Designed To Kill

Author: Chester D. Campbell
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

Following up on his novel Secret of the Scroll author Chester D. Campbell brings back Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill for a case that hits too close to home. Both are recuperating from the events of the last book, which are frequently referred to in this novel. Jill is dealing with painful rehab following her surgery for a torn rotator cuff in her left shoulder while Greg is dealing with his guilt over allowing her to be hurt and not being able to prevent it. But all that becomes secondary on the news of the apparent suicide of Tim Gannon.

Tim Gannon was an Architect/Engineer overseeing the construction of a new beachfront condominium complex known as "The Sand Castle" in Perdido Key, Florida. Striking in appearance, it was also striking in a totally different way thanks to a patio collapse from the penthouse unit at the fifteenth floor. The deaths and injuries were soon followed by the discovery of Tim's body in his car at The Gulf Islands National Seashore located nearby.

Found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot, the news is shocking for the Mckenzies. Not only because he was using their condo at Perdido Key but also because he is the son of their closest friends in Nashville, Sam and Wilma Gannon. From the beginning, despite the evidence, Sam believes it is murder and wants a very reluctant Greg to look into it. After all, Greg was an agent with the OSI (the Air Force Office of Special Investigations), an investigator for the DA's office in Nashville, and a few other things.

What the 65-year-old Greg McKenzie does not have is a private investigator license, something the local police locked into their theory of suicide due to guilt over a bad design are quick to repeatedly and firmly point out. But nobody can really stop somebody from asking questions of those involved and all are relatively quick to talk and spin the accepted story. But there are holes and Greg and Jill keep asking questions and working the timeline despite attempts to cover up the evidence. They soon ask too many questions in all the wrong places and quickly find out that the construction business can be murder.

This is a very enjoyable read that relies primarily on detection and not graphic violence to move the story forward. Greg and Jill are both beautifully drawn characters and quickly become not just alive for the reader, but old and trusted friends. The secondary characters are just as realistic and serve to advance the story at just the right times and places.

The plot itself is by all appearances relatively straightforward for approximately the first half of the book and then it begins to twist in strange and unexpected ways. Just when it appears that everything led one way, the author abruptly changes tact and shocked this reader with the identity of the actual killer. After reading quite a few books, mystery and otherwise, over the years, it is rare to see the final twist pulled off so well. Enjoy this one as it is very good stuff, indeed.

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