Edward Shank is retired, widowed, and living a boring life in the old
folks’ home. The former Chief of Police is a Seattle legend, having
gunned down the infamous Beacon Hill Butcher back in 1985, finally
putting an end to the grisly serial murders that plagued the Pacific
Northwest for over a decade. Now eighty years old with a bad hip, Edward
spends his days playing bingo and watching TV, his glory days long
behind him.
Matt, Edward’s grandson, chose to carve out
his own path to success by becoming Seattle’s top chef. The owner of a
popular restaurant and a half dozen food trucks, Matt is about to become
the star of his own TV show. Everything is going his way, until he
discovers a locked crate buried in the backyard of his grandfather’s old
house that contains a family secret so gruesome, his entire life – and
everything he’s worked for – will be destroyed if it ever gets out. Matt
decides it’s best to keep the secret… but his girlfriend Sam might
make that impossible.
Sam Marquez has always believed
that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher back in 1987,
and she’s spent most of her adult life trying to prove it. The only
problem? The Butcher was shot and killed two years before her mother’s death.
Or was he?
THE BUTCHER, a standalone thriller, is coming July 15, 2014 from Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books. Pre-order on Amazon here.
(Oh, and if you’re wondering, THE BUTCHER is the new title for the book that used to be called MAGNOLIA.)