Where There’s A Will: A Minnie Ming Mystery

Written for Crispina’s
Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Inspector Minnie Ming stepped through the crooked gate, her gaze rising to the crumbling Dutch gable of The Old Hall. Lord Winston Abbott’s body lay cold in the old barn, dead as a doornail, fatal pitchfork punctures in his neck betraying more rage than robbery.

John Barrow stood nearby, shifting nervously …. mud on his boots and guilt in his eyes. “I didn’t kill him,” he said too quickly.

“No, you did not,” Minnie agreed softly. “But you loved his wife. That is its own confession, is it not?”

Lady Eleanore watched from the brick wall’s shadow, composed as porcelain …. too composed.

Minnie touched the barn’s ancient tiles, still warm from the noon sun. “A man who dies of jealous rage,” she said, “rarely dies by the hand of his rival. He dies by the hand of the one who feared losing everything to him.”

She turned. “Lady Abbott, shall we discuss your husband’s revised will?”

NAR©2026

This is “Eleanore” by The Turtles

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #103

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