The Mermaid - Book eight in the Bill Reyner Mystery Series

Plot

Finally, Bill has a chance to retire from detective work and settle down gracefully with his new wife, but it’s not to be. A score of dead men hold the key to a more than 60-year-old mystery and only Bill can solve it. The United States Home Security, Interpol, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and even New Scotland Yard seem to be on the same case. After inheriting a very strange bookshop and a collection of unusual people, Bill discovers he has also inherited a double mystery, a fortune and an angry motorcycle gang. In a remote and isolated region of Canada, Bill and North discover startling evidence that points to treason, betrayal, and mass murder.

Excerpt from The Mermaid

The lawyer had his own car and drove us to the bookshop. I have to admit I was both pleased and surprised. The shop looked very grand and modern. On the outside it had a large marquee and proudly in huge, illuminated letters it said TOMBBELLDOOM – kind of an odd name for a bookshop. The interior was enough to give a person goosebumps. One step through the door and you’re in a different time zone, a different existence.

I expected a library-like atmosphere with books on shelves and maybe a reading room. No, man! The place looked straight out of Dickens, with a hint of museum. Dim, poor lighting with terrible shadows that almost illuminated the vast room. There were paintings on one wall that would give any kid nightmares. The rest of the space seemed to be taken up with self-illuminated showcases. Each case had its own light in dim green. At the opposite end of the room to the paintings stood a long counter with what looked like bar stools.

A prehistoric manifestation of manhood stood by the counter with a huge book in his hands. He looked at least as old as Methuselah and wore a robe rather like a monk, but in denim blue. The room felt suffocating and warm. The bearded apparition in the robe ambled towards us as the door closed us in.
 

GOTO First book in the series Fiend's Gold

Buy The Mermaid at these stores

From Bill Reyner's Photo Gallery

The Clifton Suspension Bridge Bristol England. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1806 to 1859. The bridge was completed in 1864.
 

See more in Bill's Photo Gallery