The Jabberwocky Murders: March 2018

Back in the day I spent a lot of time trying to get a plot to work. It was frustrating but when the track the story was going to take finally worked out a feeling of satisfaction set in.

The Jabberwocky Murders did not have that kind of difficulty with the plot. That result may have been a product of having much of the story worked out in a thought process and it helped that one of the main characters had already been established in “Murder at the Ritz Carlton.”

Once Josh Colum entered (and he was originally “Noah” but I kept referring to him as “Josh” so Josh he became) the essence of the plot became clear.

Having a chapter that pretty much intact written for an earlier work meant Josh had a ready-made deep set motivation for the plan he’d concocted.

With those two characters the plot appeared to lay itself out and I applied my ability to develop the characters as they rolled through the story.

In the first quarter of the book all of the above comes into play. The plot takes its decided dark tone when Jenny Mallory takes her parents’ dog Evie out for a nightly stroll. She’s a Sac State student with hopes of becoming a legislative aide once she graduates. But that is going to be forever a “could have been” with Josh carrying out his first murder.

Josh learns that the woman who rented the apartment on 25th is a detective, and one who is investigating the death of the woman he shot.

Slocum and Janet continue the investigation at the Med Center and Bing Maloney Golf Course. They are performing the essence of detective work trying to piece together the metaphorical puzzle.

Josh Colum is still trying to have his plan verified by the media carrying the story of the woman, Jennifer Catherine Mallory, he shot. Hearing her name gave Josh a decided feeling of loss rather than enhancing the elation of having been successful. His media surfing doesn’t show the importance of the real estate sign. And he gets a call that his Wednesday appointment is early.

As Slocum and Janet work the case Josh does a favor for Janine Hollowell that he muses might result in a sexual quid pro quo.

The media (newspaper and TV) carried Mallory’s murder for one news cycle and then it was on to the next bit of mayhem. This media normality did nothing to validate Josh in his own eyes.

The newspaper seemed to ease the tension Slocum and Janet felt from the Chief and the inhabitants of the Fab Forties. Even so, the pressure to find the killer and punish him or her was there and would only intensify.

What the detectives needed was something tangible to link the killer with the victim. As they continued the investigation Josh was about to chalk up victim number two.

The second victim shows Sacramento that a serial killer is at work. All the new killing brings to Slocum and Janet is more pressure until a witness calls in.

The witness only provides the detectives with a general description of a possible suspect but one specific he observed has the potential to ID the killer: a Raiders jacket.

The only real information that bore on the case was the witness telling them about the Raiders jacket. And someone leaked that intel to the media, which meant they were left with trying to find who in Sacramento had bought a Raiders jacket.

Josh is shaken by the media revealing that a witness had seen a Raiders jacket on the possible killer. He’d trashed the jacket that Sammie had given him, but if the police followed up she would point them to him. She had to be eliminated.

Did either Edie or Cheryl know that Sammie had given him the jacket? He had to find out.

Pete Slocum is removed from the case and that makes Janet the lead investigator.

Janet is put in a difficult position having to question her father’s friend and the man who interceded with the department to get her the job.

Janet’s query to Amazon comes through with Sammie shown as the buyer of the Raiders jacket.

With a backup Janet confronts Sammie to find that she bought the jacket for Josh.

After the satisfaction of Josh’s arrest, Janet has to look forward to another case.

Why did I end it when I did? Good question. Seemed like the logical place and if I’m so motivated gives me a place to start another Janet Slade novel.:)

Feb 2018, Jerrimund's Quest

Another quest. With two other kids and a Raggedy Andy doll. Andy needs real eyes, mouth and nose, so all the skills and magic of Ozimund, Frizzimund and Jerrimund will be called upon.

The first step for the group is the Patoopah train with our old friend The Little Man with the Big Voice. The train has stopped because the Dark Knight has stolen all the patoopah. Thomas thinks he might be able to find more.

But in Patoopah Land Sal tells the group that his silo is bare because the Dark Knight stole all his patoopah as well as the money he was going to use to buy seeds.

In the Land of the Knights, Dark Knight wants ransom money for the stolen patoopah.

Peter Pan is not much help in Animal Land.

In Diamond Land they meet the three bears again and get three diamonds to use to get Sal's patoopah seed money back.

Will the diamonds be enough to satisfy Dark Knight? Will he give Sal's money back? We hope these questions will be answered as we read on.

Once again getting diamonds to pay Dark Knight appears to be in jeopardy as all three are required as the group visits the Land of Treats and the Land of Machines.

Prince William helps by telling them they may be able to get something from the treasure in the Land of Dreams to pay Dark Knight for the patoopah seed money.

They see Peter Pan in the Land of Dreams but he can't remember where he put the treasure. Fuzziwig's name comes up as a possibility before the group has to leave the Land of Dreams.

Success with King Fuzziwig. They get three items to take to Dark Knight to get Sal's patoopah seed money.

What more lies in store for the intrepid travelers?

The travelers meet the lost boys and Peter Pan in Neverland. They tell Peter what they took from the treasure to pay Dark Knight for Sal's patoopah seed money.

Ozimund is very confident that with his usual fee he can fix Raggedy Andy's mouth. After a tour of Ozimundia the travelers have treats including Goldilocks' favorite angel food cake.

Frizzimund the Great has lost his yellow topaz gem. Before Raggedy Andy can have his nose changed the topaz has to be found and returned to Frizzimund.

In Neverland they find Peter Pan. He remembers that Redbeard the pirate has Frizzimund's topaz.

The Land of Dreams gives the group treats and a key. But they don't find Redbeard or Dark Knight. And where the key fits is a mystery.

There is no topaz in The Crystal Forest, but there is another key. The second key opens a door on the Patoopah Train.

Success at last. In Pirate Land Redbeard takes the diamond, emerald and black pearl from Thomas and the blue ribbon from Captain Hook. In return he gives Sal's patoopah seed money and the topaz to Thomas to put in his belly pack.

In Patoopah Land Thomas gives the money back to Sal. The kids have the topaz and now they need to return it to Frizzimund.

Returning the topaz to Frizzimund gives Raggedy Andy his real eyes . To change his nose the travelers will have to see Jerrimund.

Before he gets a real nose, they have to return to Ozimundia to get a real mouth for Raggedy Andy. When that happens he also gets a squeaky voice because Ozimund hasn't perfected that part yet.

An eye for a servant? Yes, that's what Jerrimund has. She also has a rhyme that she speaks to give Raggedy Andy a real nose so he can smell the roses. Jerrimund offers them rose tea but the eye is late and the travelers leave Jerrimundia. Raggedy Andy thanks Jerrimund for his nose.