Shakespeare's Champion (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 2)

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Effect::: When Lily stumbles upon the well-built corpse of a local body builder-his neck broken by a barbell-the town's underlying racial tension begins to boil over. The white victim was somehow connected to two unsolved murders of black residents of Shakespeare-and a dogged policeman is determined to stop the killing. But it is Lily herself who may have to decide whether to stay and fight for justice, or run away one more time.User friendly.

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Shakespeare's Champion (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 2)Feature for this item ISBN13: 9780425213100 Condition: New Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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Shakespeare's Champion (1997) is the second mystery novel in the Lily Bard series, following Shakespeare's Landlord. In the previous volume, Lily solved the murder, but was surprised by the killer as she opened a door. Lily fought back, but was pinned under his body. Then Claude appeared and together they overcame the murderer.

In this novel, Lily Bard cleans houses and does other housekeeping chores for her clients. She has lived in Shakespeare for about four years. She has been taking karate from a local sensei for over two years.

Claude Friedrich is Chief of Police in Shakespeare. He was born in Shakespeare, but worked in the Little Rock police force for many years. Then he came back to a less stressful ambiance, but things have not been peaceful lately in Shakespeare.

Bobo Winthrop is the eldest child of Howard and Beatrice. His father runs all the Winthrop businesses, but his grandfather owns these companies.

Mookie Preston is a genealogy researcher. She has recently moved to Shakespeare and has asked to be placed on Lily's waiting list.

Tom David Meicklejohn is a Shakespeare policeman. He and Lily have not got along very well.

In this story, Lily and Bobo are asked by the sick owner to open Body Time in the morning. Del Packard's car is outside when they arrive, but he was given a key to the place so that he could practice his body building. As they turn on the lights, they find Del's body lying on a pressing bench in a corner.

At first they believe that his throat had been crushed by the weight of the bar, but the lights were all off when they arrived. Besides, he had said that a spotter was to meet him the previous evening. Had he been murdered?

Del is the third death in Shakespeare within a month or so. First the young black boy Darnell Glass was beaten to death. Then the white Len Elgin was shot. Now Del is dead. Racial tensions are rising again for the first time in thirty years.

It all started with a minor auto accident. A local boy hit Darnell's car and refused to admit that he was at fault. An argument ensued and all four white boys accosted Darnell.

Darnell got in the first punch, but the other three white boys started swinging at him. Two policemen -- one off duty and the other on patrol -- were present, but stayed back from the fight. Lily and a black Marine separated the boys, but Lily got blindsided and fell down, knocking her head against a table.

Lily has lost several clients, so she goes down her waiting list for a new one. After several failures, she makes arrangements to spend a couple of hours cleaning Mookie's house. They are both surprised when they first meet, since Lily had been expecting a white and Mookie had expected a black. Yet Lily's only complaint is that Mookie can't sit still and talks everytime she walks by.

Then blue fliers with white supremacist jargon start appearing under wiper blades. The local blacks have a meeting at Golgotha AME to discuss the situation. Claude and the county sheriff attend, but reluctantly admit that the fliers are not illegal.

After the meeting adjourns, a bomb goes off and shreds the pews into deadly splinters. Lily is injured in the blast and drenched with blood from a woman decapitated by an offering plate. She is thrown through the air and lands on a young girl.

As Lily fuzzily rights herself, she discovers that the girl is dead. Then she notices that her hearing is gone. As she wanders through the wreckage helping survivors, she finds Claude pinned down under a fallen light fixture.

The ambulances start carting off wounded to the local hospital. As she is lying in the corridor waiting for medical attention, Lily blearily notices a familiar face. It belongs to the man who replaced Del at Winthrop Sporting Goods.

This tale involves Lily with a group of black hating good old boys. They aren't very smart or well educated, but they know how to make bombs by following instructions in a book. Lily also finally meets Jared Fletcher -- Del's replacement -- after seeing him various places.

This story lands Lily in a lot of trouble. The next installment -- Shakespeare's Christmas -- finds her in more hot water. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of martial arts, hate crimes, and stubborn women.

-Bill Jordin

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