by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to win a copy of The Theory of Death, along with a link to purchase the book where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Former LAPD detective Peter Decker and wife Rina have moved from LA’s sun to the East Coast cold of Greensbury. The pace is slower and crime is more about a drunk or a misplaced car than about murders.

When the body of a young man is found in the woods, naked, with a single gunshot to the head, it appears to be suicide. He’s Eli Wolf, a math genius student at one of the local colleges. By all accounts, however, there was no reason for suicide.

Detective Tyler McAdams is on leave, going to Harvard Law School. He can do the work, but it’s not as interesting as a police investigation. Still, after he was shot in the line of duty, he promised his overbearing father he’d go. Under the guise of “I can study better at your house,” he comes to visit Peter and Rina just in time to help with Eli’s death.

The world of academics is even more cutthroat than politics. Tenured professors get to claim all research done by their students and put their name on any published papers. Switching advisors can lead to an all-out war between colleagues. All in all, Peter and Tyler think police work is pretty benign by comparison.

When a second victim is found in the woods, also naked and with a single gunshot to the head, they have to consider the cases might be connected, as the victims knew each other.

Since the rules of small-town police work are a little more relaxed than in LA, Rina gets to go along on a few of their interrogations and is able to help. Tyler even meets a college student who Rina thinks might be perfect for him, since his social skills are not all that much better than those of the math nerd.

There’s a lot of math talk that will be over most reader’s heads, but skimming those sections gives the gist of the idea without distracting from the who done it. This is a book full of twists and turns, clues and false leads… and single-minded math scholars. At its heart, it’s a book about relationships.

This is the twenty-fifth book in the series. It can stand alone for readers to start here and then backtrack, as well as starting at the beginning. Kellerman has also written a book of short stories, two books with husband, Jonathan Kellerman, and one with Aliza Kellerman.

To enter to win a copy of The Theory of Death, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “theory,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 9, 2016. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

You can use one of these links to order this book & a portion goes to help support KRL & an indie bookstore:

The Theory of Death

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the arch, in the land of blues, booze and shoes—St Louis, Missouri. While writing magazine articles to support her mystery book habit, she secretly polishes two mystery books of her own, hoping, someday, they will see the light of Barnes and Noble. You can also find several of Sandra’s short stories on UnTreed Reads including her newest, “Arthur”, included in the anthology titled, Flash and Bang, available now.