.
At 10:20 p.m. Victoria appeared, looking somewhat flustered. She said someone had moved the tickets from the place where she had stored them.
The final drawing was over at 10:30 p.m. When the guests departed, the Auxiliary members gathered up the decorations and placed them in boxes. After deciding to come in early the next morning for the final clean-up, they all left the building together.
As Carol was placing the key in the lock of her car, she heard a scream. It was a piercing, spine-chilling scream. It froze the blood in Carol’s veins.
Kay Ballard shouted, “It’s Mary Emerson!”
Carol, Kay, and everyone else on the parking lot ran in the direction of Mary’s voice. She was parked at the far south end of the lot next to the border of shrubbery.
Mary was standing there in a state of shock. Her body was taut with horror. Carol, like the others, noted that Mary was pointing to something between her car and the shrubbery.
They could all see a body lying there, and then they all began to shriek.
 
It Happened in St. Louis: A Murder Mystery is an exciting new novel by Ann C. Rogers
 
In this mystery novel, a hospital’s doctors and nurses become suspects when a murder occurs.
In addition to the suspense of the murder mystery, the reader's interest is held by the strong character of Dr. Don Magill, a hospital administrator, and his love for Carol Desmond, a nurse at Mercy Hospital.
This page was last updated: November 26, 2012
It Happened in St. Louis: A Murder Mystery is available from Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com in softcover, hardcover, and Kindle e-book editions.