Ledge End Inn

Eric Hartley achieved his childhood dream of owning Ledge End Inn, a landmark hotel on Kaaterskill Clove in the Catskill Mountains. When he arrives, alone, to open the inn, he discovers that a stranger has been living in the basement during the winter while the inn was closed. His housekeeper is viciously murdered but the police force in this tiny town is only one inept sheriff. To protect those at the inn is up to him, his social director-a drama professor during the school year-and his diminuitive black chef, who are the entire staff of the inn, to find the killer. They are helped in the search by the "Regulars", four elderly ladies who have come to the inn for decades. The characters are warm and compatible but one must be a cold and vicious killer.

Alan Lamont Smith lives in Sarasota, Florida, with his wife Vivienne, but his writing career has been primarily in New York City. He has written and directed more than 100 educational films and an equal number of television programs. His writing has included every communication medium with the exception of skywriting(too flighty). He retired as vice president of Brooklyn Union Gas Company, and his dedication to energy and the environment has taken him to Europe, Russia and Israel. "Ledge End Inn" is his first mystery, but he envisions the Inn and its characters to appear in several more. His patch is not an affectation. He has worn one for 15 years following a botched operation for a detached retina