A Murder in Passing: A Sam Blackman Mystery
About this audiobook
In Asheville, North Carolina, the Blackman & Robertson Detective Agency faces a disturbing reality: no clients. Sam Blackman finds inactivity intolerable, so when partner Nakayla Robertson suggests a mushroom hunt on the site of a historic freed-slave commune called the Kingdom of the Happy Land, Sam reluctantly agrees. When he stumbles across a skeleton, his adventure mushrooms into a case of murder. But it isn't his case—he has no client—and the local authorities tell him to butt out.
Then Marsha Montgomery comes to the office asking Sam and Nakayla to investigate a burglary at her mother's home. In 1967 someone stole a rifle and a photograph of Marsha's mother, grandmother, and great grandmother taken in 1932 by renowned photographer Doris Ulmann. Marsha's visit is no coincidence: the photograph was taken at the Kingdom of the Happy Land. Sam's being played, but why?
When Marsha's eighty-five-year-old mother Lucille is arrested for murder, Sam has his answer and his case. Is the skeleton that of Jimmy Lang—Lucille's lover and Marsha's white father—who disappeared in 1967? Jimmy's brother says no; Jimmy left to seek his fortune after Lucille rejected his marriage proposal. But others stood to gain from Jimmy's disappearance.
A veil of betrayal and deceit hides a killer desperate to protect a dark secret, and no one—not even Sam—is safe from the deadly consequences.
About the author
Mark de Castrique is an author who grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, where many of his novels are set. He's a veteran of the television- and film-production industry, has served as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte teaching The American Mystery, and is a frequent speaker and workshop leader. He and his wife live in Charlotte.
William Dufris began his audio career in London, England. He co-found the audio production company The Story Circle, Ltd in the UK. In the US, he founded Mind’s Eye Productions and co-founded Rocky Coast Radio Theatre in addition to The AudioComics Company, for which he is producer, director, actor and engineer. Durfis was nominated six times as a finalist for the APA's prestigious Audie Awards. He garnered eighteen Golden Earphones Awards through AudioFile magazine, which honored him as one of The Best Voices at the End of the Century. Of his work, AudioFile said, "William Dufris commands a dazzling array of voices that bring to life the dozens of audiobooks he’s narrated." His audiobook credits include many of Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, Ph.D.'s works, such as Days of Infamy and Pearl Harbor, in addition to George McGovern’s Abraham Lincoln, Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and John Scalzi’s The Ghost Bridges. Dufris acted on stage and in television and is best known as the original North American voice of the cartoon character Bob in Nickelodeon's popular children's show, Bob the Builder. Additionally, he worked with legendary director Dirk Maggs on his audio drama productions of Spider-Man.
