Great Bend resident Carol L. Jenkner has released her first crime novel, “Road Kill,” published by Archway Publishing. It is available through Archway, Amazon and Barnes and Noble as a paperback book or in an e-book format.
The novel, set in northeastern Wyoming within sight of the well-known landmark Devil’s Tower, features a cast of quirky characters. Foremost among them is the protagonist, Dr. Gerald “Road Kill” O’Connor. A retired professor of archaeology and forensic anthropology, Dr. O’Connor has spent his professional life acting as an expert witness and assisting law enforcement in solving crimes. He keeps notebooks detailing each case and has a list of unsolved cases that involve missing persons and unidentified remains that span decades.
Road Kill O’Connor acquired his odd nickname as he learned the practice of taxidermy, his post-retirement hobby. He continues to become embroiled in criminal cases, however, and involves himself in a cold case when a skull, recently found along the highway a few miles east of his home in an old mercantile building, comes to light.
The skull proves to be that of a young woman who disappeared in 1974. O’Connor believes he has found a link between this and other cold cases in eastern Wyoming. He is convinced he has discovered a serial killer flying under the radar for over four decades. Now, he has to convince his friends at the Division of Criminal Investigation in Wyoming that there is a serial killer out there.
Among Dr. O’Connor’s fellow residents in the tiny town where he lives are Nikki Starr, a woman with a hidden past; Kate Morgan, whose daughter went missing 20 years ago; and the postmaster and his wife, Ian and Karen Hunter, a mysterious couple who never talk about their past. The self-appointed town marshal, Jude Bowen, and county sheriff, Len Jenkins, remember the cold cases well, but are not convinced Dr. O’Connor is correct in assuming they are the work of one killer. O’Connor must prove his theory that there is an undetected serial killer and figure out who it is before the killer strikes again.
About the author
Carol Jenkner is a former Barton County Extension Agent, Farm Bureau Association coordinator and educator. She moved to Great Bend in 1992 but left to move to Dodge City in 2002. From 1997 to 2006 she worked for three county Farm Bureau offices as a county coordinator, which she says was “excellent practice for teaching!”
She taught at an alternative education center in Dodge City and later taught consumer science at Youthville, with her last three years of teaching at Dodge City Middle School.
She retired at the end of 2018 and has returned to Great Bend. She works part-time as the education director at the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum in rural Larned.
“I began working on ‘Road Kill’ in 2011 and have since written (but not published), two more in the series,” Jenkner said. “‘Road Rage’ will be out in early 2022 followed by ‘Road Block,’ written but not edited.” She has begun working on Book No. 4 is the series while she also works on a new series, also crime fiction, set in the Texas Panhandle.
