The Crowning Circle: Summary and book reviews of The Crowning Circle by J.R. Lankford, plus links to an excerpt from The Crowning Circle and a biography of J.R. Lankford.

The Crowning Circle takes place in an imaginary mid-sized town called Chatsford, Ohio. Doc Skeet Cullum, is a forensic psychologist who helps detectives in the city's homicide department. Skeet has a strange theory about death which he uses to unravel tough cases. Jake, Skeet's friend, is an inventor-engineer who owns a company called Solutions, Inc. On Thursdays, this duo get together at Jake's house to play guitar. The book opens on the morning of one of these Thursdays as three violent deaths - one a murder without apparent motive - occur. News of the first interrupts Skeet's proposal to his half-Vietnamese girlfriend of seven years. That night it's obvious to Jake that Skeet, usually stoic, is deeply upset. In the next four days, personal and public calamities fall like dominoes as the formerly reclusive Jake sets out to help Skeet, without telling him. Their friendship withstands all strain until Jake tries to penetrate Skeet's inscrutable facade - under which, Jake finally suspects, is something crucial. He is right.

Media Reviews

RebeccasReads.Com The Crowning Circle is well written, powerfully written, a gripper with a fine blend of cultures, brains & brawn, honor, trust & history. Great ingredients for a suspense novel.   The Blue Iris Journal This is an excellent novel in almost all aspects; and with so many of my established favorites weakening, this was a real pleasure. I hope that Ms. Lankford is inspired and we meet these characters again someday down the road. In the meantime, be very, very careful of what you secretly wish for--it may just come true. Lynn Hoffman, Author of The Bachelor's Cat from HarperCollins You know those page-turner novels that suck you in so thoroughly that you find yourself holding them in your lap at 2 a.m. with your eyes burning from lack of sleep? Remember the book that you were sad to finish because you missed the characters and wanted to spend more time with them? This is that book. What makes it a 'new fashioned page turner' is that it captures the texture of real American life while it pulls you in. If Barbara Kingsolver wrote mysteries, she'd write them like this. Donald Mitchell, co-author of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution The best part of The Crowning Circle is the development of the character of Dr. John Skeet Cullum, a Viet Nam vet now serving as a forensic psychologist to the police department of a small city. His experiences and philosophies will interest you. The novel is also noteworthy for the high tech perspectives of Jake Morrison, CEO of Solutions, Inc. which has a global inventing practice. The two of them combine the most unusual detection methods I have seen in many years. The plot, although solid, does have its jerky moments, but if you are like me you'll find the suspense keeping you up until the wee hours to finish the book.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Natasha Johnson
It was like i was living out the novel.
It started great and it just captures you, you feel as if you are actually one of the characters in this book. It was just a great find loved it would highly recommend this book.

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Bong D. Fabe, Deputy Bureau Chief, The Manila Times Visayas Bureau, Philippines
Jamie Rhines Lankford's third book and first published novel, The Crowning Circle, is a thriller of a friendship and relationship gone sour but saved by the...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Chuck Schwager, a reader from Sudbury, MA USA
"How many murder mysteries are at their core a meditation on love? In my experience, not many. But in Lankford's novel, we are treated to an intellectual thriller with the most unusual...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Sandi von Pier, a 39-year old MOM from New Jersey.
"I loved the characters, especially Jake, because I just love how quiet and shy he is. But I love Skeet too. He's an endearing man, but closed up like so many men I know. I loved how...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Evans Munyemesha, a reader from Phoenix, AZ
"Lankford wants us to know that original creativity is still alive. In this work, the author masterfully lures us into the maze of mystery by dangling before us the simple yet complex...   Read More

Review (not rated) by Anonymous
Richard Bray, a reader from Yokohama, Japan
"It was as if 'In the Heat of the Night' had been updated to 2001, and moved from Mississippi to Ohio. The book is full of small town atmosphere, the characters are flesh and blood, and you...   Read More

...1 More Reader Reviews

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