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A Mystery Thriller
by J.R. LankfordWhen three violent deaths occur in a quiet Ohio town, personal calamity befalls forensic psychologist Doc "Skeet" Cullum and his technology wizard buddy, Jake Morrison, in this compassionate thriller about how we live, love and die.
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.
CHAPTER ONE
Thursday, 9:03 a.m.
Oaklawn District, Chatsford, Ohio
Gloria Wentworth Hampton stood in her driveway, her face shaded by her broad-brimmed gardening hat. She wished the shadow would somehow widen, darken, descend to the ground, and envelop her. Since coming to America from England a year ago, she'd often felt this way.
"Do come with us, Mum. Won't you please?" her daughter begged, pulling at her skirts.
"Maybe another time, darling . . . " Gloria began and, from recent habit, looked up and down the sidewalk. It was vacant except for a boy, perhaps eighteen, wearing jeans and plaid shirt. To Gloria he looked the typical American male, who thought himself a Wild West cowboy. She glanced away, feeling suddenly empty, wondering why she'd become so judgmental.
"Gloria, really!"
Her husband, Jim, held their son's hand and looked exasperated.
"Surely we should go as a family," he said. "It's their Founder's Day."
"Please, ...
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. 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.
If you liked The Crowning Circle, try these:
by Jeffery Deaver
Published 2004
A brilliant thriller that pits forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, against an unstoppable killer with one final, horrific trick up his sleeve.
by James Patterson
Published 2002
Alex Cross plunges into a netherworld of dark ritual. Meanwhile the super-criminal known as the Mastermind is threatening everything he holds dear.
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The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl
by Bart Yates
A saga spanning 12 significant days across nearly 100 years in the life of a single man.
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Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
A haunting, imaginative, and twisting tale of two sisters and the menacing, unexplained forces that threaten them and their rural mountain community.