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DESIGNED TO KILL
by Chester D. Campbell
Durban House Publishing, March 2004
300 pages
$15.95
ISBN: 1930754469


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Greg McKenzie is a former Air Force investigator. Now retired, he is at loose ends and his wife Jill suggests that they take a vacation to their condo at Perdido Key in the Pensacola area of the Florida panhandle. As they are preparing to leave they get an urgent call from an old friend whose son has supposedly committed suicide.

Tim Gannon was an architect working on a project in Perdido Key and was staying at the McKenzie's condo. Sam, the father, is not convinced that Tim killed himself. However, something pretty awful happened at the large condo complex, the Sand Castle that Tim had designed. During the grand opening party a balcony collapsed, killing two and injuring many more. The police believe that Tim suffered remorse over designing a flawed building, but one of Tim's partners claims the building was not poorly designed and furthermore, all copies of the design and plans have mysteriously disappeared from their office and off Tim's personal computer.

While Greg is not a licensed private investigator, with his background as a military investigator he has been toying with the notion. He has been holding back because his wife is recovering from injuries incurred when they were involved in a previous scrape some months ago. But he and Jill both feel they owe it to an old friend to look into the matter.

Greg quickly runs afoul of the local police sergeant in charge of the case who feels he is a private citizen sticking his nose in where it does not belong. Nor does the contractor or the developer of the project welcome his investigation. It seems everyone wants to believe Tim killed himself and just get on with things. As Greg digs deeper and his life is threatened he begins to see there is a much bigger picture than was first thought.

Greg and Jill are well-written characters; their relationship is loving without being cloying and seems right for a long-married couple. Greg is very sharp and by the end of this case it looks like private eye-dom is in their future plans. This is the second book in the series. The author is a former journalist and intelligence officer in the Air Force. The locale of the book is well described and the reader gets lots of local color as well as thrills and suspense.

Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, February 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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