The Courtney Entry

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Entry - this eBook is a sample of the first 3,000-5,000 words; it is not the full book. The ABNA contest is operated on Amazon.com only. Visit this entry on Amazon.com to leave customer feedback. To vote for the Grand Prize winner starting July 8, visit www.amazon.com/ABNA.

Jesse Clacher thought he’d seen everything his small, New Mexico village could toss his way. After fifteen years serving as the village Marshal, he’s finally resigned—fed up with the endless politics and monotony. Then, she shows up. Her tattered dress is covered in fresh blood. Her skin is a maze of cuts and scrapes. She’s barefoot, and her hysterical wailing about some children and a river completely disrupts Clacher’s retirement party—much to his relief. When two small bodies are discovered on a nearby riverbank not long afterward, Clacher sets out on what might be the last — and biggest — case of his career. He’s convinced that someone has framed this woman, set her up to look like the Southwest’s most infamous prolicidal ghost: La Llorona. Only trouble is, he’s got no idea why the real killer would go to all that trouble, all of the evidence points to the woman, and he’s got no way to prove his hunch. He needs the help of an expert in Southwestern folklore, an expert who just happens to be his estranged daughter, if he wants to keep the woman out of prison and put the real killer behind bars. But what else is he gonna do with his time, fish?