Bill Noel is author of eleven novels in the highly-popular Folly Beach Mystery series. He is a fine arts photographer and retired university administrator. Bill lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, Susan, and his off-kilter imagination
A knock on Chris Landrum’s retirement cottage door proves that he doesn’t have to leave home to find trouble. His friend, Mel Evans, a marsh tour-boat captain, arrives to tell Chris that there might be a little problem. Chris is shocked to hear that the little problem is that his friend is accused of murdering a college student. Before he has enough time for that to sink in, Chris learns that another friend Larry’s shady past is threatened to be exposed by a con artist and former partner-in-crime who has moved to their South Carolina beach community. Chris and his best friend Charles, a self-appointed private detective, join a senior citizen’s walking group to learn more about Larry’s nemesis, but instead of the health benefits of walking and the comradery of a group of friends, he and Charles come face-to face with deception, intrigue, and murder. Mel’s in jail, Larry is moments away from being arrested, and Chris escapes death by inches and must find not one, but two murderers, before they can kill again.In a new Folly Beach mystery, Chris and his cadre of quirky pals, once again risk their lives for their friends, and to prevent more deaths, including their own.
SILENT NIGHT: A FOLLY BEACH CHRISTMAS MYSTERY
Chris Landrum is dragged out of peaceful retirement when the theft of a priceless, hand-carved figurine from a church’s nativity scene threatens to suck the spirit of Christmas out of Folly Beach. If that’s not bad enough, pieces of valuable jewelry and surfboards are stolen off homeowners’ porches on the small, South Carolina island located in the shadows of historic Charleston. Are the crimes related? All that’s known for sure is that nothing is known for sure. Rumors abound and in the spirit of it takes a village, Chris is joined by a cadre of quirky characters in his quest to find answers. Adding more pressure, Chris is told that the figurine must be found by Christmas—mere days away.
Chris Landrum s world is turned upside down when he stumbles on a body of a killer for hire. Chris s friends on the laid-back, peaceful South Carolina island are convinced they know who the hit man was sent to kill, and ask the retired bureaucrat to stick his nose in business that should be left to the police. If that s not enough, Chris comes home to an intruder intent on taking his life; his best friend announces he s moving out of state; and, his long-term girlfriend may be leaving him. Add to the mix, a participant in the witness protection program and a bookstore owner with a mysterious past, and once again, Chris is in the crosshairs of a murderer.
Chris Landrum’s trip to Nashville to visit his best friend Charles hits a sour note when they learn of the death of the agent who had persuaded Heather, Charles’s girlfriend, to move to Music City to seek fame and fortune as a singer. Tagging along on the trip is Cal Ballew, an aging country music performer and owner of Cal’s Bar and Grill on Folly Beach, South Carolina. The visit sinks from bad to horrible when instead of finding stardom, Heather, who is already depressed and discouraged about her diminishing chances of succeeding in the music industry, is charged with the agent’s murder. Making matters worse, Charles, a man who finds the good in most anyone, is convinced that Heather is guilty.
Suspects stretch from the capitol of Tennessee to Chris’s retirement city of Folly Beach; in fact, so many suspects that it takes Chris and members of his cadre of quirky pals plus a couple of new acquaintances in Tennessee to cobble together enough clues to close in on the killer, something the police have been unable to accomplish. In this installment in the Folly Beach Mystery series, Chris must rely on his quick wits to solve the murder before the killer adds him to the growing list of victims.
