The Grave with Greener Grass
DL Havlin
2023 FAPA Award Winner
The Grave with Greener Grass—“I don’t know how to say this without sounding like the stereotypical greedy relative.” This statement thrusts Sly Harrell into a mystery that seems to have more dead ends than an undeveloped subdivision.
A descendant of one of Florida’s first families pursues a family ritual with the promise of a treasure at its solving. Annually, the senior living female of the heritage line is obligated to stand in front of a gravestone and recite from a letter passed from mother to daughter. The major clue: the grass covering the grave is always greener than those around it. But why? And after over a hundred years is the clue meaningless?
The potential heir believes she knows “in general,” where the grave is and what’s in it but needs to decipher a clue to prove her theory, and she wants Sly’s influence and help to solve the mystery. But they find what they did not expect: a body incased in phosphate lies on top of the patriarch’s coffin. Is it a true dead end?
Two 124-years-old corpses aren’t the only clues. Another clue stands unrecognized in plain sight. When Sly finally unravels the secret, he has one last challenge to reclaim a treasure of gold coins . . . and to stay alive.