Crime Mystery
Date Published: 2/12/16
No Reason For Insanity is a tale of intrigue, concentrating on the thoughts and actions of Haszard, the narrator. It is a whodunit with dark, and occasionally light humour, using lateral thinking as Haszard works through the bizarre murders to discover links. There is tension and danger throughout, plus a desperate fight for survival.
Intrigued by the bizarre events surrounding the murder of a friend, Haszard is asked by the family to look in to the matter. Against the advice of his friends, he begins making enquiries, and is disturbed when he realizes that it may well be someone he knows.
As progress is made, further events occur, endangering the life of Haszard and his friends, and he is forced to delve into the deepest recesses of his resourcefulness . . .
Excerpt
Walking away from the house I said nothing but had a feeling something sinister was afoot. Gerry, a non-swimmer who was terrified of water, would never go near a swimming pool, yet he’d been found in one. Wrong. Everything about this was wrong. Gerry used to joke that he only ever showered because the water in the bath was too deep, therefore him being found in a swimming pool bordered on the surreal.
Why, though, would someone want to murder a man like Gerry? He was probably the nicest man I’d ever met, never having a bad word to say about anyone. I’d never heard of him being involved in any kind of conflict—nothing at all. In fact, the same went for the entire family. Sylvia was a church-going lady who involved herself with charity work, raising money for disadvantaged children, seldom going out to restaurants or the like, choosing to remain at home where she organized dinner parties for friends.
Alec’s only confrontation was on the rugby field, the young man spending the majority of his time with fiancée, Loretta, the couple enjoying their weekends in the great outdoors, rock-climbing, canoeing, and pony-trekking.
Donna, who’d not long turned twenty-one, was probably the more outgoing member of the family, although she seldom frequented nightclubs, preferring to see live bands instead. I knew that she’d recently split with a long-standing boyfriend; nevertheless, that was an amicable parting and therefore couldn’t be put forward as a motive for anyone to wish harm on the family, especially her gentle father.
The way that I saw it, there was no reason anyone should want to harm Gerry, and certainly not his loving wife Sylvia or their children, Alec and Donna.
“Haz, are you all right?” Sabrina asked as we entered the car.
I shrugged. “I’m just bothered about what Loretta said. Something’s not right about all this. We’re seeing Vicky tomorrow night, so I’ll ask her what she thinks and if there’s anything she can tell us.”
About the Author
Kevin E. Hatt is a registered medical professional and advanced life support provider at one of his local hospitals. His love of writing began at school, and continued on into his twenties. In nineteen eighty-four he began his medical training, and in nineteen eighty-seven began writing what is now the Haszard Narratives. They were, though, shelved when he pursued another love, that of art, and he left the medical profession in two-thousand to become a freelance art consultant, teacher, demonstrator, framer and retailer. In twenty-ten he returned to the medical profession, and also resurrected the Haszard series. He now lives in the north east of England with his wife of twenty-five years and his daughter of twenty-three.
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