In every murder investigation, there are rules-how fast you learn them can mean the difference between life and death.
- WINNER: Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Winter 2020 - Best Crime Fiction
- FINALIST: Page Turner Awards 2021 - Screenplay Awards
"With some utterly believable characters, a unique storyline and a well-paced mystery, this is a heart-stopping tale that will enthrall any reader." ~ Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews, Anne-Marie Reynolds (5 STARS)
Payden Beck begins his career as a police officer, eager to serve. At the end of his first week, his field-training officer, Richard LaMont, invites him home for dinner, introducing Payden to his eccentric, much-younger wife, Ana. Ana approves.
Richard is called away to work during Payden’s visit, but Payden is happy to stay and watch over Ana. Their weekend is pleasant, sterile. Richard approves, as well. But, when Richard is found dead in his home Monday morning, Payden’s time spent with Ana-and their chemistry-make Payden the prime suspect.
The more Payden learns of Richard’s life-with Ana’s assistance-the deeper the mystery of Richard’s murder becomes, and every revelation leads to greater confusion. Things can seem perfect... even when they’re inescapably horrifying.
EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS the first novel in the award-winning "Payden Beck Crime Thriller" series, from the same author who brought you such greats as fiX, Home, and Missing Pieces. And be sure to follow right up with the next books in this series: Dormir, Bad, Go, and Runt.
Ever since I was able to read, I’ve had a book (or a comic book in the early days) in my hands or on my person. I grew up in a non-digital age, in a home with one telephone that everyone shared, one television that no one watched, and in which movies were a luxury. Aside from radio theatre, books were my best non-human friends.
My love of reading never died. When I was 8 years old, I drew my first series of comic books. They were terrible, but I still love them. To me, they represent the moment the wise-old-man inside my little boy’s head finally made me aware that I loved to create.
As it turned out, I enjoyed writing much more than I enjoyed drawing, but I’ve spent most of my life doing some form of creative work. And when not, I’ve worked some boring jobs in very creative ways.
To this day, I love to write and to share my creations with others. I’m the guy who will watch a good movie twenty more times, if it means I get to introduce it to someone else and participate in their joy of discovering something entertaining or valuable. I can’t be quite so intimately participatory with my own writing, but I do love to know that I’ve brightened someone’s day, made them think, feel or—at the very least—provided them with a welcome distraction for a while.
