Dry Stone Walls — Robert J. Randisi

“Mature Male Available for Housesitting, Non-Smoker, No Pets, Widower.” With this listing, Private Eye Writers of America founder Robert J. Randisi introduces readers to a retired captain of the NYPD who now spends his time housesitting wherever the job takes him…and learns that he can never fully leave the job behind. Truxton “Tru” Lewis is looking after a house in Bluegrass Country, Kentucky, a simple enough task within a tight-knit community. But it's his encounter with octogenarian Max Beasley, who spends his days reconstructing stone walls that will alert Tru that not everything is right here. His fears are confirmed when the body a local, reviled realtor turns up, buried under one of Max's precious walls. With Max under suspicion for the crime, Tru ingratiates himself with the local cops and a colorful lawyer, as well as with Max's widowed daughter, as he searches for the truth that will clear the old man of a most heinous crime. But the farther he stretches his investigative net, Tru finds himself being reeled back to the original suspect…his new friend. The thing about housesitting, Tru has learned, is you can't know what goes on behind your neighbor's closed doors.