“Ahh…”

My contented sigh lingered as I gazed across the orchards. The magnificent sight of the day’s first rays of sunshine filtering through the apple trees was worth getting out of bed before dawn on a chilly, autumn Sunday. Yes, the Lindens were paying me to photograph their farm—more money than I’d earned on any other job in my short photography career. But for a moment like this, I’d work for free. Not that I’d ever mention that to Hank Linden.

I had left the warm coziness of my bed to photograph the lush landscape of Linden Acres in the first hour after sunrise. The golden hour. I was rewarded not only with perfect shooting conditions, but I was also gifted glorious views of the farm and the feeling that I had it all to myself. A lovely daydream I knew would be interrupted by Linden son-in-law Doug Paxton, who’d jog by any moment on his daily run around the farm.

I welcomed the serenity after yesterday’s hectic pace. My day had started with a golden hour photo session in the pumpkin field, before the vibrant orange gourds were carried away to decorate hundreds of porches, windows, and tables. I returned hours later for the start of the farm’s annual Fall Fun Festival and photographed the excited crowd picking apples and pumpkins, enjoying hayrides, and navigating through the hay bale maze. After dinner, I went back to Linden Acres for the Pumpkin Blaze. Images of the jack-o’-lanterns glowing bright against the dark night were still fresh in my mind.

Saturday had been a marathon. Now I was back for Sunday’s golden hour and a mere sprint.

I finished photographing the orchards and headed across Grove Road to check out the “damage” done to the pumpkin field. I surveyed the field, noting that there was still a good selection of pumpkins to be picked, and trotted down the access road toward the Pop Barn, where the Lindens’ popular gourmet popcorn was produced.

Something lay on the ground between a wagon filled with pumpkins and a green tractor. Was it one of the farm’s scarecrows that charmed humans more than they frightened away birds and other creatures? Drawing closer, I realized that the prone figure was Doug Paxton. He wasn’t moving. Or breathing.

A chill went through me that had nothing to do with the temperature. I hadn’t had the farm all to myself. A killer had been there too.

The early hour wasn’t so golden after all.

The Golden Hour Murder: A Robyn Cavanagh Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2025
Format: Digital (Print to follow)
Purchase Link

It’s October and Mother Nature has painted photographer Robyn Cavanagh’s suburban New York hometown in rich colors of red, orange, and gold. Autumn has provided many scenic locales to shoot, but Robyn is happily preoccupied with one particular landscape. She’s landed the biggest job of her flourishing career: a contract to photograph the lush Linden Acres farm.

Her work begins with sunshine-filled days of apple and pumpkin picking and starry nights featuring a spectacular display of glowing jack-o’-lanterns. The merry mood darkens after Robyn discovers the body of Doug Paxton, the estranged husband of a member of the Linden clan.

Robyn can’t look through her camera’s viewfinder without picturing Doug’s body in the Linden pumpkin patch. Along with her friend Will Vonderlin, she plays detective to solve Doug’s murder. Will the killer be caught before the apples and pumpkins are turned into Thanksgiving pies, or will Robyn lose her best client and watch her career fade along with the autumn colors?

About the author
Jeanne Quigley is the author of the Veronica Walsh Mysteries and the Robyn Cavanagh Mysteries. Unlike her fictional sleuths, she has never been a soap opera star, accountant, or professional photographer, but she has worked in the music industry, for an educational publisher, and in a county agency. She lives in New York’s historic Hudson Valley.