"A hair-raising debut, both unsettling and addictive...A chilling thriller that will keep you reading long into the night." - Sean E. Jacobs, Author of Sisters of Mercy
Black Rock Cove, on the coastline of Oregon, has a unique and sinister charm. By day, it is a quaint fishing village and charming resort for summertime visitors, but by night...well, that's a different story. The murder of Oliver Bateman was purely the strangest of all crimes. A gunshot was heard as he fell dead in the courtyard, but bullet holes were missing from his body. Three deep knife wounds, however, covered his chest.
Even stranger, Elizabeth Knight, daughter of famed Nobel Prize winner William Knight, was discovered in her locked bedroom on the brink of death after hysterical screaming and two gunshots were heard. She was found all alone... no assassin present.
As the life fluid of Lizzie Knight drained out of her in its garish red, her skin began to take on the pallor of a corpse. There was one problem, however. There was no one in the room when her father finally knocked the door off its frame.
Find the motive of the assassin, and you locate the criminal. Nevertheless, several people have reasons, which may have led them to the deed. Which one did it? Why did the murderer leave a bloody cow bone in the room? Why was there only one bullet found in the chamber after witnesses heard two shots, and two were expended in the golden 22 caliber revolver found in the room? Also, most of all, how was the crime committed in a sealed chamber? How did the assassin escape?
What an outstanding way for the first novel of James' detective murder series to begin? Who was killed? That's what the readers want to know and why he or she was murdered? How did the assassin escape? These questions run through the readers' minds as one of the most hideous crimes ever committed on the estate of a two-time Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Professor William Knight. The mystery continued as a diabolical scheme to frame an innocent man was set in motion.
Wait! Did the wrong person lose their life? What will that do? Create more questions? Result in more murders? Will there be other murders? Who's the mastermind behind them? These questions become the catalyst for a sequence of events that will rivet the readers to their seats.
This first novel debuts Vincent Gideon, a young detective making a name for himself solving cold cases. A best-selling author, Abigail Guerin, better known as Abby throughout the novel, adds a twist of romance as she assists him. They must solve the case before the mystery man catches the six o'clock train departing Black Rock Cove. However, no other than the Great Shane Murdock comes to town. He is Gideon's mentor and has solved more cold cases in America than anyone else. Some have called him in headline news, the Sherlock Holmes of America. He is a household name from his successful endeavors at solving crimes the local authorities can't.
This murder mystery series descends into a quagmire filled with intrigue and death.
Black Rock Cove, the setting in James' thriller series, The Storm Lord Trilogy, is still his canvas in his Gideon Detective Series. James unveils a labyrinth of evil constructed by people at the highest levels of power. More secrets are revealed. Is the Bête du Bon Dieu, the beast responsible for so many deaths? More people continue to lose their lives. You don't know who can be trusted. Martin DuBois? Terrence McGyver? Chris Darnay? Mother Althena? Could Gideon himself be the mastermind of the crimes?
