The Fine Art of Murder: Excerpt from Street Art

Street Art is a short story by Speed City Chapter member Stephen Terrell. It is a story about a disaffected detective trying to track a serial killer who leaves behind a gruesome graffiti image at each of his kill sites. It is among twenty short murder mysteries and tales of suspense included in The Fine Art of Murder, now available online at Amazon (click here). Barnes and Noble (click here), and Walmart (click here).   

Here are the opening paragraphs of Street Art.

Street Art

by  Stephen Terrell

The first body was found on one of those warm days of early spring. The kind of day that makes you glad to be alive.

I got the call at my desk just after my first cup of coffee. I headed to the scene near the old Muncie Central Trade School in my city-issued, six-year-old p.o.s. Chevy that I still had to drive due to budget cuts. At forty-nine, I was the second most senior detective in the Muncie Police Department, but I still was stuck with a car that was best described as two-tone, sun-faded blue over rust.

Alexis James, a petite patrolwoman in her early thirties, met me at the scene just off 8th Street. She seemed swallowed up by all the gear attached to her utility belt, but if the weight was a burden, it didn't show in her manner. She worked the midnight to eight swing shift where we crossed paths occasionally on domestics, bar fights, and periodic homicides.  She was ex­ military and still carried herself with military precision.  She didn't bother with pleasantries. Joe Friday would have liked her.