title: Death among the Cypress Knees: A Mark Garrison Mystery
author:  Bill Burgett 
description: Bill Burgett draws from a varied background for his work?veteran, business executive, and minister. Now retired in the central mountains of Maryland, Dr. Burgett has written five books, including four mystery novels. He seeks to entertain and inform, integrating issues of current social importance into his plot themes.
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  ![cover.jpg](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To my very favorite country music fan and my fan club president, my wife.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Acknowledgments
  
  
  
  
  
  Many thanks to all my Colorado friends, Z., A., and R., who assure me that no
  matter how much traffic there might be, a town is still small if it's not
  Denver.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  THE FUNERAL took two hours longer than Garrison Matthews had the patience to
  sit. The viewing made him want to chew his arm off, and the funeral service,
  with the color guard and honors and all, had him grinding his teeth. Oh, he
  did his part, wearing his dress uniform, standing and saluting at all the
  right times. They would take the body down to Las Animas later for burial, so
  there was no lowering the casket into the grave and all, for which Garrison
  was grateful.
  
  
  He even teased Brandon's fellow Talons about how Air Force sucked and Navy was
  so much better, blah-blah.
  
  
  None of it made even the slightest dent in Garrison's disbelief that his
  br