title: An Accidental Memoir: How I Killed Someone and Other Stories
author:  Wendy Reed 
description: "By any measure, Wendy Reed has a compelling story to share. On May 28, 1996, her Mitsubishi Montero hydroplaned off I-65 at mile marker 251.7, striking an oncoming 1988 Camry. The author and her youngest child were uninjured, but the accident claimed the life of the other driver. If this books power rested simply in the pathos of the situation, however, it wouldnt leave the deep impression it does. The real beauty is in the writing. Theres nothing accidental about An Accidental Memoir -- its a fantastic, moving expression of craft and insight." Kirk Curnutt, author of Breathing Out the Ghost <br /> "There are not many people who would have the courage to tell this story -- and even fewer writers with the talent and integrity to pull it off. I am in awe of Wendy Reed." Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize winning author <br /> "Memoirs address all kinds of scars, but few so real as this. Wendy Reed writes chillingly about how fast life can change, and end, on a piece of asphalt." Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and bestselling author
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  * * *
  
  
    
    
  THE MURDER AT JEX FARM  
    
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # THE MURDER AT JEX FARM
  
  
  ### GEORGE IRA BRETT
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  
  The facts of the case were simple enough. A young
  
  
  woman had been found lying at the orchard gate of
  
  
  the farm, 37 1/2 yards from the house, dead, with a
  
  
  bullet in her head. Suicide was out of the
  
  
  question, for there was no pistol about, and it was
  
  
  not in evidence that the girl had any cause for
  
  
  despondency. There was no reason for her taking
  
  
  her life. But then again, she was not known to have
  
  
  an enemy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I like to put down my impressions on paper,
  
  
  pretty fully and quite freely, as I go on. I am
  
  
  doing so now, not as a report for my chief, nor for
  
  
  any sort of publication, but just as a help to
  
  
  myself. I am not exactly a literary man, as my
  
  
  mates in the force will have it that I am, b