IMPROBABLE EVENTS: Murder at Ellenton Hall

by Michael Seigel

As Associate Dean, Mark Bolton knew he'd have to deal with tough problems-but nothing could have prepared him for this! I nodded, pushed open the door, and stepped inside. I was not prepared for the scene that appeared in front of me. I felt my knees start to buckle, and another Tampa Tribune headline started swirling around in my head, this time reading, "Former Prosecutor Not So Passes Out At Crime Scene." That made me laugh a little, which-along with closing my eyes and taking a deep breath-helped me to recover my footing. Sure, I was a former nearly eight years in that occupation at one time or another, including a three-year stint as a section chief in the Tampa U.S. Attorney's Office. But feds don't do much murder, and my personal specialty was white-collar crime. The forensic scenes I had encountered usually contained nothing worse than gray file cabinets and pasty-faced executives sweating from the embarrassment of being handcuffed in front of their co-workers. And, to tell the truth, that was plenty gruesome for me. I had gone to law school instead of listening to my father, who had wanted me to become a doctor, for the classic I couldn't stand the sight of blood.

312 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2005