The Barn Door: The Calendar Mysteries

By Juliet Kincaid

"The Barn Door," a historical mystery prequel short story to the Calendar Mystery series

Now why would a story called "The Barn Door" not show a barn on the cover? Well, it has quite a bit to do with the state of mind of an old man named Hector Jones with a problem. His young wife's mostly obnoxious relatives have taken over Jones' house. So, on Friday July 1, 1898, he goes in search of a detective. Who does he hire? None other than Daniel Price, recently arrived in Kansas City in this prequel short story to Juliet Kincaid's Calendar Mysteries that feature mystery and romance with Minty Wilcox and Daniel Price from newly met to newlywed and beyond in Kansas City, a place that could get downright deadly a hundred years or so ago.

Praise for "The Barn Door"

If you have never read any of Juliet Kincaid's calendar mysteries, you are missing out. This short prequel story to the first book, January Jinx, is fun and introduces us to the two main characters, Daniel and Minty, before they actually meet. I especially like the descriptions of Kansas City in the 1900's as well as the vivid descriptions of the characters. Read "The Barn Door" and you will not be disappointed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliet Kincaid
• Release date: Jun 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201919993

Juliet Kincaid

I’ve been hooked on fiction since grade school. And I’ve always preferred stories that supply adventure and escape. Humor and wit help, too. I try to write the same sort of stories and novels as the ones I like to read. In addition to the Calendar Mystery series, my published work includes the Cinderella, P. I. Fairy Tale Mysteries for grown-ups that feature Cinderella as a detective twenty years, three kids, and a few extra pounds after the ball. (Happy endings guaranteed.) My stories and novels are available as eBooks and trade paperbacks. I have also written and published Novel Basics, a concise yet complete guide to writing a novel. My daughter, Jessica Kincaid, the bead artist, and I live in a house filled with books, mostly detective fiction, just a few miles from where Minty Wilcox and Daniel Price have their adventures in the Calendar Historical Mystery stories and novels. You can contact me at juliet@julietkincaid. com, Juliet_Kincaid on Goodreads, JulietKincaid on Twitter, and JulietKincaidauthor2016 and juliet.kincaid on Facebook. To find out what work I currently have available, sign up for notifications at https://books2read.com/author/juliet-kincaid/subscribe/1/305166/

Book preview

The Barn Door

a historical mystery short story

by

Juliet Kincaid

AzureSky Press

AZP

The Barn Door © 2017 by Juliet Willman Kincaid. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Juliet Kincaid except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

AzureSky Press, LLC

Overland Park, KS

Copyright © 2017

Cover by Juliet Kincaid

The Barn Door is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, and persons, living or dead, and their animals is entirely coincidental.

The Barn Door

A historical mystery short story

By Juliet Kincaid

Table of Contents

The Barn Door

Historical Notes

Also by Juliet Kincaid

About the Author

The Barn Door

a historical mystery short story

by Juliet Kincaid

Friday, July 1, 1898, late afternoon

Kansas City, Missouri

And there she is, thought Hector Jones as he waited at the corner of Ninth and Baltimore for a cable car to pass him on its way downhill to the Junction.

Across the street and down a bit stood the New York Life Building, made of dark red brick and at twelve stories, the city’s tallest. The bronze statue of an eagle, her wings flared protectively above her young in their nest high above the building’s entrance, held Jones’ attention even after the open car, filled with passengers, had passed.

That eagle reminds me of that young gal I’m married to, he thought. And just why did she keep me away from that fine baby boy she delivered two weeks ago for so long? Did she think I’d hurt the child? But maybe I’m a suspicious old fool for even thinking these thoughts rattling around in my head.

Mr. Jones, a banker, had just come out of the Milwaukee Delicatessen where he’d fortified himself with a shot of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey. Also, he distracted himself with the newspaper, filled with accounts of American troops in Cuba including General Lawton’s Rough Riders, a rowdy dowdy bunch of boys by all accounts.

Maybe I should just go along home instead of going over there to the New York Life Building, Jones