{"id":6486,"date":"2021-07-14T16:26:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T20:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/?p=6486"},"modified":"2025-04-24T15:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:02:10","slug":"visiting-detective-kylee-kane-hoa-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/2021\/07\/visiting-detective-kylee-kane-hoa-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Detective Kylee Kane “HOA Murder”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Sunset in Beaufort, South Carolina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there are no paragraph separations in this article, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Jazz Corner is one of our favorite venues for dinner and live jazz when we\u2019re visiting Hilton Head Island in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Tonight was the last night for a popular NYC jazz combo. As usual, the tables are scrunched together in the intimate setting, making it next to impossible not to eavesdrop on folks seated at adjacent tables.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheila\u2019s just placed her standard order for She-Crab soup and crab cakes, when I hear the woman at the next table say, \u201cMom\u2019s right. Whoever killed Finley put that trophy deer head in his lap to sidetrack authorities. And it\u2019s working. Deputy Ibsen\u2019s convinced one of the Bambi-loving crowd is responsible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bambi lovers? A corpse holding a trophy deer head? I can\u2019t pretend I didn\u2019t hear. My curiosity won\u2019t let me. The couple\u2019s conversation sounds matter of fact. Neither the man nor the woman\u2014I\u2019m guessing they\u2019re either late forties or early fifties\u2014seems shaken or hysterical. I decide it\u2019s okay to intrude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHi, I\u2019m Charlie Kerrian, and this is my wife, Sheila,\u201d I begin. \u201cWe just arrived on the island a couple of hours ago for a mini-vacation. I apologize for listening in, but our tables are so close. Was someone murdered here recently?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot here,\u201d the woman replies. \u201cThe murder took place on Hullis Island Friday night. I apologize. We shouldn\u2019t have been jabbering about it in a restaurant. You needn\u2019t be concerned. There\u2019s no Lowcountry crime wave. Please don\u2019t let my big mouth ruin your vacation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheila chuckles. \u201cMy husband failed to mention he\u2019s a detective. You haven\u2019t worried him, just piqued his curiosity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a relief.\u201d The woman smiles. While her short, curly hair is snow-white, her smooth skin says the white hair is premature. \u201cI\u2019m Kylee Kane,\u201d she adds, \u201ca retired Coast Guard investigator.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m Ted Welch,\u201d the man says. \u201cI\u2019m hoping Kylee will soon change her standard introduction and say she\u2019s a security specialist for Welch HOA Management. That\u2019s my company. We manage more than a dozen homeowner associations in Beaufort County, including Hullis Island where the man was murdered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kylee shakes her head and grins. \u201cTed, I\u2019m not going to start introducing myself as your security specialist. My consulting gig won\u2019t last that long\u2014just until this killer\u2019s caught, we find out who\u2019s sending hate mail to Mom, and your HOA clients quit worrying about crazed killers sneaking into their neighborhoods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you back up?\u201d I ask. \u201cWhat did you mean about the killer trying to pin the rap on Bambi lovers, and why is your mother getting hate mail? Are the two related?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfraid so,\u201d Kylee says. \u201cHullis Island has a deer overpopulation problem. The board of directors of the HOA decided to solve the problem by opening the island\u2019s nature sanctuary to hunters as soon as the peak tourist season ends. Finley, the man who was murdered, was a loud proponent of slaughtering all the island deer. His landscape company\u2019s sales had nosedived after people decided buying edible plants amounted to a free lunch program for deer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how was your mother involved?\u201d Sheila asks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMom doesn\u2019t think the board has the right to open our nature sanctuary to hunters without allowing the HOA membership to vote on the matter,\u201d Kylee adds. \u201cShe sent an email to all her neighbors expressing her opinion. Mom knows the overpopulation has to be addressed, but she thinks there are less drastic solutions. A postcard that said it was time for hunters to target old-lady busybodies as well as deer was hand-delivered to Mom\u2019s mailbox a few hours later.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ted adds, \u201cI just wish the authorities weren\u2019t so fixated. They seem convinced the neighborhood feud about the island deer explains why Finley was killed. But the deceased wasn\u2019t a likeable guy. He\u2019d accumulated lots of disgruntled customers. Kylee and I plan to talk to some of those folks. My new security specialist excels at interviewing people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d Kylee laughs. \u201cIn your sales pitch for me to join your firm as a security consultant, I believe you described me as having the \u2018tenacity of a demented squirrel looking for a buried nut stash.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrue,\u201d Ted agrees. \u201cAn apt description. Hasn\u2019t changed since you worked so hard to ignore your little brother and me in grade school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The lights flicker and a man takes the small stage to introduce the jazz combo. \u201cPlease respect our talented musicians,\u201d he says. \u201cNo talking during the performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Sheila and I came to hear the music, I\u2019m sorry I\u2019ll have to wait to hear more of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/span> Linda Lovely<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Warm thanks to Linda Lovely for stopping by to chat with the Kerrians and give us a straight-up-fun peek into Kylee Kane’s (and Ted Welch) encounters with murder at the HOA. To find out how the story ends, you’ll have to read:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Multi-layered plots are always central to Linda Lovely\u2019s novels. With her fully fleshed out central characters perfectly set up to navigate the twists and turns of the story lines, this entertaining mystery writer always delivers a thoroughly engrossing read. \u201cWith Neighbors Like These,\u201d is a stellar, page-turning beginning to her brand new HOA Mystery Series. <\/em>Launch date was set for July 13, 2021. Click on the link<\/span><\/a><\/strong> to order.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please visit https:\/\/www.lindalovely.com<\/span><\/a> to learn more about Lovely and her upcoming events.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Photos supplied by Linda Lovely.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visiting Detective Kylee 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